from Hacker News

How I got fired from my job, and what I learned

by vincentbarr on 3/30/16, 2:51 AM with 22 comments

• by ChrisDutrow on 3/30/16, 3:46 PM

  He was set up to fail in this scenario. Lack of oversight and prompt feedback when he started slipping caused this situation to snowball.

  Some personality types can handle this amount of autonomy, but most people cannot. Most people need more structure than what existed here. I also think highly creative people are even more likely to slip.

  This is a reason why startups are so hard, it's really hard to put together an organization where people can be productive together.

  I have three remote workers and I check in daily. When someone inevitably starts slipping, I try to let them know immediately. Otherwise it's my fault when I have to fire them and destroy value that I worked to create. It's throwing money down down the drain in the form of training, familiarity with the organization and acquired skills.

• by Cartwright2 on 3/30/16, 7:50 AM

  It's a crazy world we live in where someone would post such a candid article about their own under-performance. This article is embarrassing to the individual, and more importantly, to the company that fired him. I think people need to think more carefully about what they post online especially when using real names. This is permanent now. Any potential employer who searches this man on the internet will see this and I don't think that's a good thing. While some might not be turned off by this person's honesty, I certainly would not hire him having read this article. If anything it shows a lack of a diplomatic filter, not only a lack of discipline.

• by invaliddata on 3/30/16, 3:39 PM

  We all have shortcomings. It is hard to work with people who refuse to acknowledge their shortcomings and then try to remediate or at least work around them. Even worse are those who seek to blame others for their circumstances or and arr not willing to admit anything personally embarassing.

  I applaud the author and although I'm not in a position to hire anyone, I'd be more likely to hire him (ceteres paribus) because he's put this out there.

• by itsmemattchung on 3/30/16, 9:26 AM

  I really enjoyed the article, thanks for sharing it. As a remote worker, many of the points you mentioned resonate with me.