from Hacker News

Ask HN: Who want to be fired?

by karamazov on 6/1/21, 5:56 PM with 43 comments

Is your job terrible? Would a sense of relief wash over you if you didn't need to come in tomorrow?

Talk about it with your friend, the internet!

  • by deanmoriarty on 6/1/21, 11:47 PM

    Getting fired would be the best thing that could happen to me, I would be smiling like a kid on Christmas morning feeling pure happiness and relief. I hate the job, I hate the pressure, I hate the environment. The pay is very good, but I have many years of living expenses saved up, so the pay is not a factor anymore.

    Why am I not quitting? I was hired to be a tech lead/manager a bit more than a year ago and a lot of people rely on me, it would suck immensely to have a boss that everyone likes quit on you after just one year. I have been on the other side and I know how bad it would feel. People love me, as I turned around a heavily burned out team, unfortunately severely burning myself out in the process…

    But realistically, I’ll most likely quit soon regardless, I am on the edge and one little crisis from here (production outage, argument with my director, …) will push me over. Some of my direct reports have been telling me: “I see you are burning out, let me know anything I can do to help, it would be awful if you were to quit and we were to report back to the old management”.

    I am in an insanely stressful hedge fund, the quintessential definition of pressure cooker. 70-80h a week of distress and brutal oncall, including weekends. It’s tough for individual contributors who have to deliver work, but for (technical) managers is hell on earth.

  • by yukinon on 6/1/21, 8:24 PM

    I'm burnt out. I'd love to be fired and given a severance package so that I can take a breather for a month. I'm completely sick of non-tech enterprises - the politics, the apathy towards development, the offshoring, the crazy deadlines set by executives and stakeholders that do not know tech, waterfall, development being seen as a cost center, etc..

    There's just so much inertia. I have a comfortable life with not a bad salary. I have great wlb. And I work remotely. Everytime I think about leaving, I just focus on it maybe being a matter of perspective.

  • by admissionsguy on 6/1/21, 9:46 PM

    I fired a client recently. It felt like the last day of high school. It's incredible how draining some people and environments are compared to others. It may be the most important thing in life - to screen well, and failing that, to sever ties promptly.

    BTW Why do people always advise others to find a new job before quitting the current one? The finances of software people cannot be that precarious. Are you afraid of the mythical gap in the resume, or what?

  • by linschn on 6/1/21, 6:53 PM

    I will quit my job on Friday.

    I will still have to work a few months and I dread it.

    I actually would be happier if I got fired, effective immediately.

    I won't badmouth my employer here because I don't think they have done anything wrong. We just don't fit.

    I'm lucky that my wife makes enough money for both of us, so I won't look for a new job, I'll just become a stay at home dad, and pursue my side projects while the kids are at school and the home duties are done.

  • by high_byte on 6/1/21, 6:28 PM

    I get people want compensations or whatever, but if you dislike your job you should quit rather than waste people's time, include your own! I'm all for quitting. I have friends leaving their jobs within first few days, better sooner than later.

  • by thrwawy4345784 on 6/2/21, 6:27 AM

    I would like to be fired because then I don't have to quit myself.

    I am currently in a IT project I don't want to be in. There is too much going on and there is so much shit here. They told me that it was going to be X and I was already hesitant, but I had to do it and now it is more like XXX.

    I am still here because I don't know what I should do else and I like the pay (but I don't need it and it isn't that great). Also, I know the book of Cal Newport "So Good They Can't Ignore You", but I don't know how to implement his advices. Probably I will not like my next job or the next thing I would do (if I know what it would be).

  • by doggodaddo78 on 6/1/21, 7:48 PM

    1. Find another while still working.

    2. Give the customary notice because you're a professional.

    3. If it keeps happening, it might not be the jobs or it might be working for other people.

  • by giantg2 on 6/2/21, 4:26 AM

    I hate my job but need the income and benefits.

  • by maelvathk on 6/1/21, 11:37 PM

    I'd love to be fired. I hate the job, I hate the work environment, I hate the pay and I hate programming.

  • by adenozine on 6/1/21, 6:12 PM

    This is an interesting question, but it seems like it would get better traction on Twitter rather than HN.