Fired from my job - and stunned

[Master Baiter]

Sorry to hear you got let go. It's never a good thing to hear. If you're under the probationary period, the employer has the right to terminate your employment without reason. That is why there's a probation period, just to see if you fit in. When they let you go, it is not good for the other employees' moral to see someone let go. It is common practice for HR to escort you directly out, the only exception is to take you to your desk to pick up your wallet/jacket/keys etc. before showing you the door and scheduling a non-prime time for you to be allowed in to clear your desk. Dept. managers will usually call your dept to a small meeting to inform them that you have been release from the company during the same time you are picking up your stuff from your office... which is why you never run into your coworkers when you return to collect your stuff. Because you have not passed probation, there is no need to elaborate on the work email on why you were released or "decided to persue other career opportunities." It's cold but it's life in the big city.

For the future, if you're been given tasks with tight deadlines and they ask if you if you can do one more thing, if you KNOW 120% that you already have your hands full, DON'T EVER SAY YES. Being a "Yes" man/woman WILL get you in deep shit if you fail to deliver. A good boss should understand that you've got your plate full and would respect you more for saying that you've got too much on your plate as it is. This way the company does not waste time and effort by promissing a client that whatever new project is handed to you, will be completed on time. Nothing looks worse on your boss' reputation than him promissing a client X and being put in a position to apologize for not being able to deliver. If that happen's, it's your ass he/she's gonna be after. Secondly, if you're running tight on time, DO NOT EVER wait till the 11th hour to tell you boss you need more time. At that point in time, you've already signed your death certificate as shit has already hit the fan and it's too late to get someone else to help you out or ask for more time from the clients. If you're running tight, you're best off letting the boss know ASAP as soon as you have doubts and you've better be able to gauge your workload/performance output levels. If your boss never gives you praises or tells you how he/she thinks your performance is coming along, then the owness is on YOU to ask, "I'd like to know what you think about my performace so far? Is there anything you need me to improve on?" This shows you're interested in the best of interest for the company and your personal growth. If you're not busy, don't chill at the water cooler or coffee machine or go yapping on the phone to all your friends like every 10 mins. There's time for that but if you find you got toooo much of that time, tell your boss!! "Hey I've got some free time. Is there any projects around that I can help out with?" Doing the minimum to get by is signing your death warrant. Within 4mts and being under probation, you gotta shine like the new toy in the toybox that everyone wants to play with. Call me a bastard and I'm not saying this to you directly but generally speaking I have no respect or pity for someone who gets the axe because they're a slacker. If anybody ever said "I did x amt of overtime and get nothing for it! The company pays me squat!" etc and you feel that the company owes YOU instead of the other way around, then you need a big reality check.

Sure you may have contributed to the company's success but keep in mind that:
a) The company owes you shit all
b) The door is always open for you to quit and nobody's holding a gun to your head
c) It is the company that has put food on your plate and a roof over your head
d) If anything, YOU owe the company for having hired you and if you think you're worth more than your bowl of rice, then option (B) is always available.

The rule of thumb for keeping your job are:
a) Always under promise and over deliver and NEVER EVER the opposite
b) Keep your head below the radar but surface once in a while to let others know you exist
c) Attend company functions... they KNOW who don't show!
d) Never get caught wasting company's time and resources more than twice... 3 strikes and you're typecasted as a slacker no matter how busy you may be!
e) Don't ever date the boss' daughter/son/assistant unless you can marry them before they find out
e) KISS ASS AND LOTS!! Just kidding...


Keep ya chin up and send out those resumes...

 

[Ginglay]

Excellent advice, Master Baiter!

 

[healer677]

Good advise Mater Baiter.

Things always happen for a reason, and sometimes an opportunity may present itself when you least expect it. The same situation happened to me once, and it actually gave me the chance to explore other options and ...poof...a better job came up.

Keep your chin up and just keep trying - maybe it's for the better.

 

[gala]

I second the sentiment above about not saying yes too much. I'd rather have a reliable guy on my team who gets less work done than others but always on time and never with any problems. That's a million times better than a guy who does twice as much but sometimes totally flakes out. I can go to bat for the first guy and buy some time well in advance; the second guy causes my team to miss important deadlines with no advance warning that there was any problem.

Wanna survive probation? Just don't fuck up. You don't have to shine, you don't have to be fast, you don't have to be amazing, just put your head down and make steady reliable progress. I might regret hiring a guy who is not fast but I probably won't fire him, even on probation--I'll fire the guy who puts my schedules at risk though.

 

[goodtime]

It will get better

Ginglay and Master Baiter said it best. Been in the IT business for a long time and know people on both side of the fence.

Usually no fun for the person doing the firing, except for rare few. Know a case with a manager who needed couselling to get over the firing experience. For the person fired, you can seek legal advice if it was unjust. Companies tend to shy away from legal disputes and settle compensation.

Companies may use let-go for people not fit in or just to meet dept. objective/guidelines (ie: head counts, etc.).

You will probably experience a whole range of emotions. Afterall, losing a job is either 2nd or 3rd most stressful thing in a man's life. I will likely to face it later in the year along with several life events in the last while for the 'perfect storm'. My fav. MPAs have helped me cope (may not work for everyone) but thats another thread.

Good new is the IT market is improving. I know this as my company has and continue to let-go a lot of people (>800). Good number of co-workers that were let-go have found something or going thru promising interviews. Most of them were long-time employees once worried about their age and lack of variety in employment experience being barriers. Make sure you network, opportunties may arise from unexpected places. Yes, there are neg. news about IT going off-shore but at the same time some IT in GTA are hiring with funding, change in market or 'clean-house'. Most of these openings are not posted.

Good luck and stay postive.

 

[WhOiSyOdAdDy?]

I was "let go" yesterday from my job as a programmer.

Life goes on.

At least you have not gone postal.

 

[shinyam]

Thanks everyone for all your responses I read them all, and I really appreciate the time you guys spent on helping me, there was so much great advice like Master Baiter's. I will take notes.

I definitely feel a lot better. Today much of the sting is gone. The day I was fired I was at 0% (one of the worst days of my life), today I am at 65%.

On the day I was fired I was completely stunned, angry, hurt, and felt worthless. Now I have come to realize that I shouldn't take it personally. The bottom like is that I didn't perform to their expectations. Time to learn from my mistakes and move on.

Shinyam, don't get down on yourself. Just because they didn't feel you were a good fit for their job doesn't label you. Things happen for a reason. This may lead to you getting a better job more suited to what you are best at, as long as you shrug it off, don't take it personally, get a positive attitude back and get back out there

Everyone has their strong points. Maybe you just aren't a stickler for details. Hard as I try, this is not my strong point either. Try looking for a job that is more suited to your abilities; finding out what those are might take a bit of work. Look for some good books.

It can take some effort and certainly the right knowledge, but its best not to get down on yourself.

The above posts were two of many that helped me feel better about myself.

Now that I think of it, there were so many subtle clues that I missed that indicated of my fate. Some people started avoiding me, or avoided eye contact. Others became nicer. A lot of strange things were said to me that I now realize was a result of them knowing.

I will have to send out my resumes again (sigh). I will take a couple of weeks off to recoup, refocus, and decide what I really want to do with my life.

Funny thing is that I'm kind of relieved that I was fired, because deep inside I knew it wasn't for me. But I'm just worried about the future. Luckily, I have no family to support, and have enough saved up to last a few months.

Again, thank you all so much for your support and encouragment, I am genuinely moved that you all helped me through a very difficult time. Politeman, thanks for sticking up for me, I appreciate it.

 

[gypsy]

Maybe you spend too much time at terb?

 

[canucklehead]

I have only made one mistake that i believe would have got me fired or a contract lost ........ it was my first contract and i was working for an all girl private school setting up their SIS system and network......... we had a whole beta program set up for the network in its own "sandbox".
Everything was being set to be deployed with the word "Master" DNS name and then Beta so we knew it was the final image....... I allowed someone to name the main server the Master_Beta
Well it sat on the network for two weeks before i suddenly realized the name ......... i quickly renamed the server from MasterBeta.schoolname.on.ca to its newer name.
It was never caught by anyone other then myself and my co-op student.
But i learned all the details are important. You may not think it is a big deal but "God is in the details" and if you were fired unfairly justice will be yours. If not don't sweat it....... like any relationship someone always get hurt or dumped (fired).
Get back up and look again...was it Foxpro you were programming?

 

[WhaWhaWha]

The best advice coming down the pipe in this thread is to never take it personally. I've been canned so many times I'm starting to resemble a cling peach.

The hardest instance to take was when I decided to do some telemarketing close to home for Industrial supplies. I figured noone gets canned from bottom of the barrel jobs - I was wrong. I dont know what irked me most -- that the fellow that fired me spent the better portion of his workday on smoke breaks, talking to his ex wife on the phone, hunting for bigger and better lunch deals, and trying to learn PC basics to no avail or that I was the top seller among the people hired with me, when I was let go. My accounts remained unassigned and I received none of the 10% commissions they offered for the $12,500.00 in sales I generated. The company was small and relied on the targeted wage subsidy program to pay its employees. This means that EI paid my salary. He let me go after one month with no explanation - none was required in the first three months.

The best thing I ever did for myself was to go back to IT and branch out as an independant contractor. I have disatisfied a few clients and amazed a few more. Also remember, in the professional world you can't please everybody. What wins awards in one company might earn criticism in another.

 

[shinyam]

Gypsy, you know what's funny? On the day I made the most serious mistakes (which probably cost me the job), I was up until 4:30 am on terb reading escort reviews. I got a couple of hours of sleep, and the whole day I kept on making so many mistakes, probably because I didn't get enough sleep.

Of course, I'm not playing terb for getting me fired. It was my own stupidity/horniness.

WhaWhaWha, thanks for sharing your experience. I'm glad I'm not the only one. I won't take this personally.

Canucklehead, I'm glad you didn't get in trouble for that mistake. lol.

 

[WhaWhaWha]

Hey you can't go far without meeting someone who can relate.

btw, earlier you said, "I nodded my head in resignation and understanding"

Didn't you mean to say, "dismissal"?

Cheers,
Wha

 

[Ref]

Re: Big corporations are....

[QUOTEI had a great boss for four years...but the big boss in the corner office never liked him...so they let him go, and hired two b*tch's to do his job...which they have no clue how to do...BUT...there probably paying them both in total less than what he was making. I basically run things there now, since the two of them put together know less about the business and systems than I do...and I make sure they stay ignorant...all I do is "make nice" every now and then and come and go as I please..
[/B][/QUOTE]

Sounds like the two ladies are using you to do their dirty work for them.

If you basically "Run" things, how come you were not promoted to be the new boss?

No matter how many times I hear a worker bee state that they run the show, or the company wouldn't know what to do without them, it still makes me laugh.

My favourite was an accounts payable clerk of a multi-billion dollar company stating "I'd like to see them run this company without me!"

 

[bubbuboey]

The IT (informatoin technology market) is in a bad situation right now.

1)Insane job requirements

2)Doing the job of 2 or 3 people while the employer wants to pay you entry level pay

3)Hiring practises has become rediculous (for both employee/empoyer). An average entry level job will get 200 resumes in a single day where half of the applicants are unqualified.

4)The headhunters no longer work for you now, they work for the employer and have NO clue about the technology/industry.

5) No more training. Every two weeks technology changes, its impossible for someone to keep up without training.

I can type 5 pages of the crap IT workers are facing right now, but I'm to tired of thinking about it

If you want some laughs check out: http://fuckthatjob.com

 

[Malibook]

6) Outsourcing
The job market in India is booming.

It is a matter of supply and demand and these days it is an employers market big time.

I remember just a few years ago my company had a very difficult task in finding any quality Electrical Engineers and now they are a dime a dozen.

It can be hard for skilled experienced workers to find good jobs.
I can't imagine what the continuous loads of new graduates are going to do to pay their loans and try to make a decent living.

 

[Cheeta]

Outsourcing:

There has been on going debate in US regarding the migration of jobs specifically IT to China or India and what politician are planning to do about it.

While we have an election here in few days, how come none of the politicians have addressed this issue?

I have my own IT Software development company which has not really been effected but many of my friends who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing have had difficulties in finding comparable jobs. Many have changed profession and entered other markets such as selling mortgages or real estate.

Outsourcing is going to be the biggest challenge for IT professional unless the federal government makes efforts to ensure the flow of the jobs to India and China stops.

Cheeta.

 

[buckybruce]

Re: Re: Big corporations are....

[B
Sounds like the two ladies are using you to do their dirty work for them.

If you basically "Run" things, how come you were not promoted to be the new boss?

No matter how many times I hear a worker bee state that they run the show, or the company wouldn't know what to do without them, it still makes me laugh.

My favourite was an accounts payable clerk of a multi-billion dollar company stating "I'd like to see them run this company without me!" [/B]

You must be a "boss"....

Both have confessed that after bonuses they make less than I do...since the're management, they know my salary...and after two "white whines(pun intended)" they can't keep their mouths shut...one of them was "promoted/transfered" out of her department cause her boss couldn't stand her....she was basically tranferred to fail, so they would have cause to fire her ass...

neither one makes a move without consulting me about it...

and...I interviewed for the position, but was basically told in not so many words"we can't really promote you, cause who would replace you" so they gave me a big fucking raise and performance bonus so I wouldn't go to their competition...

 

[canucklehead]

I know for a fact outsourcing has not made a dent in the number of clients i am getting..... but i deal mainly in high end multi media and Xserver and OSX servers and clients and there is a huge shortage of qualified Mac people that really know their GUI down to their Unix......... plus Apple Scripting...... i get most of my work from education and design firms.......... but lately i have been getting a lot of calls outside the traditional Mac type of business ......... when i get calls from the Apple Consultant page on the Apple site from two different banks that would like some training for their IT staff i have to smile........... US and Canadian Government have both given Mac OSx and the XRaids and Xserves huge thumbs ups and are looking for training also.
Security is the big plus and overall dependability.......... everyone likes to point that OSX has had as many security updates as Windows but all the OSX ones have been theories that have never been actually exploited and they are closed up ASAP.

 

[Thousand]

When I checked my company email from home later that night, there was this email sent out to every employee:

Subject: Announcement

***** ****** is no longer employed at ABC Company.

How cold and impersonal is that?

By doing that, your ex-boss just fucked himself. This is going to cause some morale issues among employees.

Thousand

 

[WhaWhaWha]

Its a necessary security procedure so noone accidentally holds the door open for disgruntled ex employees who may decide to return with a shotgun or a bomb or intent to screw up the computers or rip up the toilets or pee on the floor or... you get the idea....