Rantings of a Black Polemicist

You’re fired. Leave your badge and laptop. We’re walking you out.

Monday, July 23rd, 2007 | Work

So I guess confronting my boss last Thursday about being ambushed wasn’t a good idea.

Criticizing his management of the project wasn’t either.

And daring him to find another developer as good as me wasn’t too bright a move.

If my bipolar diagnosis is correct, then some things make a little more sense.

At the core of it, my manager had a problem with my performance. My estimates to be exact. He’d ask me how long it took to do something and I’d give him dates. The dates were based on me coding at my very fastest, based on what I’d seen of myself during manic episodes.

After a while, I’d burn out and the dates would slip. And we’d set new dates and do it all over again. And again.

The masterpiece I built over a 10 month period would’ve taken 2 or 3 average developers to write. Thing is, I told him I could do it in 5 months because I was really convinced I could. The medication I was taking for an ADD misdiagnosis didn’t help me with my feelings of grandiosity either.

A competent project manager would know I was biting off more than I could chew, but he sat by and watched me, not really understanding what was going on. Just that dates were slipping, and that I was the only developer on the project.

When I got out of the hospital and was confronted with my constantly off-target estimates, my manager and pimptress demanded that Manic Melvin come back and finish what he started. That was tougher now with the new medications I was on.

I could barely keep my head up during the day, let alone code like a maniac.

I wasn’t going to stop taking my new meds, period. And I couldn’t code as fast as I’d promised.

So I got defensive, arrogant and defiant.

And now I’m looking for another job.

Update (7/24): Some recruiter called today asking me to interview for the very position I was fired for. I asked him to email me the requirement out of curiosity. They’re looking for a junior-level flunky type. Whoever they bring in won’t even be able to get my old code running, let alone finish it. My boss really didn’t have any idea what I was doing the entire 10 months I was there. Meanwhile, my phone is ringing off the hook from what I learned on that project.

It sucks to be him.