Software job: Am I going to get fired? How to make it go best-ish-ly?

I can't predict whether or not you're going to get fired, but I want to ask if your choices about your time mesh with the rest of your team and the culture of your workplace. Not arguing whether or not they are "sane", just whether you're operating the same way as everyone else? I don't know much about your industry, but I'm a long time manager in a job that requires frequent and usually emergent OT-if everyone but the new guy stepped up and worked extra and was flexible about that, the new guy wouldn't fit in well. Especially since you're frequently missing deadlines, by several weeks. Not saying you're wrong, and not excusing manager's behavior, but if working more than 40 hours a week is necessary in this job and you refuse, well, I'm guessing it's not a good match for you.

How to predict if you will be fired: You have verbal and written warnings about the quality and quantity of your work. The department or company is being restructured and it does not appear that your position will be necessary. There is a posting for your job and they are actively interviewing people for it. You miss deadlines, don't seem too concerned about it, and don't alter your behavior even if you've been asked to do so. What your firing will look like: You will be called into a meeting without warning and HR will be there. You will be told that you are being terminated. If any severance is offered, they will explain what it is. If none is offered, they will tell you. In some companies you will be paid for unused leave, in others, you won't. If you are fired for cause, you will not be eligible for unemployment. HR will take your computer and you won't have any chance to get anything off of it. HR will take your badge, entrance card, phone, and any other company issued things. You will be wiped off the company email and you will no longer have access to company systems. HR will watch you clean out your desk, and walk you to the door. Your co-workers will not look you in the eye. What to do to stall or prevent firing: Ask your boss for an action plan of specific things to do. These will be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria. Better yet, go to your boss with SMART goals, and say, "I know that you've been disappointed in my work, I really like this position and want to keep it, to that end, I've developed these goals. I'd like to refine them with you. I'd like this documented so that we can agree that when I achive these goals, that the previous warnings will be amended." Be sure to document this in an email, sending it to your boss, his boss and HR. Also BCC to your private email. This can give you a basis for an appeal on unemployment, should you be terminated. Start mirroring the start and stop times of your co-workers and your boss. You may not like to work long hours but this is about re-habbing your reputation. Right now you are perceived as a time-clock puncher, not a professional. Evaluate all of the projects you currently have and write up a summary of where you are, what you need to be provided with by others, and the time-frame you anticipate for completion. If there are things you need, that you don't have, to meet deadlines, tell your boss. If you have too many things on your plate, you need to send up a flare. Not just to your boss, but to your boss's boss. Your missing deadlines, or providing low quality work puts EVERYTHING at risk for them, and if it has to happen, better to provide a warning early and often, then to blindside them at the last minute, when they can't do anything about it. Better yet, stop taking on work that you can't complete with quality, on time. If your boss says, "I need you to develop the code for the Framistannie." You need to say, "Well, I've got a January deadline for Thingamajig, a February deadline for Whatchamacallit, I can't get around to Framistannie until March at the earliest." If your boss won't listen, send an email and copy his boss with the information. It won't matter, but they won't be broadsided. What you should do NOW: I doubt that this situation is salvageable. You have a reputation as a time-clock-punching, deadline missing, low quality producing, inflexible employee. You can turn one of those things around, but very rarely can you turn ALL of them around. They may not be hiring extra people, they may be hiring your replacement. Clear your computer of ALL personal documents, clear your internet cache/history too. Take home ALL personal items. Don't make a big deal, but slip one or two things home with you each night until all that's left is your company issued stapler and desk calendar. Expect that you will be fired. The new year is an EXCELLENT time to start looking for a new job. Be sure to create a narrative that explains why you need a new job after six months. Be sure to say, "I'm really possessive of my work/life balance, in my previous position I was expected to do the work of two people, and that didn't mesh well for me." Interview them while they interview you. Ask questions like, "What's a typical day like?" and "Tell me about your projects." "What is the average tenure of other programmers in your department?" You can survive this, but you have to take your head out of the sand, face up to some truths and be willing to change. Good Luck.

You should be looking for a new job. In the meantime, use this one to practice skills that will probably serve you throughout your career. I'd start with this: My personal, uncommunicated estimates are pretty accurate, but I don't see any way to communicate them to Manager as they would sound ridiculously long, given the seeming expectations. and this: I need to take act more empowered, and need to carry things through, take initiative Take your manager at their word, and start articulating your internal estimates to your manager. Deal with any blow-back, and then, as calmly as you can, talk things through. I'd say that you should stick to your guns, but that's not quite right, because if you can break through this dysfunctional communication with your manager, you might learn some things that would allow you to get shit done faster. No one likes looking like an idiot, and because you don't want to face your manager's wrath, you are guaranteeing more of your manager's wrath because you are setting them up to look like an idiot because they can't hope to give realistic estimates to the people they have to deal with (including your peers). Your manager may be a complete ass, but that doesn't change the fact that you have your own responsibilities. In my view, those responsibilities are to find yourself a job that is a reasonable fit, and, whether or not your job is a reasonable fit, to try to behave in a reasonable manner. While it is understandable that you may have trouble communicating with this manager, it is also unreasonable to tacitly or explicitly agree to deadlines you are quite confident you will not be able to make.

I was completely on board with your working style, till I got to the part about you regularly missing deadlines (by weeks sometimes?) and the low quality issues. You can do that type of schedule if you pull your weight, but it sounds like you are not maybe? I don't think they will fire you right away, but you have been warned to work faster, and I expect that if you don't take that to heart now, they will let you go, and sooner rather than later. It seems like the "style" of your boss is perhaps preventing you from being fully invested in the job and your performance? If so you may want to get another job or, as Kalmya says, try for a lateral move.

I want to add, I've seen good, experienced people who'd have no problem getting another job stick around in these kinds of toxic environments. I can't fathom why; my best guess is that they have some kind of misguided loyalty, a concern that by leaving it will make things worse for their co-sufferers. I don't care what hours someone works, or how much work they aren't getting done. "condescension, suspicion," "in-your-face-harshness" are completely unacceptable in any working environment (outside boot camp, I guess). And in that kind of environment, I'd assume any individual's failure to deliver is a management failure.

I'd like to offer a dissenting opinion. Not about whether or not a firing may be imminent, it likely is, but about the failure to meet deadlines, etc issue. Your boss sounds like a sociopath. It sounds like communicating realistic estimates would be counterproductive. There's a good deal of industry standard guides (The Mythical Man Month, Peopleware, etc) that all indicate that working more than 40 hours a week doesn't actually get more done. My experience only supports those conclusions. Your team sounds completely dysfunctional, which is what you'd expect with a raging asshole at the helm. The upshot of this, though, is exactly what everyone else said - get out now.

But are there any telltale signs? Yes. You are already experiencing them. Regular failure to meet deadlines, increasing frustration from your boss, ultimatums regarding your work. I won't say this is irreparable, but fixing this will require you to give up your "different" working style and adopt one that allows you to meet your boss' expectations, even if that seems unfair to you. Seconding purenitrous, re: this job seems like a remarkably poor fit for you. Start sending your resume around now, just to be safe. You'll be prepared if you are fired, and hopefully you will find a better fitting job even if you're not fired.

Hey zeek, I'm in the industry with about 20 years of experience in all roles, from developer to executive. I'm not going to suggest what you *should* do, but rather try to answer your specific question: how do I know if I am going to get fired? First indicator is size of company and state you are working in. Large companies have more formal HR processes where a line manager can't just unilaterally fire someone without going through a process that will certainly involve a conversation with you about fixing whatever problems they perceive you have. Note that if you break your companies code of conduct (something bad, like say a fistfight in the workplace), you can get fired immediately. This isn't the situation I'm hearing here. For a software developer job, there are going to be a bunch of pragmatic considerations that your boss will be asking himself, even if he does want to fire you: - How difficult to backfill your position? (market may be tight for developers, and you mention something about specific skills) - Is there a big project going on with a hard deadline? Pulling you out may be something he would put off until the code ships - How many team members do you have that he can spread your work across if he pulls you out? - What about your specific work? Are you doing something that is highly individual (say, writing a device driver) that requires some knowledge transfer? - Have your missed deadlines caused any schedule slips for the team as a whole? - How would pulling you out affect morale? If everyone else on your team are working insane hours and you are time boxing to 40, there might be a lot of hard feelings, as http://ask.metafilter.com/254248/Software-job-Am-I-going-to-get-fired-How-to-make-it-go-best-ish-ly#3693899 noted above. Good luck with your situation.

I predict you get fired as soon as they finish the search for at least one more team member for your group. They got nothing to lose by replacing you. You work specific hours rather than whatever it takes to meet a deadline, your work is adequate but not terrific by your own admission and your sense of urgency is "different". When you get fired, unless it is for cause, you can and should collect unemployment. I would not sign anything they put in front of you unless they are offering material compensation for your signing. If I were you, I would start looking for my next job now. I think your best bet to find something that suits your skill set and time boxing is either working for the government or finding a position in an organization such as a school that focuses as much on quality of life issues for its employees as it does on cash remuneration.