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After deciding to make a career change I attended and completed a programming bootcamp last year. After a couple month job search I found a gig with a small start-up company and worked as a software developer. Long story short, I was let go after a few months after it was determined they needed more senior engineers, and thought I hadn't progressed quickly enough to contribute significantly to their current projects. The company was going through a lot of changes so it was a pretty chaotic environment, and I didn't really have a ton of support, which I felt I needed as someone more junior. That being said, I learned some pretty valuable things.
For anyone familiar with this industry, I'm trying to determine how employers would see this kind of experience, and how I should present it going into interviews in the future. I had never been fired before so I'm trying to approach this as best I can.
With that short of a duration, I would spin it as a contract position, and that the contract ended.
I'm in IT and have also worked for smaller organizations. Smaller shops want people who can do everything and wear every hat in the department, whereas it's easier to be a cog in the wheel at a larger organization or truly have a junior role and be given a chance to develop.
With that short of a duration, I would spin it as a contract position, and that the contract ended.
I'm in IT and have also worked for smaller organizations. Smaller shops want people who can do everything and wear every hat in the department, whereas it's easier to be a cog in the wheel at a larger organization or truly have a junior role and be given a chance to develop.
The guy is fresh out of a boot camp with no other experience. Saying "I was fired for incompetence" is going to be a sure-fire way to not get the next position.
He needs to spin this as positively as he can, stay at the next position for at least a couple of years so he has come kind of track record, and then drop this short-term job off the resume.
The guy is fresh out of a boot camp with no other experience. Saying "I was fired for incompetence" is going to be a sure-fire way to not get the next position.
He needs to spin this as positively as he can, stay at the next position for at least a couple of years so he has come kind of track record, and then drop this short-term job off the resume.
I agree he needs to spin it. He has to find a way that doesn't involve lying.
With that short of a duration, I would spin it as a contract position, and that the contract ended.
I'm in IT and have also worked for smaller organizations. Smaller shops want people who can do everything and wear every hat in the department, whereas it's easier to be a cog in the wheel at a larger organization or truly have a junior role and be given a chance to develop.
I like this spinning. Yes it is lying but the OP was set up for failure. They should have never hired him.
A friend was mine was fired from a job some years ago. He asked a recruiter for a well known agency about what to say if the question come up. The recruiter replied:
"Never tell anyone you got fired. Tell him you left and make up a plausible reason that sounds like a one-time thing."
The week after I graduated college, I went to a staffing agency who came to my alma mater. She sent me a assessment test to check my technical skills on a popular software people use in office settings (Quickbooks, Excel, Access, etc..). When I went to meet her, she asked me how come my score wasn't higher and I told her I did my honest best. As I was leaving her office, she sighed and said:
"Look... You seem like a nice kid. But if you want to get a job you gotta know how to play the game. I have a lot of contractors who consider those scores to hire for entry level work even though the tests aren't being monitored. You understand what I am saying... right?"
It took me like 2 years to finally understand she was implying it would have been alright if I cheated to get a good score.
For anyone familiar with this industry, I'm trying to determine how employers would see this kind of experience, and how I should present it going into interviews in the future. I had never been fired before so I'm trying to approach this as best I can.
Startups work their people to death and have bad management.
How would I present this? "I was let go because of issues in the company. Due to a confidentiality agreement, I cannot go into details."
He's not going to use these people as a reference. An employment gap is better than being honest about the termination.
I was thinking about leaving them off the resume, but as a first job I feel like it would be better to show that I gained some experience (rather than sitting around doing nothing) and spin my exit from the company as has been mentioned so far. They also did mention they liked me and I could use them as a reference if needed, though not sure if that would be a good idea or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by veuvegirl
I like this spinning. Yes it is lying but the OP was set up for failure. They should have never hired him.
The job was definitely a bit over my head and there was virtually no job description when I applied (it now asks for a senior developer). They didn't know what they were looking for and essentially took a gamble in the hopes of training me up and building a team in the local office, only to realize they don't have the resources or time to devote to junior developers. Also, they started hiring developers in another office overseas for a fraction of what they were paying me. Maybe I could state they were low on funds and decided to move the development team over there where it's cheaper?
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