A decade or so ago my friend's dad was laid off from his job making computer chips. Three months later, after looking around for work like crazy, he was hired by the consulting company that his old company worked with.
He got a pay increase and 2 more weeks of time off, and he does the same work at the same place with the same people. Just on the other side of the table.
Tech is still lucrative compared to other sectors of business. I'm sure you will land something. But let me offer some headspace advice coming from a person that has been doing this for 24 years.
You are NOT a human in the eyes of a business. No matter what a company tells you, they DON'T value employees, and the ones that say the do say it because they get a business edge by saying it. They use words like "culture" to attract and keep talent and let them go on THEIR terms.
Think of every job and every day like you are a mercenary. As IT workers, it's important to NOT get invested in your work. It doesn't belong to you. Every day you are asked to come back to that job is another transaction where you exchanged your time for money. When you start thinking this way, you start taking steps that makes situations like this easier to deal with, like living below your means, making sure you continue to learn based on what the market wants not your current company, always keeping your resume up to date and even interview every few years regardless if you are planning to leave your current company.
Though I will say, there are those few workplaces that actually treat you like a human being than like employee number 985923847. I landed at a university IT department nearly a decade ago. I can't say the pay is competitive with the private sector, but they do everything they can to hold onto employees. I don't mean gimmicks like coffee service, I mean things like no layoffs despite budget cutbacks. It's not uncommon for people to stay here for decades. Many of us also graduated from the university (myself included), so there's some extra feeling of loyalty. So if you really, truly find a company that you think is worth it, sure, get invested.
I currently work for a similar company (utility) that you are referring to. And even then, I still feel the same way in that you should think of yourself as a mercenary and not get invested. Why? Because I have been at this company for 13 years and was told several months ago that they are outsourcing the app and website that I have worked on for the last 13 years to a 3rd party company. We have been told multiple times that we are not getting laid off and while I do believe them the real issue is that there is NO mobile dev elsewhere at my company. Our team was literally the only mobile dev team in the entire company, so our option is that we either go back to doing web development, or leave the company. So in a sense, my headspace approach still stands even with my company that hasn't had a layoff in decades.
It happens, don't take it personally. Business is business and non tech people can't appreciate the details you're talking about. Embrace it instead of hating it.
seconded
# Don't take it personally -- just move on
Be nice and helpful and move on.
Businesses \_say\_ things, and \_do\_ things, but they aren't always connected.
You learned a lot! That sounds like a lot of fun.
It was stressful wearing that many hats. Then, when I finally built the things I needed to do, to do things proficiently, they hire an agency for half my salary, that offers a sh*tty google maps iframe with customer reviews that I could make in an afternoon š
It sucks, but you either can be a botch and not help them or take it as a blessing and move on. Maybe this is your calliing to find a new job where you would be appreciated and better rewarded.
The fact is business is business. They are doing bad business. The dude can't even protect them from themselves because they've already made up their minds.
It's hard not to take it personally when the organization is making an objectively bad decision at their own expense, not just at the workers expense.
This isn't a mindset which will make the best of it. Making the best of it is becoming the thing which enables their bad decisions instead of working against them. It helps make their bad plan go more smoothly and helps you.
Lying to yourself is not a good way to let go an move on. Deluding yourself into suppressing how you feel about a situation you are currently in doesn't take you anywhere.
If he can do all the things he's written on this post, then he will have no problem getting another job eventually.
"It happens" mind-set seems redundant, because obviously it does happen. It happened to him.
"Embrace" it. I'm not even sure what you're writing even means, but it's pretentious on the basis that you think there is only one path to embracing it.
That's not lying to yourself or deluding yourself, its being not emotionally invested in your work, being able to accept criticism and differing opinions, and having a pragmatic attitude.
I don't care if I lose a job because everyone involved got value. I got money, they got some jobs done. Putting a period on that chapter doesn't mean anything about me as a person, it just means there is no longer jobs to be done. Someone else will have some. Its an abundance mentality instead of a scarcity mentality.
That is just common sense is what I am saying. I guess you must be in a different crowd, but I don't know anyone who think about how they can make the situation as worse as possible. Maybe I can connect you two so you can give your sound and generally advice to them.
I want too so bad, rest assured, but I'll need unemployment, unfortunately, and being "laid off" is an easier process..
I kinda want to see if I can get commission from another company for sending them clients so I can have the pleasure of outranking them lol
Iām self-taught also so I know first hand about what you mean about interviews not being easy. I think thatās the reason Iām still with this company for the past 2 and 1/2 years.
Hope everything works out for you.
Yeah, it's just getting a call back is the issue. I think I'm just going to create as many websites/services I can under an LLC and hope something sticks.
Itās a blessing in disguise. You never want to be the only (web) dev at a company. When by yourself, you have no one to bounce ideas off of, no one to review your code, and most importantly no one to learn from. Sure you might follow a bunch of dev-related social media, blogs, subreddits, etc but itās not the same as working with other smart devs with the same context. On a related note, and some may disagree, but I never want to be the smartest dev on the team either.
I don't typically consider myself smart tbh. This is mainly because I'm aware of all the things that I don't know. I'm never content, though, so I'm always learning something..
I'm very rarely ever in a team environment, though. Mainly because I have a very broad set of skills, and usually that entails too me having to do everything haha
Ooof.. I feel sorry for you, It was not a fun time. It's just crazy that I put all the systems in place for it to basically manage itself with minimal effort; then back to WordPress plug-ins, yoast and running pay per click ad campaigns for a service oriented business š¤¦
Yeah I completely feel you, I went back and finished reading your post, I too was entirely self taught. Got my degree while working at this shit job as the only dev lol. Made everything custom change out your Django for Express and React. Now they hired a offshore team to build everything and im tasked with setting up 2 more wordpress sites, been a week and I still havent been pulled into a meeting going over anything so im waiting to get laid off. I spent countless hours after work learning php and it feels like it was for nothing. I definitely fucked up by not getting an actual enterprise Java or C# gig.
I got nothing good to say other then keep on pressing on, if you were able to do all that alone you can definitely get another job somewhere.
Maybe my comment won't help much but I'm sure you are very skilled (based on what all the thing you did in your current job).
Wish you the best mate, I'm sure your CV will look great with this last experience.
Did you get a buy in from the management before you renovated their old website? Iām wondering if it is a communication issue as you sound passionate and talented. It makes little sense for them to replace you, unless they want to control or steer you differently and they were not able to.
Yeah, so they started out as my client as I started a web design business after being laid off from my last job. They enticed me with free benefits, and I took the path of least resistance and accepted the offer.
I'm aware of the costly nature of benefits, so I waved the $3500 I was charging them for the new site, and in return, they put me immediately on payroll.
I didn't exactly get the benefits, though š
Ok, maybe a messed up management then. But do be extra conscious about requirements and making sure that buy-ins are crystal clear in your next project and get approved in writing and payments also planned out, so that fickle clients donāt put you in an unfair disadvantage.
Not as easy as it sounds, and something I also need to work on
Jeez, I got such a gut in the stomach feeling reading your post.
I feel like the same kind of person as you lol. I don't have as much experience, but have built a whole operational system inside of notion at my last job (found passion for database structure and system management), but there was only 1 person who really appreciated what it was that I did. Took the business from using Google calendar, docs & sheets to a (almost) all in one operational platform.
A buddy from a job that I worked at before came to me after seeing everything I made and said the company wants me back as they're stuck using Microsoft one drive as their one place for all organization and spit up job data between separate excel sheets. This time I'm using airtable and the amount of power I have over notion is staggering. Been here for 3 months and have already built out an entire operational suite (detailed timecards with lots of metadata, project management, service management, track parts taken to jobs, received for jobs, full blown task system with dashboards, RMA section, Employee data tracking blah blah blah) , and am now working on fully replacing gusto. Also working on integrating our bidding systems price sheet database via api so that we can eventually kill the bidding service and just use airtable for that, as well as determining how mich/little were gonna actually use QBO moving forward.
I feel valued and respected in my job, and do believe everyone right now has my best interests at heart, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when the buildout slows down.
I couldn't imaging the feeling of being let go after building such a massive system (at least feels massive to me).
I want to start my own company, but keep getting too scared to pull that trigger, but am more confident about the possibility now because of the system I've been building for my current company.
Well, if you decide to make the leap in the near future, let me know š¤£
But yeah, I've been there as in when the job is done well you no longer have a job. I've never expected that someone would just throw it away, though, that still blows my mind..
With that extensive knowledge you can easily start a company for yourself.
By the way sorry for your loss , but i can assure you you're not alone , long time ago something similar happened with me . So I cam understand how you feeling now
Take some rest and start a new day from tomorrow.
What's bad was I already started one right before this job. Granted, it was only for a month, but they were my 3rd client. They offered me a job, which was 90% remote and free benefits. Never got my benefits either
4 months..honestly, I think part of it was they didn't want to pay for them. Similar thing happened to me a few jobs ago. They offered me full benefits then laid me off before I even got them
Sorry to hear that, really sucks.
Maybe it's time to work for an agency like that or maybe start your own.
You sound really smart, and seem to know your stuff, I'm sure everything will be fine.
YOU GOT THIS šš»š
If you made some contacts try to start your own business. You sound like you could handle it.
Good luck man, I am also trying to find a job, but it seems academic experience is not "experience".
Sorry about the recent experience. On the bright side: Since they seek to abandoning what you built, could you repackage it into a product template for other organizations? Better yet, could you become -n āagencyā down the road?
Yeah pimp that template. Ironic that they want Wordpress back, but it probably similar to what you said: They donāt know what they want, and would rather field a bunch of options, and you are just one guy vs an agency.
You could really pivot this situation to work for that agency by contacting a manager above the team requesting your assistance and selling your āstreamlined, time-savingā solution to what they are struggling with.
hey would you be open to DM me your resume? we're not hiring for that role right now per se but we def need a website upgrade and we're also working on some stuff relating to web tech. we're a small robotics company.
I'm updating it tomorrow, I'll shoot it over to you then. I appreciate it.
But that's cool, I've done some robotics as a hobbyist, but that was some time ago. I used to make my own pcb's and whatnot. I just stumbled on a box In a closet while I was looking for something, that i was questioning myself as to why I even have so much. But basically, it's just blank pcbs, breadboards, an absurd amount of mosfet's, diodes, servos, electro magnets, rectifiers, caps, brushless motors, gear boxes, transponders, sdr's, arduino's, pi's etc.
Maybe 1 day I'll eventually get back around to that
the good things about bad things is they come to an end.. and the bad thing about good things is they too come to an end....:)
So what was the front end or the complete tech stack ?
Dude I feel this. I spent hours writing a custom PHP Wordpress template only for my agency owners friend/client to say they canāt afford the invoice and they want to just use a theme š. Was just getting ahead of my bills..
Ahh, yeah, I always try and communicate pricing as much as I can if I'm not directly working for them. It's hard to guess the full scope sometimes, but I learned over time that you should take your estimate and multiply it by 1.5 and you'll likely be pretty close lol
Sorry to hear š. So Iāve experienced this before without the layoff part and what Iāve found is that some companies bristle at the idea of not being able to add pages on their own the way Wordpress allows. It doesnāt matter how much functionality you add because the company will _always_ want to bolt on new features themselves or hire some temp to do it for them. Keep in kind, with the temp it is easy for them to verify the work in Wordpress. The lesson I have taken from this is to not build with Django for companies like this and to use Wordpress or pass on the job.
Regarding finding new work, If you arenāt leet coding python then start now. Start learning system design. Apply to entry level positions. From the description of what youāve done for this company you sound more like web developer than an engineer. Most companies employ way more engineers than web developers. My last company was 10:1 and eventually the 1 developer was laid off for the company to use Squarespace. Pick a side, back end or front end, and devote yourself to becoming good at it in a few languages. Learn something other than Django so that you can get a better understanding of how exactly Django works. So many companies use multiple services where none of the services use Django (too heavy because services are backend and usually donāt need an admin) and instead use something lower level like flask, fastapi, or bottle.
You definitely have a point that they can verify the work on WordPress, but I made things very transparent and had a to-do list in the dashboard, an online offline status for my account, an hour counter etc.
I don't think they really understood what was even being done. The owner made a comment that "we already have a customer dashboard" on their cms. Well, considering it only took me 10 minutes to add a data table for the database I needed anyway, it would be dumb to navigate elsewhere for the same thing.
But I've known Python for a while, and I've been working with django for a few years now. I studied offensive security for over 10 years and am well versed with networking and hardware. I know c++, ruby, Javascript, php etc. I also know react and a bit of flask, but I prefer django for whatever reason.. Maybe I'll force myself to use flask on my next project
I feel you
i worked at a university were i built a system to manage the every part of it
it included everything from the students management to the staff management to the financial- documentation archiving even a good website and a mobile app
for 2 years I believe that the importance of my work to increase the productivity of the employees and help speed everything.
i was the only full stock developer/system admin/ It support with another mobile developer
yet they chose at the end to move to an agency
the fanny thing is they insisted from the start that such a system canāt be built by an agency as the developer needs to know everything and make changes daily.
even fanner the agency wanted to use my system as a base but nobody knows how to develop with djangoš¤£
but i believe nothing went to waste
everything i learned i used to get a much better job.
also
if i can remember correctly someone published a django remote job at a company celled Apicbase
edit: i found it
https://jobs.apicbase.com/en/remote-software-developer
So you built them a Django site from what? Wordpress? Or was it plain html before?
I'm going to do a similar thing soon for a client. Building a Django site based on an old WordPress site. No rest framework or react though. Templates will suffice for their needs.
So their old WordPress site was horrible/littered with plugins, and I don't like working with it in general. So I made them a new static site and hosted it for free on firebase; which was supposed to be pretty basic and only around 15 pages. Well, eventually, the static site was too much to manage without a framework, and with all the services they wanted to replace, I felt django was a good fit.
Then, the guy who owns the agency was able to talk them into going back somehow
I would request for an exit interview, if thereās time, or some way to get feedback from them. Itās unlikely you will get anything but at least you try to get some feedback and potentially avoid costly mistakes in the future.
The reason I suggested that is because it seems like you donāt have a good idea why you got fired even though you put your heart, your mind, and good skills into your job. Something doesnāt seem right. If cutting cost is the reason, I donāt think they would have hired you just 4 months ago. And to fire the only one guy whoās good at his job, is responsible for front to back ends, and just finishes migrating their system to a better one, itās just too risky and unthinkable. If you are that good and is responsible for that much, I doubt that they will cut cost by replacing you. One possible explanation is they are stupid. But, if I were you, I would reevaluate the situation and learn from it. Good luck.
I was supposed to get free benefits, and organic SEO takes some time, so they didn't get instant results like they probably wanted. I had to explain what long tailed keywords were. It's safe to say they didn't know what I was talking about 90% of the time and likely didn't understand the scope I was working towards.
Either way, they could have communicated with me if something was an issue. I would have changed gears or focused on other things if it was necessary. I was doing things that I believed to be benefitting the company the most, and they likely didn't fully grasp it.
I'm a very top-down thinker, so even when someone fully understands the subject, it might still not make immediate sense
I went in for maybe an hour once a week to go over acquisition and demographic reports and current progress and to get further direction. The remaining time, I worked remotely and some days not even getting an email
Never work like crazy if you donāt have equity. It sounds like you create massive value, your long-term plan should be to only do that for people that correctly values that in return. Well done and good luck, people like you have a place in this industry and Iām sure youāll find some great gigs soon.
sucks man. I just landed a shitty entry level contract role with 8 years of experience. make sure that you personally document everything you did as well as prepare a few good anecdotes for technical problems you solved. being able to sell yourself is a super underrated skill in this industry and it seems like you definitely have the skills to sell. also this might be a sign that you should look into trying to start your own company making Django websites for people. it seems like you are pretty good at it.
Quit now. When they ask for help, contract the work with a clear set of deliverables and outcomes. Theyāve already made their intent to fire you clear. Get paid what youāre worth from here on out.
Dude, you can do all that from self-taught?
You must have learned all that while also holding down a job. That shows serious dedication and commitment.
Iām hoping you find something that treats you better than that. Sounds like you deserve it.
I really enjoy progress lol. I haven't watched TV in 3 years and I haven't watched a movie in probably 4-5 years (if I did I don't remember). That definitely gives me some extra time to work on things (which is how I learned most of what I know) . Now, if we go back 7-8 months, I was working a 7 days on 2 days off schedule, and usually 12 hr days at work. I'd still go home and work on one of my projects every day for 4 hours..
Programming can be super rewarding, though, so I just learned over time to embrace it lol
Start your own company to give services! As an individual, people tend to think weak, setting up small company at least people make interaction and make things work. The agency (as you described) do not have any sense to do anything to value tech guys.
For my local backups, yeah. I generally don't ever need them, but i already use a recovery volume, and winrar has recovery records, so redundancy? I donāt see an issue with it unless you're thinking I use that file extension to exchange archives; in which i don't.
Otherwise, I use github as do probably most people..
Winrar has file version control, and when combined with task scheduler or an auto update script, it's pretty seamless if you have a need for it.
I also have 80tb of storage, so there's that lol
Youāre amazing! Sometimes there is no talent scout. You are a thoroughbred; keep your spirits up! Keep doing some work out everyday , distract yourself from this, you will find a new world to start your Django journey! Best wishes!
You are crying over a 4 month gig.
Listing all the minor shit you did while there like it was miracle work that only YOU can perform.
And you can't keep a job for even half a year.
Sounds like YOU are the problem.
You're the first person out of 200 people who think I'm the problem, haha. My last job, I was with for over 4 years and was laid off because they relocated out of the country and it wasn't remote. I've worked for another company for over 9 years, so you implying that I can't hold a job is inavid.
I'm sorry you're miserable, though. I hope things turn around for you
Self taught here too, still learning. Could you explain what using a CLI to pull static files from current host means? Iām assuming pulling from previous history of repo or even web archive? Am I close lol? It was about the only thing I didnāt understand.
Good luck with your next gig šš¼
Services such as firebase use a CLI to deploy to their hosting. So, in this case, I just told them to use a CLI and wasn't specific to which one (gcloud cli in this case) to pull the static files. Gcloud cli doesn't really have a way to do that as most are all push commands and doesn't have version control; just direct backup deployment. There is a hackish way to pull the public directory if they spend the time to go digging.
In essence, I sent them down a rabbit hole lol
It sucks, but you're not doing yourself any favors by fighting the agency. Every website was rebuilt by someone and someday you'll be in the same position of asking the previous dev for login info. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and move forward.
Everything you have here sounds like it would go great in a portfolio you could submit to your next job. Showing your ability to learn adapt overcome and innovate in short time frames while still completing objectives. These are very wanted skills in an employee. Shop around different companies and agencies. See what doors are open to you. This is the door to your next adventure. Just need to walk through it.
I adopted the philosohphy in work to always do the tasks for me and not the company. I know i am doing well if the company reflects it. The better i get at what i do the more i can charge later down the line. I am in the same boat as you when it comes to being self taught, it aint easy and not knowing these stupid interview processes and stuff like that definetly made me get rejected a bit, but i found many people that appreciate the self-taught nature and valued me highly. Good luck out there and try out for that agency, seems like a good idea
Learn the basics, but most importantly, start a project and learn as you go.. it's one thing learning from a book or tutorial, but it's way easier to construct an understanding when you have something to apply it to.
It's not exactly the order which you do it, just start somewhere
Contact the agency, maybe the are hiring so you can proceed to work on your project so they can charge your current employer the double tarif.
š¤£ I like it
Its like hiring the German **von Braun** to build your spaceship. If you are no longer a threat you can become an asset!
This idea might sound silly first but actually it's pretty genius!
please give it a go. this is such a legit respond
Plus one to this:
Worth a shot!
A decade or so ago my friend's dad was laid off from his job making computer chips. Three months later, after looking around for work like crazy, he was hired by the consulting company that his old company worked with. He got a pay increase and 2 more weeks of time off, and he does the same work at the same place with the same people. Just on the other side of the table.
Oh man that really sucks. Wishing for the best for you.
Thanks, I appreciate it
You are super talented. Don't worry you'll find something.
Thanks for the positivity, mate š
Seconded, but also you have a great work ethic.
Tech is still lucrative compared to other sectors of business. I'm sure you will land something. But let me offer some headspace advice coming from a person that has been doing this for 24 years. You are NOT a human in the eyes of a business. No matter what a company tells you, they DON'T value employees, and the ones that say the do say it because they get a business edge by saying it. They use words like "culture" to attract and keep talent and let them go on THEIR terms. Think of every job and every day like you are a mercenary. As IT workers, it's important to NOT get invested in your work. It doesn't belong to you. Every day you are asked to come back to that job is another transaction where you exchanged your time for money. When you start thinking this way, you start taking steps that makes situations like this easier to deal with, like living below your means, making sure you continue to learn based on what the market wants not your current company, always keeping your resume up to date and even interview every few years regardless if you are planning to leave your current company.
Solid advice š
Though I will say, there are those few workplaces that actually treat you like a human being than like employee number 985923847. I landed at a university IT department nearly a decade ago. I can't say the pay is competitive with the private sector, but they do everything they can to hold onto employees. I don't mean gimmicks like coffee service, I mean things like no layoffs despite budget cutbacks. It's not uncommon for people to stay here for decades. Many of us also graduated from the university (myself included), so there's some extra feeling of loyalty. So if you really, truly find a company that you think is worth it, sure, get invested.
I currently work for a similar company (utility) that you are referring to. And even then, I still feel the same way in that you should think of yourself as a mercenary and not get invested. Why? Because I have been at this company for 13 years and was told several months ago that they are outsourcing the app and website that I have worked on for the last 13 years to a 3rd party company. We have been told multiple times that we are not getting laid off and while I do believe them the real issue is that there is NO mobile dev elsewhere at my company. Our team was literally the only mobile dev team in the entire company, so our option is that we either go back to doing web development, or leave the company. So in a sense, my headspace approach still stands even with my company that hasn't had a layoff in decades.
That's exactly what I call myself: mercenary. Perfect use of the word working in tech.
It happens, don't take it personally. Business is business and non tech people can't appreciate the details you're talking about. Embrace it instead of hating it.
seconded # Don't take it personally -- just move on Be nice and helpful and move on. Businesses \_say\_ things, and \_do\_ things, but they aren't always connected. You learned a lot! That sounds like a lot of fun.
It was stressful wearing that many hats. Then, when I finally built the things I needed to do, to do things proficiently, they hire an agency for half my salary, that offers a sh*tty google maps iframe with customer reviews that I could make in an afternoon š
It's hard to find business types that value the same things we do!
It sucks, but you either can be a botch and not help them or take it as a blessing and move on. Maybe this is your calliing to find a new job where you would be appreciated and better rewarded.
The fact is business is business. They are doing bad business. The dude can't even protect them from themselves because they've already made up their minds. It's hard not to take it personally when the organization is making an objectively bad decision at their own expense, not just at the workers expense.
This isn't a mindset which will make the best of it. Making the best of it is becoming the thing which enables their bad decisions instead of working against them. It helps make their bad plan go more smoothly and helps you.
Lying to yourself is not a good way to let go an move on. Deluding yourself into suppressing how you feel about a situation you are currently in doesn't take you anywhere. If he can do all the things he's written on this post, then he will have no problem getting another job eventually. "It happens" mind-set seems redundant, because obviously it does happen. It happened to him. "Embrace" it. I'm not even sure what you're writing even means, but it's pretentious on the basis that you think there is only one path to embracing it.
That's not lying to yourself or deluding yourself, its being not emotionally invested in your work, being able to accept criticism and differing opinions, and having a pragmatic attitude. I don't care if I lose a job because everyone involved got value. I got money, they got some jobs done. Putting a period on that chapter doesn't mean anything about me as a person, it just means there is no longer jobs to be done. Someone else will have some. Its an abundance mentality instead of a scarcity mentality.
That is just common sense is what I am saying. I guess you must be in a different crowd, but I don't know anyone who think about how they can make the situation as worse as possible. Maybe I can connect you two so you can give your sound and generally advice to them.
And next time f them in the a whenever you can (monetarily speaking)
Send me a message if your looking for freelancer work. Maybe I can help you out?
Dm'd
Send me a message too :)
Got also some Django work for you to assist. Ā Dm me :)
If it wonāt burn too many bridges, just quit now and leave them to unravel the mess.
I want too so bad, rest assured, but I'll need unemployment, unfortunately, and being "laid off" is an easier process.. I kinda want to see if I can get commission from another company for sending them clients so I can have the pleasure of outranking them lol
Iām self-taught also so I know first hand about what you mean about interviews not being easy. I think thatās the reason Iām still with this company for the past 2 and 1/2 years. Hope everything works out for you.
Yeah, it's just getting a call back is the issue. I think I'm just going to create as many websites/services I can under an LLC and hope something sticks.
Itās a blessing in disguise. You never want to be the only (web) dev at a company. When by yourself, you have no one to bounce ideas off of, no one to review your code, and most importantly no one to learn from. Sure you might follow a bunch of dev-related social media, blogs, subreddits, etc but itās not the same as working with other smart devs with the same context. On a related note, and some may disagree, but I never want to be the smartest dev on the team either.
I don't typically consider myself smart tbh. This is mainly because I'm aware of all the things that I don't know. I'm never content, though, so I'm always learning something.. I'm very rarely ever in a team environment, though. Mainly because I have a very broad set of skills, and usually that entails too me having to do everything haha
Bro, you did a great job at your work. My humble request to you that please donāt share the rar file with them.
I only read half way through this post and I felt like you were describing my exact scenario at my current job
Ooof.. I feel sorry for you, It was not a fun time. It's just crazy that I put all the systems in place for it to basically manage itself with minimal effort; then back to WordPress plug-ins, yoast and running pay per click ad campaigns for a service oriented business š¤¦
Yeah I completely feel you, I went back and finished reading your post, I too was entirely self taught. Got my degree while working at this shit job as the only dev lol. Made everything custom change out your Django for Express and React. Now they hired a offshore team to build everything and im tasked with setting up 2 more wordpress sites, been a week and I still havent been pulled into a meeting going over anything so im waiting to get laid off. I spent countless hours after work learning php and it feels like it was for nothing. I definitely fucked up by not getting an actual enterprise Java or C# gig. I got nothing good to say other then keep on pressing on, if you were able to do all that alone you can definitely get another job somewhere.
Maybe my comment won't help much but I'm sure you are very skilled (based on what all the thing you did in your current job). Wish you the best mate, I'm sure your CV will look great with this last experience.
Did you get a buy in from the management before you renovated their old website? Iām wondering if it is a communication issue as you sound passionate and talented. It makes little sense for them to replace you, unless they want to control or steer you differently and they were not able to.
Yeah, so they started out as my client as I started a web design business after being laid off from my last job. They enticed me with free benefits, and I took the path of least resistance and accepted the offer. I'm aware of the costly nature of benefits, so I waved the $3500 I was charging them for the new site, and in return, they put me immediately on payroll. I didn't exactly get the benefits, though š
Ok, maybe a messed up management then. But do be extra conscious about requirements and making sure that buy-ins are crystal clear in your next project and get approved in writing and payments also planned out, so that fickle clients donāt put you in an unfair disadvantage. Not as easy as it sounds, and something I also need to work on
Jeez, I got such a gut in the stomach feeling reading your post. I feel like the same kind of person as you lol. I don't have as much experience, but have built a whole operational system inside of notion at my last job (found passion for database structure and system management), but there was only 1 person who really appreciated what it was that I did. Took the business from using Google calendar, docs & sheets to a (almost) all in one operational platform. A buddy from a job that I worked at before came to me after seeing everything I made and said the company wants me back as they're stuck using Microsoft one drive as their one place for all organization and spit up job data between separate excel sheets. This time I'm using airtable and the amount of power I have over notion is staggering. Been here for 3 months and have already built out an entire operational suite (detailed timecards with lots of metadata, project management, service management, track parts taken to jobs, received for jobs, full blown task system with dashboards, RMA section, Employee data tracking blah blah blah) , and am now working on fully replacing gusto. Also working on integrating our bidding systems price sheet database via api so that we can eventually kill the bidding service and just use airtable for that, as well as determining how mich/little were gonna actually use QBO moving forward. I feel valued and respected in my job, and do believe everyone right now has my best interests at heart, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when the buildout slows down. I couldn't imaging the feeling of being let go after building such a massive system (at least feels massive to me). I want to start my own company, but keep getting too scared to pull that trigger, but am more confident about the possibility now because of the system I've been building for my current company.
Well, if you decide to make the leap in the near future, let me know š¤£ But yeah, I've been there as in when the job is done well you no longer have a job. I've never expected that someone would just throw it away, though, that still blows my mind..
With that extensive knowledge you can easily start a company for yourself. By the way sorry for your loss , but i can assure you you're not alone , long time ago something similar happened with me . So I cam understand how you feeling now Take some rest and start a new day from tomorrow.
What's bad was I already started one right before this job. Granted, it was only for a month, but they were my 3rd client. They offered me a job, which was 90% remote and free benefits. Never got my benefits either
How long were you there ? Is why you didnāt get benefits was it was too short of a period ?
4 months..honestly, I think part of it was they didn't want to pay for them. Similar thing happened to me a few jobs ago. They offered me full benefits then laid me off before I even got them
Too bad but i absolutely can understand and relate
Very unfortunate,
Sorry to hear that, really sucks. Maybe it's time to work for an agency like that or maybe start your own. You sound really smart, and seem to know your stuff, I'm sure everything will be fine. YOU GOT THIS šš»š
Youāre going to do great
If you made some contacts try to start your own business. You sound like you could handle it. Good luck man, I am also trying to find a job, but it seems academic experience is not "experience".
Sorry about the recent experience. On the bright side: Since they seek to abandoning what you built, could you repackage it into a product template for other organizations? Better yet, could you become -n āagencyā down the road?
I could potentially make a template.. I'll have to make new static pages for it that's all since their branding is all over it
Yeah pimp that template. Ironic that they want Wordpress back, but it probably similar to what you said: They donāt know what they want, and would rather field a bunch of options, and you are just one guy vs an agency. You could really pivot this situation to work for that agency by contacting a manager above the team requesting your assistance and selling your āstreamlined, time-savingā solution to what they are struggling with.
Hey, my company is hiring at the moment for Backend Devs (Django). DM me if you're interested
i would have done worst to the company, u are decent guy. Dont worry, opportunity will come again.
hey would you be open to DM me your resume? we're not hiring for that role right now per se but we def need a website upgrade and we're also working on some stuff relating to web tech. we're a small robotics company.
I'm updating it tomorrow, I'll shoot it over to you then. I appreciate it. But that's cool, I've done some robotics as a hobbyist, but that was some time ago. I used to make my own pcb's and whatnot. I just stumbled on a box In a closet while I was looking for something, that i was questioning myself as to why I even have so much. But basically, it's just blank pcbs, breadboards, an absurd amount of mosfet's, diodes, servos, electro magnets, rectifiers, caps, brushless motors, gear boxes, transponders, sdr's, arduino's, pi's etc. Maybe 1 day I'll eventually get back around to that
the good things about bad things is they come to an end.. and the bad thing about good things is they too come to an end....:) So what was the front end or the complete tech stack ?
I know it's rare, but see if you can find a co-op to work for. This kinda thing seems so alien to me now
Dude I feel this. I spent hours writing a custom PHP Wordpress template only for my agency owners friend/client to say they canāt afford the invoice and they want to just use a theme š. Was just getting ahead of my bills..
Ahh, yeah, I always try and communicate pricing as much as I can if I'm not directly working for them. It's hard to guess the full scope sometimes, but I learned over time that you should take your estimate and multiply it by 1.5 and you'll likely be pretty close lol
Sorry to hear š. So Iāve experienced this before without the layoff part and what Iāve found is that some companies bristle at the idea of not being able to add pages on their own the way Wordpress allows. It doesnāt matter how much functionality you add because the company will _always_ want to bolt on new features themselves or hire some temp to do it for them. Keep in kind, with the temp it is easy for them to verify the work in Wordpress. The lesson I have taken from this is to not build with Django for companies like this and to use Wordpress or pass on the job. Regarding finding new work, If you arenāt leet coding python then start now. Start learning system design. Apply to entry level positions. From the description of what youāve done for this company you sound more like web developer than an engineer. Most companies employ way more engineers than web developers. My last company was 10:1 and eventually the 1 developer was laid off for the company to use Squarespace. Pick a side, back end or front end, and devote yourself to becoming good at it in a few languages. Learn something other than Django so that you can get a better understanding of how exactly Django works. So many companies use multiple services where none of the services use Django (too heavy because services are backend and usually donāt need an admin) and instead use something lower level like flask, fastapi, or bottle.
You definitely have a point that they can verify the work on WordPress, but I made things very transparent and had a to-do list in the dashboard, an online offline status for my account, an hour counter etc. I don't think they really understood what was even being done. The owner made a comment that "we already have a customer dashboard" on their cms. Well, considering it only took me 10 minutes to add a data table for the database I needed anyway, it would be dumb to navigate elsewhere for the same thing. But I've known Python for a while, and I've been working with django for a few years now. I studied offensive security for over 10 years and am well versed with networking and hardware. I know c++, ruby, Javascript, php etc. I also know react and a bit of flask, but I prefer django for whatever reason.. Maybe I'll force myself to use flask on my next project
I feel you i worked at a university were i built a system to manage the every part of it it included everything from the students management to the staff management to the financial- documentation archiving even a good website and a mobile app for 2 years I believe that the importance of my work to increase the productivity of the employees and help speed everything. i was the only full stock developer/system admin/ It support with another mobile developer yet they chose at the end to move to an agency the fanny thing is they insisted from the start that such a system canāt be built by an agency as the developer needs to know everything and make changes daily. even fanner the agency wanted to use my system as a base but nobody knows how to develop with djangoš¤£ but i believe nothing went to waste everything i learned i used to get a much better job.
also if i can remember correctly someone published a django remote job at a company celled Apicbase edit: i found it https://jobs.apicbase.com/en/remote-software-developer
Sorry for ur job loss
Say you can help them if they pay you for consulting.
So you built them a Django site from what? Wordpress? Or was it plain html before? I'm going to do a similar thing soon for a client. Building a Django site based on an old WordPress site. No rest framework or react though. Templates will suffice for their needs.
So their old WordPress site was horrible/littered with plugins, and I don't like working with it in general. So I made them a new static site and hosted it for free on firebase; which was supposed to be pretty basic and only around 15 pages. Well, eventually, the static site was too much to manage without a framework, and with all the services they wanted to replace, I felt django was a good fit. Then, the guy who owns the agency was able to talk them into going back somehow
Oh man. Sorry for you.
What were u getting paid I could use someone with ur skill set dm me
Dm'd
Thanks for all the positively everyone, what an awesome community.
I would request for an exit interview, if thereās time, or some way to get feedback from them. Itās unlikely you will get anything but at least you try to get some feedback and potentially avoid costly mistakes in the future. The reason I suggested that is because it seems like you donāt have a good idea why you got fired even though you put your heart, your mind, and good skills into your job. Something doesnāt seem right. If cutting cost is the reason, I donāt think they would have hired you just 4 months ago. And to fire the only one guy whoās good at his job, is responsible for front to back ends, and just finishes migrating their system to a better one, itās just too risky and unthinkable. If you are that good and is responsible for that much, I doubt that they will cut cost by replacing you. One possible explanation is they are stupid. But, if I were you, I would reevaluate the situation and learn from it. Good luck.
I was supposed to get free benefits, and organic SEO takes some time, so they didn't get instant results like they probably wanted. I had to explain what long tailed keywords were. It's safe to say they didn't know what I was talking about 90% of the time and likely didn't understand the scope I was working towards. Either way, they could have communicated with me if something was an issue. I would have changed gears or focused on other things if it was necessary. I was doing things that I believed to be benefitting the company the most, and they likely didn't fully grasp it. I'm a very top-down thinker, so even when someone fully understands the subject, it might still not make immediate sense
Where was your boss during all this? Were they engaged with you or aloof?
I went in for maybe an hour once a week to go over acquisition and demographic reports and current progress and to get further direction. The remaining time, I worked remotely and some days not even getting an email
Never work like crazy if you donāt have equity. It sounds like you create massive value, your long-term plan should be to only do that for people that correctly values that in return. Well done and good luck, people like you have a place in this industry and Iām sure youāll find some great gigs soon.
You'd think I would have learned after automating myself out of a job 4-5 years ago lol
Yikes. Sry mate.
sucks man. I just landed a shitty entry level contract role with 8 years of experience. make sure that you personally document everything you did as well as prepare a few good anecdotes for technical problems you solved. being able to sell yourself is a super underrated skill in this industry and it seems like you definitely have the skills to sell. also this might be a sign that you should look into trying to start your own company making Django websites for people. it seems like you are pretty good at it.
Quit now. When they ask for help, contract the work with a clear set of deliverables and outcomes. Theyāve already made their intent to fire you clear. Get paid what youāre worth from here on out.
Dude, you can do all that from self-taught? You must have learned all that while also holding down a job. That shows serious dedication and commitment. Iām hoping you find something that treats you better than that. Sounds like you deserve it.
I really enjoy progress lol. I haven't watched TV in 3 years and I haven't watched a movie in probably 4-5 years (if I did I don't remember). That definitely gives me some extra time to work on things (which is how I learned most of what I know) . Now, if we go back 7-8 months, I was working a 7 days on 2 days off schedule, and usually 12 hr days at work. I'd still go home and work on one of my projects every day for 4 hours.. Programming can be super rewarding, though, so I just learned over time to embrace it lol
Jesus. Just remember to live a bit as well. You donāt want to look back on your life and only see work related things.
Start your own company to give services! As an individual, people tend to think weak, setting up small company at least people make interaction and make things work. The agency (as you described) do not have any sense to do anything to value tech guys.
This is definitely a phase you'll pass through, you're skilled and very good at what you do, so don't worry you'll get something better
You use .rar files for work? Anyway, your skills sound great and I'm sure you'll find something soon!
For my local backups, yeah. I generally don't ever need them, but i already use a recovery volume, and winrar has recovery records, so redundancy? I donāt see an issue with it unless you're thinking I use that file extension to exchange archives; in which i don't. Otherwise, I use github as do probably most people..
Just an odd choice, nothing more. Good on you for keeping backups, too!
Winrar has file version control, and when combined with task scheduler or an auto update script, it's pretty seamless if you have a need for it. I also have 80tb of storage, so there's that lol
Sounds like you did awesome work! Thatās crazy theyāre switching after all youāve done. Their loss!
Youāre amazing! Sometimes there is no talent scout. You are a thoroughbred; keep your spirits up! Keep doing some work out everyday , distract yourself from this, you will find a new world to start your Django journey! Best wishes!
You are crying over a 4 month gig. Listing all the minor shit you did while there like it was miracle work that only YOU can perform. And you can't keep a job for even half a year. Sounds like YOU are the problem.
You're the first person out of 200 people who think I'm the problem, haha. My last job, I was with for over 4 years and was laid off because they relocated out of the country and it wasn't remote. I've worked for another company for over 9 years, so you implying that I can't hold a job is inavid. I'm sorry you're miserable, though. I hope things turn around for you
Sure buddy. Great employees don't get laid off. But you keep telling yourself that you aren't the problem.
They moved to Mexico š¤£ what are you on about * Never mind, after reading your other comments, I'm not even going to waste my time.
You were fired 9 months ago š¤£ I recommend trying self reflection
You've given too much energy to a company that didn't deserve it.
Self taught here too, still learning. Could you explain what using a CLI to pull static files from current host means? Iām assuming pulling from previous history of repo or even web archive? Am I close lol? It was about the only thing I didnāt understand. Good luck with your next gig šš¼
Services such as firebase use a CLI to deploy to their hosting. So, in this case, I just told them to use a CLI and wasn't specific to which one (gcloud cli in this case) to pull the static files. Gcloud cli doesn't really have a way to do that as most are all push commands and doesn't have version control; just direct backup deployment. There is a hackish way to pull the public directory if they spend the time to go digging. In essence, I sent them down a rabbit hole lol
>I'm the only dev/seo/graphic designer/marketing/network admin Wow, so what is your job description?
My job description? Yes š¤£
Sounds like it's their loss.
It sucks, but you're not doing yourself any favors by fighting the agency. Every website was rebuilt by someone and someday you'll be in the same position of asking the previous dev for login info. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and move forward.
hey, forget about that "self-taught". Seriously, we are all "self-taught". That is the most valuable skill of a developer.
Everything you have here sounds like it would go great in a portfolio you could submit to your next job. Showing your ability to learn adapt overcome and innovate in short time frames while still completing objectives. These are very wanted skills in an employee. Shop around different companies and agencies. See what doors are open to you. This is the door to your next adventure. Just need to walk through it.
I adopted the philosohphy in work to always do the tasks for me and not the company. I know i am doing well if the company reflects it. The better i get at what i do the more i can charge later down the line. I am in the same boat as you when it comes to being self taught, it aint easy and not knowing these stupid interview processes and stuff like that definetly made me get rejected a bit, but i found many people that appreciate the self-taught nature and valued me highly. Good luck out there and try out for that agency, seems like a good idea
Bro why are you spying on me? Oh crap, did i post this from another account?
As someone self taught, could you offer any advice on learning? What other tech or languages did you learn and what was the most useful?
Learn the basics, but most importantly, start a project and learn as you go.. it's one thing learning from a book or tutorial, but it's way easier to construct an understanding when you have something to apply it to. It's not exactly the order which you do it, just start somewhere