Firing a programmer- Help 4343 Responses

Last post: 1 year, 10 months ago | Thread started: Mar 5, 10, 11:45 a.m.

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• johngrif

  I have a programmer that we brought on as an outsourced freelancer who we are about to layout for incompetence (or maybe it was my incompetence in hiring him to start haha). I was wondering what steps I must take to ensure a smooth transition and that he has returned/destroyed all our company materials and what else he should do before leaving. What are the steps I should take? What should i be concerned about with his departure?

  Since I have never been through this process of letting go a developer before what do i need to ensure from our side to make sure he has returned all our material and couldn't do anything malicious to us (he wouldn't I think but just to make sure in the future). I paid him his last check so we are up to date and I have changed all his passwords and he can not log into the site at this time. Thanks for any recommendations.

  Mar 5, 10, 11:45 a.m. – Permalink

• bored2death

  Bullet proof vest for yourself.

  • Check. I have my eye on all incoming flight passenger lists from the Philippines just in case– johngrif

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 11:48 a.m. – Permalink

• CALLES

  

  • "Or What? You'll Release the Dogs? or the Bees? or the Dogs with Bees in Their Mouths so When They Bark They Shoot Bees at You?"– fugged1/2

    ... Shoot Bees at You?"– fugged2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 11:49 a.m. – Permalink

• pillhead

  

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 11:50 a.m. – Permalink

• clearThoughts

  You are f*ck*d. Ever heard of identity theft?

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 12:22 p.m. – Permalink

• persona_non_grata

  I remember one time I was let go.
  I was busting my chops for this company, I guess they didn't want to pay my rate and the person I was working with was older than me; think i bruised her ego a bit. (both fresh out of college so age still mattered 23 vs 25)

  Either way - make it seem as if everything is fine
  step 1 (optional) pretend maybe your adding someone in who is overlooking the project - new project manager, new investor coming to oversee certain technical aspects of the project.
  step2 - casually ask for all the files and assets to accomplish step 1 or anything that makes sence
  step3(optinal) - change company emails or send an email about someone's password being stolen
  step 4 - ask for all passwords and make sure you have user rights - backup everything
  step 5 - give him a nice severance check - and note that its because of all the turmoil makes u need to downsize or whatever - maybe give the hope of being added to a new project thats starting in a few weeks(although this may not be nice - use just if you think your dealing with a vengeful person)

  • clarification - step 3 is to prompt a reason for step 4 - change his email as well ... nothing to alert anything here– persona_non_grata

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 12:47 p.m. – Permalink

• Meeklo

  

  “We find it’s always better to fire people on a Friday. Studies have statistically shown that there’s less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week.”

  • Or you give them a whole weekend to stew and mull and buy a gun.– i_monk1/2

    not according to the studies...– Meeklo2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 12:49 p.m. – Permalink

• stoplying

  Write the message in code.

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 12:55 p.m. – Permalink

• drgss

  Let me do it

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 12:57 p.m. – Permalink

• uan

  this comes to mind:
  Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer:
  S.F. officials locked out of computer network
  (Tuesday, July 15, 2008)

  Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ar…

  • Amazing; good for him!– ideaist

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 1:19 p.m. – Permalink

• El_Montr0

  You can etiher be honest and tell him in a professional way that he just got fired.

  Or tell him that you lost one of the "big" clients and you need to cut some ppl. <<< That always work!

  • I totally agree with you. Just be honest.– dasmeteor

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 1:20 p.m. – Permalink

• drgss

  Or if you were a good leader, who takes responsibility and is concerned that people around you grow in their work, you would make him aware of his mistakes

  • It's past that already. We have constantly been telling him to be more careful and its only gotten worse.– johngrif1/2

    in high school that works– persona_non_grata2/2

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 1:27 p.m. – Permalink

• spraycan

  he'll be back..

  

  • I need that guy on my front lines. hahah– johngrif1/3

    lol– spraycan2/3

    sumwurks friends are definitely not gay– fooler23/3

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 1:41 p.m. – Permalink

• johngrif

  This is all really helpful and sort of how i understood the process happening. I feel bad about letting them go but I gave them a fair shake and all their money so I feel its best to move on. I just want to make sure that he doesn't try to sell or mess with our code. Plus I want to stay cordial with them and avoid any potential pitfalls.

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 1:42 p.m. – Permalink

• fugged

  make sure you have all the source code in a secure place
  make sure you have any/all account information for 3rd party services that are being used so there are no surprises
  make sure you have all the login credentials for all services, servers and the likes
  make sure you're ready to lock them out quickly upon letting him/her go

  if you have another programming resource available that is trustworthy, you may have them take a look at all the code they ahve written to make sure it is in a place that can be taken over by someone else, otherwise, you may be screwing yourself even further and end up with a nightmare. If it isn't, you might have to tread lightly and see if you can get them to document the source well enough to hand off.

  just a few things that come to mind. not sure if they fit your situation.

  most of all, try to make it as diplomatic as possible. the last thing you want is a conflict that results in them doing harm to the company.

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 1:49 p.m. – Permalink

• ryoshu

  Shut down any accounts that were assigned to him; change passwords on any shared accounts; shut down his company email; ask him to delete any company or client code he may have. If you're worried he might have done something in the code (back doors), a code review may be in order, but only really skeevy developers do that sort of thing.

  Another thing that seems small, but actually goes a long way is to wish him good luck and say something along the lines of, "sorry it didn't work out." You don't want him to take the decision personally. Good will goes a long way in making sure people don't try to screw you later.

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 1:52 p.m. – Permalink

• whatsup

  He probably put in a back door. other companies have resulted to killing the programmer to make it look like an accident.

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 2:55 p.m. – Permalink

• drgss

  How to kill a developer?

  Discuss

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 2:56 p.m. – Permalink

• ryoshu

  Killing the dev is too messy. It's much more fun to mock him in his .bash_history.

  • lol....real programmers use tcsh– sublocked

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 2:59 p.m. – Permalink

• whatsup

  he probably has too much insight into your company's business. If you let him go, he'll end up going to another company and exposing your company. other companies might consider a pay off if an accident is not possible.

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 3:05 p.m. – Permalink

• monospaced

  Why are you so worried that he'll sabotage you? People get let go all the time.

  • i'm not that worries but just want to be prepared for everything and have never done it.– johngrif

  

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  Dog-earMar 5, 10, 3:09 p.m. – Permalink