getting fired after just 5 weeks

many years ago, in one of my first software engineering jobs, i was fired after just 5 weeks!

i was just starting out, i had quit my first software engineering degree, and i applied to a webdesign agency in my home-town. pay was meh, job was meh. but money is better than no money and a job is better than no job.

so, i’m handling my tasks, i’m getting involved in the work, but i can feel something’s off.

a few weeks later, i get invited to the boss’s office: we have to let you go… we’re struggling financially, bla bla bla. thanks for being here, bye bye! 👋 

two weeks later, they hire another engineer fulltime. wow! that hurt!

but at this company, i was not just doing what i was told. i questioned everything, tried to improve the ideas, see how we can solve these problems in a better way!

now, i’m the head of engineering at apex, and what this company didn’t like about me, has become my biggest asset.

it’s easy to be deterred by an event like this. it’s easy to give in, it’s easy to say: this is not for me.

but, i had one thing on my side: faith that i know the right way for myself!

i quickly got another job, and just 6 months later joined a startup as the technical lead to build out their software.

sometimes, things are a blessing in disguise. if you believe in yourself enough, you will figure things out, and you will keep going on your path.

now, if you’re struggling with direction, if you don’t have this determination, here are some things i learned in the past 10 years of my career:

• action > planing. if you don’t know what you should do, start doing anything. something will stick, something will be more fun than other things

• intuition > money. i always always always made my decision based on intuition. i got offers for a lot of money, i was severely underpaid for a number of years, but i gained valuable experience. i’m not saying, you should strive to be underpaid 😅, but sometimes it’s a price you have to pay

• people > content. it matters wayyy more who you work with and who you learn from, than what you work on.

#HumanMade