They hired through a contract; they didn’t expand their payroll, as I understand it, they contracted w/ a vendor they will pay (if they pay) out of a whole other pot of money. They get a few weeks of work they can wait to pay for w/o having to fight a labor board and maybe that’s enough to get them a bit of cash flow. These are wild guesses on my part, of course. I’m cynical when it comes to the actions of businesses who don’t directly hire people.
Because the guy I was replacing probably cost more than I did. Not that he made more (I wouldn’t know) but the contracting company probably charged more.
Penny wise, pound foolish, as they say. Paying someone less isn’t going to work out if they aren’t familiar with your systems, you don’t provide the needed resources, and you have important customers scheduled for a demo in a couple of weeks of things that aren’t complete.
Of course I’m just surmising that he cost more and they were trying to save money. He may have quit because of the things that had me near quiting. Poor resources, vague, constantly changing direction and priorities, impossible deadlines, and the wasting of my time making me sit in useless meetings.
Sorry to hear that.
For me, the worst part of not having a job is not knowing when you’ll get a job.
I mean, I could be happily unemployed, if I knew I was going to start working next week. But you never do.
Your intuitions were dead on with that place. That’s something I guess.
Maybe that’s what the prayer circles were about; trying to pray the company back into good shape.
They were one person short.
They weren’t completely dead on. It wasnt a scam, which was my original concern.
They paid me for two weeks spent beginning to learn their systems (such as they are), and they got pretty much nothing in return.
I learned quite a bit about the shortcomings of Windows 10’s Linux subsystem and why it’s no replacement for a Mac or a real Linux OS (which I would have guessed).
So they gave me a learning experience and paid me for it.
And that one person could have helped them, given the proper tools and a reasonable amount of time.
AND a good thread on the SDMB.
From which I did not profit in any way, although I’m glad that people enjoyed it.
Hope you’re not beating yourself up over this.
This is the very nature of ANY new employee. It’s foolish to hire anyone for less than 2-3 months, because even with a genius you need to invest the time in them before they pay back that investment.
The fact that DataDesk Devout Devotion & Digital Device Distributors didn’t understand this just points to them being a small-time (or small-minded) outfit.
Thank you. I know that’s true but even so I’ve been torn between feelings of inadequacy and the realization that their expectations were completely unrealistic, especially given the lack of any workable development environment.
The plan of last resort was to do development and testing on their staging server, but then that account became inaccessible a few days ago, I suspect due to lack of payment.
So without a workable Linux environment that could support both a virtual copy of their production machine and their deployment tools, they’re pretty much screwed as far as getting anything done short term.
Maybe the company blew their budget on recording devices and “wire tapping?”
They’re constantly courting investors. I think that they’re pretty much surviving hand to mouth.
Now they’ve gotten themselves into a corner. Even if they can get a Mac and find a developer and explain to him clearly what they want and don’t keep changing it, it can’t possibly be ready by Thursday next week. They might be able to put together a convincing fake that looks good on the surface, but that’s just kicking the can even further down the road.
Any time you lose a job, I think it’s normal to have feelings of inadequacy, but I really can’t see that you should be kicking yourself for anything here.
So how much severance pay days did you get? Get ANY pay at all? In spendable currency of the realm?
Looks like two weeks of regular pay:
I doubt there was “severance pay”, but davem can set us straight.
No severance. I can’t say if the company will actually pay for me, but my actual employer, the contracting company, will pay me. They already paid me for last week.
My recruiter there has said that he’ll look for another position for me, so I don’t think he blames me for this.
If you haven’t already, don’t forget to update your resume w/ the new real world experience and a nameless description of the company. You learned something, even if it’s ‘how not to run a company on razor thing margins’.
Do stop back and let us know about your next gig!
Hope it’s less* interesting…*
Does the OP have a basement and does he live near a bank?
You’ve all been terribly fooled by davidm.
He mentioned that the company was at this new location for a few weeks. He must have staked out the company because they have inroads to the Republicans. He gets them to think it’s advantageous to move to these new digs. Then he kills off other developers who apply for jobs so that only he gets hired. Then he gets them to invest their own money in new computer equipment just for him! He then uses his Linux skills to setup monitoring software and backdoor access. Then he points out the bosses recorder so that it looks like a perfectly normal occurrence. So if any of the other recorders that he planted are found, they’ll just think it was management.
He hasn’t been worried about being scammed. He’s been setting up an alibi because he’s been setting up that company to gather evidence to blackmail the Republican Party! It’s the only thing that makes sense! :eek: