So I work for a pretty small software company (about 15 people), and a month ago we hired 2 people, working in the same department as me. One of them has been doing really amazingly, and has gotten up to speed and productive super quickly. The other... not so much. I'll call him Eddy for the sake of this post. Eddy is not a native English speaker (although he's perfectly fluent), and had comparatively little experience writing code before starting the position. I was the exact same when I started a year ago. The difference is, Eddy has had a very difficult time catching on to some pretty basic things like version control, QA, templating, basic web development things. He has a hard time grasping some concepts. That's not to say he wasn't slowly coming around - just at quite a slower pace than others.
Last week, a boss called myself and another co-worker into her office to talk about how the 2 new people were coming along. The general agreement all around was that the first guy is doing great, and Eddy not so much. There was no denying that Eddy was having a hard time and was simply not catching on to some basic concepts.
Come the end of the day today, Eddy gets called into the president's office, and we can hear him get fired. I didn't think I'd internally react this way, but I felt like absolute shit immediately once I realized what was happening. And that's mainly what I'm writing this post about. Eddy's a really nice, quiet guy. And he couldn't say anything other than "ok, alright" as he was being fired. I felt so god damned bad for him, having just started at a position far far better than any position he's ever had, and he got fired after a month. I could easily picture myself in his position - both in not being a good enough programmer, and just sitting there nodding as I'm being told why I'm being fired. The president of the company is a super intimidating guy.
I can't help but lament about how he must feel, having to explain to his friends and family and future interviewers why he was fired. It seems like it's some sort of major life event. I'm certain my boss hired him because of his lack of experience - so he could pay him relatively little (compared to someone with a lot of experience), and if he works out - great! But it didn't. If it were me, I'd be going back to see my therapist, if I could make it out of my bed. Maybe it's because I've never witnessed someone get fired. I felt and still feel sick to my stomach, and I feel like I was a part of it for agreeing that he wasn't doing well in the meeting with my boss.
But I also completely see the other side. We're a small company, and paying someone who can't contribute a fair share simply can't be afforded. He couldn't hold his weight. It's not like the company is doing the 'wrong' thing for firing him - it's doing what it needs to do to profit and remain financially stable.
I don't know how to feel about this. I'm not even sure exactly why I feel like sharing this. I have no idea why I'm so worked up about it. I just can't cool down. It's making me hate working in the business world. I still feel sick to my stomach. Any advice, hubski?