So yeah, I had to fire another employee a few days ago, and it sucked. It’s one of the worst parts of my job. Why? Because I like people, and I actually like the guy I had to fire.

How I feel like when I fire an employee.

Some background perchance?

I work in a small start-up and we hire most of our developers via Upwork. A couple of weeks ago I hired a backend Node.js developer to work on our API servers. He’s a really nice guy, super smart and great communication skills.

Don’t be that kind of manager, who sees his employees as bolts in an assembly line.

As I always do, I started sending him issues on github to resolve, each one increasing in scope and difficulty. I told him that this is a large codebase and he should not fake it till he makes it, but should feel free to ask me as many questions as possible, as I prefer quality over quantity, and have no tolerance for mediocre code, submitted prematurely just to make it seem like you can meet any deadline. I tell all my new employees that I value and appreciate questions and would like them to feel free to get to know the code and myself as well as possible before contributing.

It just wasn’t working, but in the weirdest possible way.

About a week after we started working together, I began to see the strangest pattern I’ve ever seen while hiring a new employee. Usually, within a few days, I know with certainty whether this one is a keeper or not, and I try not to drag the process out in fairness to both parties.

With this guy, I just couldn’t get it. Some tasks which seemed trivial would take a day and would require me to physically pair program with him to solve the issue, and some tasks that seemed complex to me would be done in amazingly short times.

Always communicate honestly, even if it’s not pleasant.

It’s really hard to manage people who aren’t in the same building as you are. I was sure he was working hard, but I couldn’t understand the erratic progress. Finally, after about two weeks of work, many pair programming sessions, and video chats where I explained the architecture of our code, I asked him to have a phone call discussing his progress.

I started the phone call with respect but also extreme honesty. I believe that each and every one of my employees is a human being, doing their best given the circumstances and deserves my utmost respect.

“I want to tell you in advance that this is going to be a complicated conversation. You may hear a lot of unpleasant criticism but I’d actually like you to keep in mind that I mean the opposite. I’m having some difficulty deciding whether we should keep working together, and the goal of this conversation is to find an honest and comfortable way for us to succeed.”

The conversation went in the best possible way imaginable. I started by saying how much I appreciate him. I told him he’s intelligent and hard working and has great communication skills, which are crucial for me. I told him how confused I am about the perplexing history of his work under my supervision. Right off the bat, I discovered the exact problem. While he’s a very proficient and experienced front-end developer, this is his first back-end project. This point, a crucial one, was not disclosed in the hiring process by his managers. Suddenly it all made sense! He’s not incompetent or slacking off, he’s just inexperienced.

To make a long story short, I told him I’d ask my boss for another week or two of trial and see if we could find a way to keep working together now that I have all the facts. At the end of those two weeks, Unfortunately, I had to fire him. This time the conversation was straightforward. I told him that his lack of experience was not something we could accommodate in our current constellation and that I think he’ll be a great back-end developer in 6 to 12 months that I would be happy to hire and keep. He thanked me for the opportunity and said he completely understands and we parted with a mutual feeling of dignity and respect.

I feel that my honesty and forthcoming made the whole horrible affair (because firing someone/getting fired always sucks) easier and more transparent, and encouraged him to feel as though he was valued and respected and should tell me the whole truth, even the ugly bits.

I’m still new at this, and have fired and hired a limited number of employees. As an advancing manager and not an advanced manager, I would love to hear you thoughts and experiences about this matter.

Honestly yours,

Jonathan