I took a director role at a previous job because I saw a lot of issues and I wanted the power to fix them. I didn't know the pain of having to let someone go. After the second firing, I left for a contributor role and vowed to never work in management again. Worst two years of my career.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have been relatively lucky in that regard. So far all of the involuntary terminations I have had to deal with were a level below me, so I have been involved, but not to the same degree as firing someone I've worked with closely. I was starting on a PIP a few years ago with a direct employee, but they took a long-term leave and reorged to another team before we finished.

This year my department has been going through a particularly bad reorg, which included some individuals ending up in roles they didn't want. One of my directs asked for severence, which was a weird situation and so far one indirect employee has quit.

Overall, I don't enjoy being in a leadership role, but I can't make the same pay in a more enjoyable role, so I have stuck with it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

but I can’t make the same pay

I can empathize with this. Theoretically anyone can progress to higher levels and pay at my company but it rarely happens without leadership, and usually also means directly managing people.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What was the context of your firings? As in, was it something mandated or a decision you had to make?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The first was mandated. It happened my first week in the office. The other one was initiated by me with a long, drawn out pip. That one was hard because we had worked together for almost two years and our families became close.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The second one sounds rough. Both of mine have been campus hires that weren’t panning out. I wasn’t close to either but I did put nearly a year in managing and mentoring before throwing in the towel. Sucks in its own way though to fire a kid from their first real job.