Junior Developer doing well but management wants to fire him

Question

I am a technical lead in a medium-sized company managing a team of just over 50 developers. We have many senior and mid-level developers and a few juniors. One of our junior developers has been working with us for nearly a year now and he's a good team player; even though he lacks experience he tackles challenges head-on and has a positive can-do attitude. He is exceeding in all of his tasks and I have no doubt he has a bright future ahead of him.

However annual reviews are coming up and this is where everything is taken into account, not only in terms of performance but also the person’s goals for the future. In my last meeting with senior management they have told me that they intend to fire this junior developer. Knowing how well he is doing, I objected and defended him giving many examples of the contributions he has made. The only reason management gave me is that "we need someone more senior to perform tasks quicker" and that "money is not an issue, if we need to pay more for a senior we will". They have told me to break the news to the junior developer and give him his notice period beginning of next week.

I think they are making a mistake and that this developer should be kept. I really hate telling someone they are going to be let go as I have been on both sides of this before and it's not a good feeling. Is there something more I could do to ensure his future at this company?

UPDATE

I have told management that I am not happy doing this to the junior developer so someone from management will do it instead, they agreed it was not part of my role. Thanks for the responses, yes I will write him a recommendation and give glowing references as that is what he deserves he has done fantastic work during his time at the company and it's sad that he won't be with us anymore. As for the real reason why he's being let go I could be here all day speculating but long story short, it's unclear.

You started working there recently. How can you know that well about the possibilities and the progress curve of this junior? — Džuris, Mar 28 '17 at 21:00
Have you tried pushing back on being the one doing the firing. SInce you object to the person being fired, then the person who made the choice to do so should have some courage and do it himself or herself. Have you said that you don't think you could do this properly since you don't agree with the decision? — HLGEM, Mar 29 '17 at 17:25
Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. — enderland, Mar 29 '17 at 17:30
With senior management it realistically is not always going to be about work performance. Push back against them at your own risk. — user1958722, Mar 29 '17 at 17:57
@Džuris from the OP's serial of questions, it looks like he finally declined the offer: Recruiter demanding I sign dodgy paperwork after joining job then How to deal with persistent recruiter still contacting me after declining offer. — fedorqui, Mar 30 '17 at 07:51
JavaGuru with he finally declined the offer I meant you, the OP :) This referring to you not being new in the company as @Džuris 's comment would suggest. — fedorqui, Mar 30 '17 at 10:45
One year of experience and a glowing reference are more than enough to land another role. I think the best thing you can do is build him up for his job hunt. Tell him to prepare a CV, put it on 5 - 10 job sites and within a week the phone will literally not stop ringing (if you're working with a common tech stack). I have 3 months in my first role and 6 months in my second role, and I get non-stop communications. — Dom, Mar 30 '17 at 12:54
@JavaGuru do you have many unrelated workplaces with unrelated problems? Or are you making this all up? — Džuris, Mar 30 '17 at 14:09
If money is no object, then they should hire the senior developer first. Assuming US market, your managers could be waiting a loooooooooong time before they find someone who is a proper fit for their expectations. Because while the guy you have may be junior, he's actually doing work which is a better situation than having an open senior position for an unknown amount of time. The chance of having an empty dev position for months is a very real possibility. — Ellesedil, Mar 30 '17 at 16:45
@JavaGuru so your account is 8 days old and is being used by multiple people who already have 4 workplace questions, and one of the people works with over 100 devs and another works with just over 50 devs, so they aren't at the same company, and they both... like Java? — JackArbiter, Mar 30 '17 at 17:33
@JavaGuru -1 because user name should be JavaGurus. On a more serious note, why can't you guys use separate accounts? Surely "gurus" should be able to do something as trivial as that? — Masked Man, Mar 30 '17 at 18:05
@JackArbiter Yeah, looks like it is a common account used by not only multiple people but also pooled together by multiple companies. What could be the reason, I wonder? Budget constraints? :P — Masked Man, Mar 30 '17 at 18:06
I'm not sure why the user would be using one account for multiple people who work at different companies, which I find highly suspicious, but this is a clear violation of StackOverflow's terms and services: "Subscriber certifies to Stack Exchange that Subscriber is an individual..." — Stephan Branczyk, Mar 30 '17 at 21:50
@Stephan I agree. Of late, we are being regularly visited by such users with "interesting" stories. One guy was "accidentally" dating his boss' daughter, another guy saw his boss having sexual relations. Their set of questions is blatantly inconsistent, and yet when they are called out on it, they are ready with some excuse like multiple people are using the account, or these questions are from my previous job years ago, and so on. — Masked Man, Mar 31 '17 at 03:21
@MaskedMan Just to clarify, there is only one main user using this account, me (the senior backend developer) and occasionally I let my brother post a question. He's a polyglot developer, hence i'm the one and only JavaGuru ;) — JavaGuru, Mar 31 '17 at 09:14
How many "brothers" do you have? I can count at least two based on your questions. Anyway why can't you just create separate accounts? — Masked Man, Mar 31 '17 at 12:29
I've seen many situations where the junior developer consistently performs better than the senior developer and overall is the better developer. — Mars, Mar 10 '18 at 17:22

Chris E · Answer 1 · 2017-03-28T15:53:29.200

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Unfortunately, it's not your decision. You can either do it or they will find someone for your position who will.

Tell him and then write him a letter of recommendation and offer to speak on his behalf to anyone wanting to hire him.

You just need to make sure that you support management with your recommendation, if asked. You can talk him up about how wonderful he is but state that the decision was made, through no fault of his, that because of future projects coming up a senior developer was needed and there was no room for both. I'm largely referring to a phone reference though. A written reference can speak solely about his abilities and how wonderful he is.

You don't have to go any more involved than that. You simply no longer have room for a junior developer in that role and if you had an opening for a junior developer, of course you'd love to keep but unfortunately, his slot needs to be filled with someone more senior, even though as a junior he was doing a great job.

As I said, make sure that you outwardly support management. You do not want it to get out that you oppose the move that's being made. To the employee you can say "management has decided to ____" but I wouldn't say anything like "if it were up to me" because your job is to represent the company.

You're right. It sucks being on either side of that situation. What I would do as well is to put him in touch with any contacts you have or anyone you know who could use him. Help him however you can as long as you don't appear to oppose the company.

edited Mar 28 '17 at 15:53

answered Mar 28 '17 at 15:45

Chris E

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The problem with this approach is that he stated the person is being fired not laid off. If you say how good he is and he is being fired, you can get the company in trouble if he chooses to fight the matter. Make sure to talk to HR first about what you can and cannot say. – HLGEM Mar 28 '17 at 17:22
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While he used the term "fired" what he is describing is a layoff. He's junior and they need a senior, going so far as to say that they'll pay more for one. One who "is exceeding in all of his tasks" is being laid off. And were it me, I wouldn't lie to someone and lead them to believe they were terminated for cause when they clearly weren't, just to save an unemployment claim. – Chris E Mar 28 '17 at 17:58
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But depending on how they phrase it, it can be fired not laid off in a state which allows no reason given for firing. Since they said the word fire, he needs to be very careful about what he says. – HLGEM Mar 28 '17 at 19:23
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@HLGEM OP used the word fired but I assume it's more likely that he doesn't know the distinction while his management used the correct term. But you're right that the terminology is important and the OP should check with HR or management to ensure that everyone involved knows the employee is being laid off, not fired. – Lilienthal Mar 28 '17 at 21:28
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If it is in conjunction with performance reviews and he is the only one, senior management most likely considers it a firing. Since they don't have to give a reason in most of the US, he still may get unemployment. – HLGEM Mar 28 '17 at 21:46
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@ChristopherEstep Replacing an employee with someone more experienced isn't a layoff. Laid off means that the position, the "slot" as you put it, has been eliminated, either temporally or permanently, because of business reasons, like downsizing or moving locations. The person is in this case being fired without cause. In most common law jurisdictions that just means they have to give notice, whereas with layoffs (or firing with cause) they don't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layoff – Ross Ridge Mar 29 '17 at 09:00
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@RossRidge: Surely the position of junior developer has been eliminated and there is now a position for Senior Developer. They aren't the same job (as demonstrated by the fact they don't believe the employee can do the latter). You've probably got more cause for argument than if they removed a developer role and created a marketing role but I would imagine a lawyer would be able to argue that they are not the same position. – Chris Mar 29 '17 at 09:38
I wouldn't mention the senior person in the reference. That makes it sound like he wasn't good enough. Just say "unfortunately we had to cut his role from the team so he was made redundant, but he was excellent etc etc" – Tim B Mar 29 '17 at 10:56
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@HLGEM OP can certainly say that the junior excels as a junior, but the company needed the experience and skill of a senior. This leaves it completely vague as to whether or not the company chose to officially declare it a firing or a layoff, without obfuscating the situation. – jpmc26 Mar 29 '17 at 16:44
No he can't say that to the junior if he is being fired during the discussion. He can say that in a recommendation later, yes. – HLGEM Mar 29 '17 at 17:09
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@Chris If they have to hire a lawyer to argue the case then they've lost. It would cost them far less money to just pay the employee the one or two weeks pay they would owe in lieu of notice. They'd also lose, badly, since the new employee is doing the same job. Poor performance isn't a valid reason to lay someone off. http://www.natlawreview.com/article/five-biggest-mistakes-employers-make-when-laying-employees – Ross Ridge Mar 29 '17 at 17:14
@KonradRudolph, there are times and places when you have to toe the company line no matter what and when there are legal and financial considerations those are the times. Yes there are times when you can say, this is a bad decision but we are stuck with it. This is NOT one of those times. The OP could get fired for saying it was a layoff when the company was intending to fire this person. – HLGEM Mar 29 '17 at 17:18
@HLGEM I'm not suggesting anything of the sort. But being forbidden to voice disapproval of management, or support for subordinates, in their presence, sounds deeply problematic and unethical. Pretty much no matter the circumstances. – Konrad Rudolph Mar 29 '17 at 17:33
@RossRidge: Well personally I think I argued the case pretty well. What I really meant is that in a legal context I think it would be easy to argue. Also if the employee did cause trouble they may well want to argue it anyway. Not sure about elsewhere but in the UK if the argument is weak enough then they can be ordered to pay costs at which point it costs the company nothing and they have a precedent that they will fight these things and win. I know this because a friend went through something very similar (arguing unfair dismisal and the company spent far more on fighting it). – Chris Mar 29 '17 at 17:41
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As a tech lead, you are part of management, It is not deeply unethical, it is your job to represent management's decisions to your subordinates. There are often legal implications in what you say and you are obligated to make sure that you don't get the company in trouble by ignoring the legal guidelines. Sometimes there are financial things you need to keep quiet about such as an upcoming sale of the company. Spouting off your mouth when you disagree is unethical and sometimes illegal (see insider trading). If you don't like that then you have no business in any management position. – HLGEM Mar 29 '17 at 17:42
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Also the OP said "He is exceeding in all of his tasks" so this isn't laying somebody off due to poor performance. He has been performing fine. They are laying them off because they want a senior developer and he is not able to do that job (in their opinion). I'm not sure if you're unfamiliar with development roles but Senior and Junior developer roles are very different with different responsibilities. – Chris Mar 29 '17 at 17:45

score 54 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 28 '17 at 19:10

Upon request to make it an answer...

It sounds like you've already gone to bat for this employee, but management wants him gone for their own reasons. And that really sucks, but you can help mitigate the negative impact of his firing.

If you've supervised his work directly, you can offer to supply him with a reference or letter or recommendation for future job applications. You can also offer to shop his resume around to local career contacts in the area, which could help him pick up on leads for unadvertised positions.

From your own post, it sounds like he's on the right path - even exceeding, which is a rare term for anyone to use when describing a junior. If you've already pitched all this to upper management and they still want him gone, pay it forward and help this guy get his next job.

For the actual breaking of the news, do it privately and do it before a lunch break so he has time to process it. Getting that news at the beginning of the day ruins the whole morning, and getting it at the end of the day ruins the night. There's no great way to deal with this situation, but if you offer him the resources you have at your disposal to help get him working again afterward, it'll go a long way.

Good luck. I don't envy your situation, nor his.

@RaduMurzea It's only an hour, and gives the employee some out-of-office time to vent instead of sitting morosely at their desk (or walking around flipping tables). — sleddog, Mar 29 '17 at 14:37

score 46 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 29 '17 at 05:05

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Hmmm....so instead of training an already known value (the jr. developer), the management wants to fire him, bring in someone new they don't know, hope that person 'fits' into the org/team, can understand the business quickly, and start contributing to the team. Also, if money is no object, makes one wonder why they don't just bring on another without firing him.

Honestly, it sounds like more is going on here than what you are being told. It could be personal (HR) type stuff that you don't know about; it might be personality and they don't like the guy. Regardless, the excuses given don't make much sense by themselves. I would get the jr. out....and possibly start looking yourself. I'm not sure I would want to work for a department getting rid of good workers who just need time to learn/grow professionally.

edited Mar 29 '17 at 05:05

donjuedo

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answered Mar 28 '17 at 20:25

jon

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Agreed. Sounds like the real issue here is management failing to confront the simple action of training a bright willing worker in new skills, so instead they want to go the complicated route you describe. – Wildcard Mar 29 '17 at 02:15
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You don't "train" someone to go from junior to senior. That takes 5-10 years of experience. You are severely underestimating the skillset of a senior software engineer. – Davor Mar 29 '17 at 05:37
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@Davor as are they underestimating how easy it is to find a senior software engineer. Many companies are taking in juniors and training them, simply because supply doesn't meet the demand. – cbll Mar 29 '17 at 06:42
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@cbll on my side (France) I saw it more because juniors cost less on the paper than having trouble to find seniors. – Walfrat Mar 29 '17 at 07:18
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@Davor I work with a few 'Senior Engineers' who can't use Git and won't Google the documentation. The standard will vary between shops. – Gusdor Mar 29 '17 at 10:22
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@Gusdor - there are plenty of shit "senior" developers, no doubt. Simply being old and being in the industry for 7+ years isn't enough to really qualify someone to be a senior engineer. But not having experience really is a significant problem. Being very intelligent and dedicated can cut down the time it takes you to learn, but it still takes thousands of hours. – Davor Mar 30 '17 at 08:15
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Davor is absolutely right; Gusdor is also right, but for different reasons, which is that there is often a difference between someone holding the title "Senior Developer" and someone actually being one. – Lightness Races in Orbit Mar 30 '17 at 12:28
I think I'd tell them it bothers me that they have marked someone on my team to be fired without looping me in on the decision-making process. Since I'm just being presented with a final decision, I need to hear the real reasons he's being fired, because the stated reasons don't make sense. The Jr. Dev is performing well, motivated, and growing fast. He's a great value now, and certain to improve over time. Meanwhile, a new hire would be rolling the dice in terms of cost of finding a good resource, skills -- interviews don't always reveal what a candidate knows -- and fit with the team. – door_number_three Mar 30 '17 at 18:28
@Davor, I've had the pleasure working with a junior who I would have no problems of advertising and selling as a "senior" after about three years. – gnasher729 May 04 '22 at 09:18

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 28 '17 at 20:40

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The weird thing about this situation is not that they decide to fire him. Remember, there can be lots of reasons for firing someone, and they do not need to tell you the real reason. Let's just imagine he slept with the chairman's wife. (So the answer to the question "Is there something more I could do to ensure his future in this company?" is a clear NO)

What's weird is that they decide to fire him, dismiss your input, and still make you deliver the message. This isn't fair, so it sucks. But let's see the positive: You get a chance to frame the message and dampen the blow. You may also use your connections to ask if one of your former colleagues' companies can use a gifted junior.

answered Mar 28 '17 at 20:40

Peter

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Exactly this. I was in a similar situation once as the junior in this question. I worked at a place for 7 or 8 years when, out of the blue, someone in a position of authority several tiers above me wanted me gone for completely non-work related issues. My boss did not want to fire me; he told me that he had no choice but to do so, as he was informed by HR that he would be fired for insubordination if he did not fire me. Sucks, but he doesn't need to go down with me. Fortunately (or unfortunately, point-of-view depending), in my case what they were doing was completely illegal. @JavaGuru – Aaron Mar 29 '17 at 15:31
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... In my case, since what they were doing was illegal I called HR and notified the HR director about that. The guy who wanted me gone was pleasant to me for years, then suddenly when he found out my religious position he started calling me derogatory names even in front of my coworkers, and he demanded my firing after bad-mouthing me religiously for a week or two. I had lots of witnesses. HR director called their lawyer who ordered them to leave me alone unless they want to settle a huge lawsuit. I stayed for a while but the tensions were high, so I left eventually. – Aaron Mar 29 '17 at 15:35

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 28 '17 at 19:30

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It looks like you won't be able to fix management, but you can help him fix his employment. As gently as you can, tell him that there is a re-organization coming, and unfortunately, you've been given the power to CONFIDENTIALITY tell him that he position will be eliminated through no fault of his own. This is the real truth to it if he's been performing his work as expected. Management may call it a 'firing', but with talk of paying for a senior level person, it's really more of a layoff.

As a tech lead, you probably have access to a network of recruiters or know other companies that are hiring. Take him out for a nice lunch, help him with his linkedin profile, write him a glowing recommendation, let him take time off for interviews . . . . .get him out the door with a new job in hand before he gets pushed out.

In interviews, coach him to say that while he likes his current company, there is, unfortunately, no room for growth in the next few years. it's true enough, right? You can assert when you serve as a reference that the company only has space for senior level developers, but as an entry-level/junior developer he's fantastic.

answered Mar 28 '17 at 19:30

LeLetter

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This is the best answer I've seen that directly answers "What can I do?" I think the "help him with LinkedIn" and "give him interview coaching" is a bit much, but still, this answer is far better than "Do nothing" and is even better than "Just write him a recommendation letter." Be a human, not a robot; tell him ASAP and give him slack for interviews if he can schedule any before he's gone. – Aaron Mar 29 '17 at 15:46
Paragraphs two and three are good, paragraph one is likely to land the supervisor in trouble if they are considering this a firing. This is bad advice. It is not a layoff unless senior management says its a layoff no matter what it sounds like to you . The rules are very different when someone is being fired about what you can and cannot say for legal reasons. – HLGEM Mar 29 '17 at 17:15
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Clarify with HR whether or not this is a firing or a layoff and behave accordingly. Under no circumstances should you buck management unless you are on the verge yourself of leaving (and even then it's risky if you're not yet ready to leave voluntarily or otherwise). While it's okay for you to privately state your reservations to management, it's important that you make clear to them that you will respect and implement their decision and not undermine it with statements to others. – Ken Clement Mar 29 '17 at 21:59

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 28 '17 at 19:32

The discussion with management should have considered how long it will take to find, hire and get a sr dev to the point where they can contribute to production code compared to where you think the jr dev will be in that amount of time. They are banking on giving up any short term coding the junior can do for the ultimately more/better code a senior will do in the long run.

Based on this, they may have a valid point, so get ready to be the bearer of bad news. If you think this jr dev can get up to speed sooner than they do, you could be putting your reputation on the line as well as your job.

Do the junior a favor and get them out of this situation where they are bound to fail. Be a quality reference for him and help explain that things changed since his hiring and the company wants someone more senior. It's not realistic to think he'll gain 5 yrs of experience (I know that's all subjective) in the next year.

He'll probably be better off in the long run. Who hires junior people when you need more experience and money is not an issue? Someone made a mistake and should pay a few months of salary as severance. You risk developing a bad reputation if the company mismanages enough people.

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 28 '17 at 15:47

There's not much you can do to fix the situation. They've apparently ranked everyone by productivity, and your guy came up as most expendable. Management may not be able to increase headcount, which is the other approach, so someone's got to go.

Maybe you can give this guy a good recommendation, and also some pointers on how not to be in this situation again.

Stig Hemmer · Answer 8 · 2017-03-29T19:23:12.443

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At some point the company will be advertising for a replacement. Ask the fired one to apply for that position, if they still want to work for you.

They will probably not fill the qualifications listed in the advert, but there is a good chance you will not get any applicant who does.

So, the company can let your team be understaffed, or they could offer a junior position to one of the people who had the guts to apply for a job they knew they weren't qualified for. Guts is good.

If your bosses agree to this, you know just which candidate to suggest.

edited Mar 29 '17 at 19:23

answered Mar 29 '17 at 10:34

Stig Hemmer

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Yeah I'm sure management will want to hire a junior into a senior role. I'm also sure they'll want to effectively give a guy a massive promotion that they've just fired. I think this is terrible advice and will look bad on the OP and the junior. – TheLethalCompany Mar 29 '17 at 10:49
Rewritten in response to @TheLethalCoder's comment. – Stig Hemmer Mar 29 '17 at 19:24
Why would they not get an application by a senior software developer? – Peter Mar 31 '17 at 18:45

Junior Developer doing well but management wants to fire him

8 Answers8