Ask HN: How did you navigate an illegal termination?
This is not actually the first time I’ve dealt with discrimination in the workplace.
Unfortunately, I work in a relatively specialized field (infosec).
Despite having more experience than during my last job search for analyst roles, some of it on things you simply can’t learn on in a home lab like a SIEM + having documented pentest experience, I haven’t gotten a single phone screen or interview.
Due to recent geopolitics “going federal” doesn’t appear to be an option.
How would you deal with a situation like the above? Should I expand my search to other titles? Maybe go into sales or something?
During my last search, the barrier seemed to be I couldn’t document my experience since I was mostly self taught, but I was at least getting interviews and people seemed to respect that I was honest in my skills and had a genuine interest in the subject matter. (It’s actually my “special interest” – every day I read HN + a custom multireddit I made to stay abreast of developments in infosec)
I’m feeling really dejected – I gave up on a dream of doing tech policy to “return to my roots” as a hacker here in my home county and my role, which was for a local government, was rewarding and had great benefits. (Pension, time off etc.)
I could handle not being a cultural fit for DC, but I feel like my homeland has abused me.
Feelings aside, as a practical matter… I need income.
Has anyone else navigated a situation like this? How did you manage to get interviews and eventually a role? Are there any projects I could do to help make myself more marketable?
(In the past I’ve done things like fly out to network at Defcon but that is not feasible this year due to my financial situation.)
Sadly, I am not German.
I had some fascinating discussions in my younger days taking DB around Europe. (They have a very good English UI and Ich spreche kein Deutsch beyond travel niceties)
If you know of a legal path to use my skills (pentester turned analyst) in Germany, I'd be happy to discuss emigration, I've been told I can do my depositions remotely, and based on these interactions, which were with a local government agency with a higher standard of behavior than some random company, I don't feel welcome here.
To paint a picture, our only social safety net is tied to work... and I wasn't even eligible for unemployment because I'd only been working part time prior to this role. (And doing hackthebox, Defcon volunteering, helping new register voters etc).
Also cases like mine require you to allow your case to be investigated the the NLRB or a state level agency, then after 6-12 months you get a "letter to sue" if the settlement amount is not to your liking (and it almost never is).
And, with our current president's gutting of the NLRB, this timeline gets longer. (Basically, the clock doesn't start til you speak to an investigator, and there is a scarcity of investigators).
It is likely when this is over they will be compelled not to state they did not terminate me for cause, but in this liminal period they seem deadset on engaging in behaviors that make me rethink if I want be on their "blue team" -- some people don't learn until the helpers who they've abused one too many times move on to greener pastures.
Anyways, I kind of hoped to focus on how to find work rather than get into the weeds on the events leading to my departure but I hope the above helps folks understand why I must make the choices I am making.
It feels weird to me to ask for accommodations around an event that shouldn't happen in the first place, and should result in corrective action against the supervisor if it did happen...
It also feels very specific. Was being screamed at a regular issue with your supervisor in the job where you made this request for accommodation? Or was it at a prior job and you wanted to defend against that specific situation in this job?
As written it's like you're saying "My supervisor is a shouty asshole" or "I expect to be in conflict with my supervisor, and I expect that conflict to come to yelling." Neither of those are really about your disability, they're about your supervisor and your relationship with them. You can't fix either of those with disability accommodations.
Not that it helps much in your current situation, but next time consider different wording, maybe something like: "I need recovery time after stressful interactions, and I do not want to be penalized when I take that time."
So to be honest, it was partly a backdoor way to handle a mishandled harassment issue.
(In addition to refusing to engage in the interactive process, they did not follow their own internal policies on investigating harassment complaints.)
So it was two issues in parallel: One was a harassment issue, the other was some sensory things.
One of the accommodations I asked for was written feedback -- a common one for folks on the spectrum. This made the person angry, since it's hard to say "I told you to do X, why did you do X" when it's in writing instead of a verbal discussion.
Anyways, my goal is to just move on, treat the eventual windfall (they've already tried offering me $ at least once) as if it doesn't exist, and try to keep on doing the work I love -- if it had had a different culture I'd have kept on even if I hit the lottery.
Hence the HN post -- I can't be the first person to be retaliated against, and I'd like to think if I can provide references and point at projects/duties I'd easily be able to move on to a similar role at another company. Aside from the shouting thing, a lot of what I asked for would be met in a hybrid or remote role, since by their nature you need to do a lot of written comms to keep ppl on the same page.