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Comment by hntrader | Hacker News Reader

I know a competent dev with severe mental health issues (bipolar, manic depression, ASD and narcissism all combined and untreated) who has been fired over 10 times (no exaggeration) but keeps getting jobs rather easily with a high salary.

Getting fired once because of this is not the end of the world if you're sufficiently competent. I don't have any practical advice but hopefully that keeps your spirits up a bit.

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Out of interest, how did they manage to keep the determination to apply, after the 5th or 6th setback? When I was fresh out of university, I had a run of jobs where my skills where over-estimated by small local development firms who'd hadn't hired many/any grads before. After 5 setbacks in a row, I couldn't face applying to tech roles. The only way I could bring myself to carry on towards my career dream at that low point, was self-teaching - working on my own projects and focusing in on the techs I was best at. Then after a bit, doing basic Web design projects for small businesses and gradually working up from there - but still to this day (~6 years on from that run) only projects where I'm in complete control of the tech stack and coding practices. It took a tonne of effort (and some counselling) to get my self-confidence back

This person is highly idiosyncratic/unpredictable and has multi-day bouts of mania with extreme energy, before flipping into a depressed/alcoholic state where he's a no-show for a week. Probably he applied during a manic phase.

Needless to say he has an IQ of probably 140+ so he can impress people especially during the interview stage with his sheer intelligence. He can also build things fast. Everyone who works with him acknowledges the skill but finds him too destructive personality wise and it usually results in termination within 6 months. He's switched to remote consulting recently which is a better personality fit.

Ahh okay. Thanks for the extra detail

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