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Comment by plebianRube | Hacker News Reader

Yes. In a fairly large public company I worked at, I remember a DBA on contract got fired because he knew absolutely nothing.

But only a few weeks later he was back, in the same building, but using a different name on a different floor working as a Senior Software Architect.

He got caught because someone in the DB department recognized him, called him by his old name and they pretended they never new him.

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I can’t imagine the stress of trying that. Work can be hard enough, why add the complexity of lying about your name in a company people know you

I knew someone who learned on the job until they got fired. They faired much better on the next job. Hard times call for hard people.

Not terribly surprising, since companies have more or less refused to actually train anybody since the 80s or so.

What’s the point of training people when there’s at will employment

What's your alternative to at will employment? You know employment has always been at will in the US, and companies used to train people, right?

"What if we train them, and they leave?" — "What if we don't train them, and they stay?"

"What if we only hire them if they are already trained?"

Then you'll create a stagnant environment and you'll never be able to move toward or adapt to change. You'll forever be stuck using VB6 and... Well... You could perhaps make good money that way. Never mind

Huh... not calling cap - but did they get hired via Agency or by different company on the same building? I would assume a large public company does Employment Eligibility Verification (1-9 in US for example) - unless of course he was using a fake SS and name even in paperwork.

it may be that the contractor is not at all in control of this, but is instead used as a pawn by others; perhaps harsh life circumstances or maladapted psychology sink the lockin.

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