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I was hired by an IT company to build a web based application for client management and billing.

The project was going well and I was getting good feedback when out of no where I received an email form my boss saying

"We have decided to go a different direction, and no longer need you to code the application"

I was about 2 weeks from being finished and the beta testing was going well, the app was being used for 5 months before it was completely ready for production.

I emailed my boss back asking if I did anything wrong, and he assured me

"You have done great work here, so nothing is wrong with that, we have just decided to go in a different direction"

I was extremely puzzled when I received these emails because I thought everything was going fine.

There are only a few reasons why I believe I could have been fired.

  1. My boss wanted to hire me full time but I decided to work somewhere else and continue this project as a part time employee

  2. My boss decided my app was not good enough and hated it.

  3. My boss found better software he could just purchase, instead of paying me.

I found my boss to be very mysterious about this.

He gave me little to no detail about the entire ordeal.

Bauer
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  • The most effective way to know if you've been fired is if the paychecks stop arriving. – Dan Pichelman May 12 '16 at 15:26
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    Have you actually *asked* whether you've been fired or not? Or are you simply guessing? I'm extremely confused. You could e-mail him asking: "Glad to hear it's nothing I've done. What is it that you'd like me to work on now?" – AndreiROM May 12 '16 at 15:26
  • @DanPichelman Sorry guys I rephrased my question! – Bauer May 12 '16 at 15:28
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    Were you a contractor or an employee? What in these messages indicate that you were fired? Just because one project ends doesn't mean that there's not another project. – Thomas Owens May 12 '16 at 15:29
  • @ThomasOwens I was a full time employee for 4 months wthen I became part time – Bauer May 12 '16 at 15:29
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    So, what makes you think that you have been fired? Do they not have projects for you? Did they tell you not to show up to the office for your next shift? – Thomas Owens May 12 '16 at 15:30
  • @ThomasOwens well nothing was said after the email, just that my project was done, I use to work on the project from home. – Bauer May 12 '16 at 15:37
  • Have you asked what this means? I don't know what your regional rules are, but you should get it explicitly clear if you were fired or laid off. And if you were fired, some areas require a justification, so you should get what the justification is. If you are seeking other employment, this is information that you need. – Thomas Owens May 12 '16 at 15:39
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    "You were hired". So you are an employee? You go to work tomorrow, and I mean you go to the company's offices, and ask them what work they have for you. Do not sit at home and do nothing. This is the the time to get off your chair and get moving and get what you can. – gnasher729 May 12 '16 at 18:54
  • It should be very clear if you have actually been fired. The company would give you notice that your employment has been terminated. Simply cancelling a project is another thing entirely. Until they actually tell you that you've been fired, assume you are still an employee, and ask them what they want you to work on instead. – Simon B May 12 '16 at 21:42
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    Second point - you seem to be taking this far too personally. Projects get cancelled when management no longer think they are needed or profitable. Get over it - it isn't your fault. – Simon B May 12 '16 at 21:44

4 Answers4

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I would immediately contact your boss and clarify the issue:

Hey boss,

I was sorry to hear about the project being cancelled. I thought maybe I could drop by the office some time soon and discuss what new projects you may have in mind for me.

How does that sound? Which day might work for you?

Regards, ...

See what he says and go from there. In the future I would clarify the status of your employment (contractor/part-time/full-time) before you do months of work for them.

Community
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AndreiROM
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First thing to do is find out if you still work for the company or whether you were a contractor. Best way to do this is email the boss and ask if there is another project for you or if they want you to do something else. The response will let you know whether they view you as an employee or a contractor.

If you are an employee, then you need to look into your contract and see what your options are.

If you are a contractor then you just found out why contractors usually charge much more than employees, you can usually be terminated at a whim.

But in either case don't wait around, ask and find out asap so that you can review your options and move forwards.

Kilisi
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  • he said in the comments for his question that he was a full-time employee for 4 months then became part time. – Chris E May 12 '16 at 15:49
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    @ChristopherEstep I read that, but does he have a contract or was that a verbal agreement, hence my advice to find out how the company views him. You'd be surprised how often the paperwork isn't done properly and things get messy with assumptions. – Kilisi May 12 '16 at 15:52
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First, you need to understand that many bosses are going to be cagey about reason for termination. There are real liability concerns that a company has when they let someone go. I can't speak for Denmark (which it appears to be where you're from) but in the US, they can almost always fire you for any reason or no reason but discussing that reason can raise questions of discrimination, mistreatment, etc.

  1. The simplest solution to verify one way or the other is to email your boss and ask him about using him as a recommendation and what would he say about you to potential employers when they contact him.
  2. You could ask him what direction the company went that made you no longer suitable.
  3. You can thank him for the opportunity you've had but then ask him for suggestions on how to improve and in what areas you need work. Also, ask if there are any technologies he could suggest picking up in the future. The latter might also give you an indication of what "direction" they're going.

These things should be enough to give you a hint of what happened, especially #3. Also, some people are just "too nice" and want to move on and don't want to get into a discussion about negative things. Doesn't make for great managers, but they exist. Bear that in mind as well.

Chris E
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Projects on IT being cancelled everytime. Some years ago I was very happy on a inovative project using Adobe Flex and other cool stuff. Customer were excited about our demos and every week I was delivering new functionalities and screens. Unfortunately, the customer didn't realized his budget and we failed into closing the scope. We had some big failure on the approach, I'm a tech guy not a salesperson and couldn't anticipate that. I was upset due the cancel, my boss even blame the technology I picked by no reasons. Don't worry it happens all the time.

lambdapool
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