I have been a developer in one company or another for over 27+ years. Today I had to dismiss / fire / let go of a recently hired developer (a Senior by career length) on one of the teams I now manage. Basically imposter syndrome compounded with an inability to communicate a need for support (even when we reached out daily to assist).

When I had to let this person go I felt all the times when it happened to my colleagues , and to me. Like a thousand knives stabbing . It wasn’t easy.

It’s of course not easy to be dismissed . But it’s also not easy to be the one to dismiss.

I consider myself to be part of the first gen of web devs in the early 90s, there were no “mentors” to lean upon per se, so we had to rely on our own wits as the tech evolved. Ironically , now I serve as a “mentor” to many generations of web devs who have graduated from courses I have taught on it for almost two decades . And I feel better learning from all my mentees as well.