---
title: "Job Paranoia: Is My Boss Out to Get Me?"
description: "Some thoughts on understanding what actually gets people fired."
date: 2025-11-14
tags:
  - Quick Thoughts
  - Work
synopsis: "Some thoughts on understanding what actually gets people fired."
mastodon_id: "115549540413041782"
---
I occasionally talk to people facing what I can best describe as job paranoia—the fear that their boss is out to get them, see them fired, et cetera. If you're someone who occasionally feels like this, as someone who has both hired and fired people, I'm here to offer some reassurance. Before we proceed—and I know you'll understand this intuitively because you have excellent reading comprehension—my description to come of certain hiring and management practices is not an endorsement of them.

In cases of exceptionally poor management, it surely happens that bosses occasionally develop some sort of personal vendetta against someone[^1] but, in these instances, the red flags will usually have been waving for some time. If your workplace seems to be relatively sanely run, however, in most cases management chiefly wants one thing out of you: reliability.

Getting hired and staying hired are two very different things. You might not have been the best candidate at all; it may be that you simply met some particular piece of the job description that someone far more skilled than you did not (such as a driver's license, even if it's not necessary for the role), and so the better candidate was removed from the pipeline simply because the company has to be able to claim that all candidates were judged by the same criteria (in order to avoid discrimination suits[^2]). Maybe you were hired because management thought your lack of experience would enable them to pay you less. Maybe management used "culture fit" as an excuse to hire you instead of a person who is BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, or a member of some other group for which they harbor a bias against. Maybe your interviewer just thought you seemed especially affable. You will likely never know. All this to say that finding a good fit for a role in question is only one piece of the puzzle when a company decides who to hire.

Staying hired, however, is another matter (as is getting promoted). Once you're in a position, no one cares about your resume, credentials, experience, or schooling. The quality of your work isn't necessarily of much import either, so long as it meets a minimum standard. When a new hire is made, the principal concern of a busy manager is that they are not a nuisance. Do they show up on time? Can they work independently? Do they get along with others, or are they a frequent subject of complaints? Are they frequently making complaints themself? Can I assign a task to this person and expect them to just get on with it, or will I face a barrage of inane questions? Can this person work out how to use [insert simple software with drag and drop interface here] on their own, or are they going to need training for something others could suss out by clicking around for ten minutes? It's as simple as that. If management feels that you fit in nicely without any grinding or squeaking, you'll typically remain fitted[^3].

Hiring people and getting them up to speed is a pain that no one wants to go through; firing people makes that pain necessary. This is why people that may seem blisteringly incompetent to you manage to keep their jobs without issue: they simply don't generate sufficient friction for management such that it is worth the hassle of replacing them. These types aren't likely to be promoted either, but that's another matter.

So, if you find yourself wondering how likely you are to be escorted off the premises carrying a box of your belongings, here's a quick litmus test: How much time am I making management spend on me that could be spent on other tasks? Assuming all else is well, the lower the number, the safer you are.

[^1]: If you do find yourself in one of these scenarios, or in fact, if you find yourself facing any red flags at all from management, the best thing to do is start applying for other positions right away. This ought to alleviate some of your anxiety about the situation, helping prevent burnout from bad management.
[^2]: This should not be taken as an indictment of DEI, nor a suggestion that certain groups of people are commonly hired regardless of their ability to perform a job (with the possible exception of white men).
[^3]: Some astute readers may notice that a few of the previous points may disadvantage people with various disabilities. Unfortunately, this is true. If this is a concern for you, you may also benefit from taking measures to protect yourself such as requesting accommodations in writing for *documented* conditions that are *legally recognized as disabilities*, but this is beyond the scope of this post; dealing with these matters is a tricky path best undertaken with individual advice and support.
