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This literally could have been written by any developer in the UK. I think most of us start out like this! I think the best one was a company I worked for in Le

This literally could have been written by any developer in the UK. I think most of us start out like this! I think the best one was a company I worked for in Leeds, it was building a secure learning platform for schools which ultimately fell flat on it's arse. The company was run by a self-made millionaire who was notorious for scamming people. He'd randomly lay off huge numbers of the sales team, and the first anyone would know about it is when the door code would be changed and we'd have to ring the "office manager" (ex-SAS) for the new code. His grand idea to save the failing online learning platform was "pivoting" to selling personalised dog food online........... (and I mean personalised in the sense of just slapping the dogs name and their face on some generic crap dog food, not actually nutritionally personalised to the dog) Left that place being owed 3 months wages (which I never got). Last I heard he was being investigated for fraud. (this was the scum bag in question: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/sep/04/barclays-small-business-lending-scheme-jeffrey-morris https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/sep/04/barclays-sm...)

sen 5y ago
My first tech job was similar. ~15 person “IT company”. When I joined I was hired as a webmaster/developer to manage their own corporate website, and their main income was doing Citrix installations and outfitting SMEs with computers and networking hardware. The CEO and 2 others were old high school mates, funding seemed unlimited, we had “company cars” we could take anytime we wanted for errands or lunch or whatever, all were pretty expensive performance cars. Company lunches every day at local restaurants etc (I generally just ate in the office because they all weirded me out). Any hardware/software/whatever you needed was on your desk the next day. In the 2 years I worked there, the company pivoted maybe 8 times. I’d come to work and suddenly my role was to develop custom e-commerce sites, a few months later I’d be doing graphic design for hardcore porn (DVDs/etc) distributors, a few months later I’d be helping develop hardware prototypes for shopping mall displays, etc etc. It paid very well (for a first tech role), but the whole thing constantly felt “wrong”, I kept expecting the feds to kick the doors in one day. Just bad vibes all round. I ended up getting a way better job through a workmate there and when I checked on their website a year later it was squatted and domain for sale.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- JetAlone 5y ago
  Wow, that sounds very, very strange... Kind of puts things into perspective for me. Thanks for sharing.
selestify 5y ago
You continued to work for 3 months without getting paid?
- hhmc 5y ago
  It may also have been payment in lieu of notice or holiday.
  - munk-a 5y ago
    Given the context that seems unlikely - and it's genuinely hard to rack up a three month severance liability at most companies these days unless you're C-level. Most employers will either evaporate or pay out unused annual vacation so you're looking at a year's accrual at most (we can be over generous and say they may have had five weeks owed) - plus any in lieu time which usually caps out at three weeks.
    - hhmc 5y ago
      > and it's genuinely hard to rack up a three month severance liability at most companies these days unless you're C-level. This isn't true in the UK
- gkwelding 5y ago
  We'd been working there for about 2 years at that point, had always got paid, had been the same team since day 0 so we had no reason to doubt the "I'm just waiting for the next investment to clear in the company account then I'll pay you everything you're owed" message. Plus the arrogance and naivety of "it's a tech company, he needs us to do anything so he's got to pay us eventually".
  - Joker_vD 5y ago
    Just can't help myself to mention the eerie similarity with being a factory worker in Russia in the early 90-ies: people would too work for months without getting paid, and for pretty much the same reasons. Plus, when you see with your own eyes that the product is still being made and even shipped, surely at some point the money will clear?
quickthrower2 5y ago
“I feel that the developers are not really getting what is required so today we will start dogfooding! There is a personalised can on everyone’s desk.”
Ansil849 5y ago
> The company was run by a self-made millionaire who was notorious for scamming people. You knew this before going to work for him, and still went to work for him? What does that make you?
- Karsteski 5y ago
  Someone who needed a job?
- swhitf 5y ago
  He doesn't explicitly say he knew of his notoriety when he joined and could very well have only discovered after. Alternatively given the economic circumstances he could have needed the job enough to take the risk. To be honest, your comment seems unnecessarily snide and mean spirited for no reason.
- jack_riminton 5y ago
  You commented out of half-knowledge and assumptions on an interesting story, trying to shame them. What does that make you?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
ljm 5y ago
Same here. Only it was a PHP shop and they expected literally everything to be built in Drupal. I got hired 10 minutes after the interview, which should have been a red flag. We also had to clock in with a fingerprint reading device that hardly ever worked. They were also scamming customers at some point after I got laid off. I didn't really dig into it though.
jlg23 5y ago
> we'd have to ring the "office manager" (ex-SAS) I'm not sure what's the fetish with the SAS, but I apparently know more people who where in the or with strong ties to the SAS than regular British folks... OTOH, after knowing some actual members of various special forces for 2 decades: If they saw action, they don't brag. They are usually shy to admit anything even if it is not classified. Or the other way around: Those advertised as "ex-SAS" (or navy seals or french foreign legion, your choice) usually ain't.
- PicassoCTs 5y ago
  A drunk ex-pat walks into a bar. He is a navyseal, with three tours of combat and also the CEO of a public traded company.
  - jlg23 5y ago
    Hrhr. I actually know a legit one who fits the description. But that is exactly one :)
    - Apocryphon 5y ago
      With all that experience, you need only one.
- walrus01 5y ago
  > > we'd have to ring the "office manager" (ex-SAS) That's when you ask "What colour is the boat house at Hereford?"
  - quickthrower2 5y ago
    Brown brick with blue and white, according to Google :-)
  - comprev 5y ago
    Great film!
  - deleted 5y ago
wpietri 5y ago
Whoa. Just yesterday I was talking with a friend who years ago was sent to London to deal with a UK custom software vendor. He had a Friday meeting to talk with the CEO and lay down the law: they had to show my friend the software they were building right away or the deal was off. He showed up for the meeting; the CEO was called away urgently. My friend was taken out for a very boozy lunch and given many excuses and platitudes. He held firm, though. Demo or trouble. They rebooked his meeting for Monday. Arriving at their office on Monday, he found that the place had been totally cleared out. The only thing left was a photocopier that had been smashed. The CEO had, in the British phrasing, done a runner, leaving the employees suddenly out of work. The good news is that my friend ended up hiring one of the employees, who turned out great.
suzzer99 5y ago
On my first day of my first web-dev job, I went to dinner with the top developers and all they did was tell surreal horror stories about the boss. Women would routinely leave his office crying. The product we were making was complete BS, and I think the boss was just siphoning off money for himself. All he did was download songs on Napster all day and blare them from his office. Our top developer was a guy from Australia working under the table because he couldn't get a visa. He missed two days while deathly sick. The boss docked him $800. There are so many other horror stories. I always compared the guy to a cross between Captain Bligh and Mr. Smith from Lost in Space.

sen 5y ago

My first tech job was similar. ~15 person “IT company”. When I joined I was hired as a webmaster/developer to manage their own corporate website, and their main income was doing Citrix installations and outfitting SMEs with computers and networking hardware. The CEO and 2 others were old high school mates, funding seemed unlimited, we had “company cars” we could take anytime we wanted for errands or lunch or whatever, all were pretty expensive performance cars. Company lunches every day at local restaurants etc (I generally just ate in the office because they all weirded me out). Any hardware/software/whatever you needed was on your desk the next day. In the 2 years I worked there, the company pivoted maybe 8 times. I’d come to work and suddenly my role was to develop custom e-commerce sites, a few months later I’d be doing graphic design for hardcore porn (DVDs/etc) distributors, a few months later I’d be helping develop hardware prototypes for shopping mall displays, etc etc. It paid very well (for a first tech role), but the whole thing constantly felt “wrong”, I kept expecting the feds to kick the doors in one day. Just bad vibes all round. I ended up getting a way better job through a workmate there and when I checked on their website a year later it was squatted and domain for sale.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
JetAlone 5y ago
Wow, that sounds very, very strange... Kind of puts things into perspective for me. Thanks for sharing.

selestify 5y ago

You continued to work for 3 months without getting paid?

hhmc 5y ago
It may also have been payment in lieu of notice or holiday.
- munk-a 5y ago
  Given the context that seems unlikely - and it's genuinely hard to rack up a three month severance liability at most companies these days unless you're C-level. Most employers will either evaporate or pay out unused annual vacation so you're looking at a year's accrual at most (we can be over generous and say they may have had five weeks owed) - plus any in lieu time which usually caps out at three weeks.
  - hhmc 5y ago
    > and it's genuinely hard to rack up a three month severance liability at most companies these days unless you're C-level. This isn't true in the UK
gkwelding 5y ago
We'd been working there for about 2 years at that point, had always got paid, had been the same team since day 0 so we had no reason to doubt the "I'm just waiting for the next investment to clear in the company account then I'll pay you everything you're owed" message. Plus the arrogance and naivety of "it's a tech company, he needs us to do anything so he's got to pay us eventually".
- Joker_vD 5y ago
  Just can't help myself to mention the eerie similarity with being a factory worker in Russia in the early 90-ies: people would too work for months without getting paid, and for pretty much the same reasons. Plus, when you see with your own eyes that the product is still being made and even shipped, surely at some point the money will clear?

quickthrower2 5y ago

“I feel that the developers are not really getting what is required so today we will start dogfooding! There is a personalised can on everyone’s desk.”

Ansil849 5y ago

> The company was run by a self-made millionaire who was notorious for scamming people. You knew this before going to work for him, and still went to work for him? What does that make you?

Karsteski 5y ago
Someone who needed a job?
swhitf 5y ago
He doesn't explicitly say he knew of his notoriety when he joined and could very well have only discovered after. Alternatively given the economic circumstances he could have needed the job enough to take the risk. To be honest, your comment seems unnecessarily snide and mean spirited for no reason.
jack_riminton 5y ago
You commented out of half-knowledge and assumptions on an interesting story, trying to shame them. What does that make you?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

ljm 5y ago

Same here. Only it was a PHP shop and they expected literally everything to be built in Drupal. I got hired 10 minutes after the interview, which should have been a red flag. We also had to clock in with a fingerprint reading device that hardly ever worked. They were also scamming customers at some point after I got laid off. I didn't really dig into it though.

jlg23 5y ago

> we'd have to ring the "office manager" (ex-SAS) I'm not sure what's the fetish with the SAS, but I apparently know more people who where in the or with strong ties to the SAS than regular British folks... OTOH, after knowing some actual members of various special forces for 2 decades: If they saw action, they don't brag. They are usually shy to admit anything even if it is not classified. Or the other way around: Those advertised as "ex-SAS" (or navy seals or french foreign legion, your choice) usually ain't.

PicassoCTs 5y ago
A drunk ex-pat walks into a bar. He is a navyseal, with three tours of combat and also the CEO of a public traded company.
- jlg23 5y ago
  Hrhr. I actually know a legit one who fits the description. But that is exactly one :)
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    With all that experience, you need only one.
walrus01 5y ago
> > we'd have to ring the "office manager" (ex-SAS) That's when you ask "What colour is the boat house at Hereford?"
- quickthrower2 5y ago
  Brown brick with blue and white, according to Google :-)
- comprev 5y ago
  Great film!
- deleted 5y ago

wpietri 5y ago

Whoa. Just yesterday I was talking with a friend who years ago was sent to London to deal with a UK custom software vendor. He had a Friday meeting to talk with the CEO and lay down the law: they had to show my friend the software they were building right away or the deal was off. He showed up for the meeting; the CEO was called away urgently. My friend was taken out for a very boozy lunch and given many excuses and platitudes. He held firm, though. Demo or trouble. They rebooked his meeting for Monday. Arriving at their office on Monday, he found that the place had been totally cleared out. The only thing left was a photocopier that had been smashed. The CEO had, in the British phrasing, done a runner, leaving the employees suddenly out of work. The good news is that my friend ended up hiring one of the employees, who turned out great.

suzzer99 5y ago

On my first day of my first web-dev job, I went to dinner with the top developers and all they did was tell surreal horror stories about the boss. Women would routinely leave his office crying. The product we were making was complete BS, and I think the boss was just siphoning off money for himself. All he did was download songs on Napster all day and blare them from his office. Our top developer was a guy from Australia working under the table because he couldn't get a visa. He missed two days while deathly sick. The boss docked him $800. There are so many other horror stories. I always compared the guy to a cross between Captain Bligh and Mr. Smith from Lost in Space.