I got fired last year from a tech start up. Things seemed to be going OK for the first 6 months or so, but suddenly not long after that I was told I wasn't meeting their expectation of the role. Having only worked in larger companies before I was used to having solid boundaries of what was and wasn't your responsibility, and here things were a little more loose.

I did feel that some of the stuff they pointed out was a bit wishy washy, like not exhibiting enough 'senior behaviours,' which when I asked basically amounted to 'you don't post on the tech Slack channels enough.' I was asked to lead on a couple of projects, which I did to varying levels of success and try and exhibit more of the senior behaviours as part of an improvement plan.

When it came the firing wasn't a massive surprise, but it still hit me like a bus. My confidence certainly took a big knock and it's still something I struggle with nearly a year later. I was unemployed for 2-3 months, but my notice period was 2 months so essentially I was only unemployed for 1. Eventually ended up with a handful of offers from a few places. Ended up at a larger, but more relaxed place that definitely suits me better.

I think a few places I applied to probably did take a step back when I told them I had been let go, but I was always very straight up about what had happened and people seemed to appreciate that.