[vikingcaffiene]

> Hiring managers are timid about letting people go and it can take an extraordinary amount of time to part ways with unproductive people.

With respect, it sounds like you had a bad manager. Underperforming teammates are your managers responsibility. They should be working to address that issue with said teammate or part ways. Sucks. Not fun. It's the job though.

[brian-armstrong]

Sorry but your response is a No True Scotsman argument. It is understandable why irrational behavior applies here - sunk cost, nobody wants to have the bad news of letting a new hire go, explicit objective setting may require there to be new hires. These will generally apply to any manager. Unless the new hire is clearly stepping out of bounds or extremely negligent, it is going to be a slow process.

[digisign]

You seem to be aware it is irrational. Let poor developers go if they do not improve with training.