Yeah, for some future employers it may seem unprofessional, but I would not want to work for such employers.
On the contrary, I would recommend to consult a lawyer, sue them, write a blog about your case and a company, start a movement in the interests of depressed programmers and involve tech media in all of that. This will have both positive externalities and benefits for OP: more protection for depresssed programmers, less incentives for unethical companies to behave like that, traffic for the OP new blog and possibly several job opportunities.
OP, I consider naming and shaming unethical companies like this to be a preferred course of action if done strategically.
Yeah, sometimes, when organizations are locked into Nash equilibrium and any individual actor can't change rules of the game, in that case naming and shaming is unproductive.
Firing a person who has written about their depression? No excuse. Don't give them a chanche to protect themselves(WTF?!). Destroy the company. Help others like you.
EDIT OP, I see you deleted the comments with the name of the company. Please don't let it slide. Fight for yourself and for others who are suffering from depression and are being discriminated against.
I'm not saying he's lying, but assume for a moment that he got caught up in the emotion and felt that was the reason they fired him. What if it wasn't? What if it was something else? You are telling this young man to start a revolution against a company that may have no malice in their intentions. Naming/Shaming companies have real effect. This company doesn't seem like a multi-national huge corporation with deep pockets, atleast from their webpage I didn't gather that they were. Publicly shaming them may do real damage to the company and people that work there. If the person really was discriminated against, then go the legal route, sue them and settle it that way. If he was wronged, then law is on his side. Once you win that lawsuit, then feel free to blog and start a revolution because then you have a guilty party. Right now, its just his word against no one else's word, they can't defend themselves.
But in the original comment you called naming the company "petty and childish" and insinuated that he is is behaving like a "jerk", while saying that posting on HN is "talking behind others back". The gist of your comment was "move forward" and be generous to the company by allowing them "to defend themselves".
And this is what I disagree with.
Meditation has scientifically proven benefits for people affected with depression and anxiety. Please look into it!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/meditation...
I do agree with everything you've said though. I now wish I didn't mention the company but I guess it's too late to change that.
EDIT: I emailed [email protected] about deleting the comments. Hopefully that helps.
EDIT 2: seems like the comments are gone.
All We(HNers) have, is your side of the story, there is no defense from the company that let you go. There is very little upside to publicly naming the company, unless you do it in legal proceedings.
I'm not sure if its possible, but I'd highly recommend you deleting the comments where you named the company, or delete this post. It does nobody any good, especially you. Think about it, what did you gain from naming them. I was with you until I saw that you named the company. Again it comes off petty and childish.
You seem fairly young, since you mentioned your experience, so remember that professionalism goes a long way, and also that Life is not fair. Sometimes you'll get blamed for something you didn't do, other times you'll be fired for something shitty like this. Your job is to keep moving ahead all the time, and don't go down to the level of jerks and become a jerk yourself. Stand up for yourself, but don't talk behind other people's back. If they wronged you, then confront them, but give them a chance to defend themselves.
Good luck to you.