ChatGPT got me fired.

I'm a self-taught(5 years) software engineer. I work for a remote company.<br><br>At my current job, we are under a lot of stress with approaching deadlines and a lack of engineers. The worst of it is that I'm the only backend engineer on the project. My code to the company has no value as I am only a "intern" and not a full time employee.<br><br>We finally had a chance to hire a veteran software engineer. It happened he was an senior backend developer. I was relieved. <br><br>But, he was a lazy guy. He barely did any work while the company was paying him 50% more than they pay me. I was sad to see that since I know he was the only hope to get our application to a production environment.<br><br>One day he said that he had a project in mind that could be done using ChatGPT so he could save time. He came with the idea of setting this "ChatGPT as a Service" so he could ask the program to do things like code or bugfixing using an API. He asked me to help with it, as I'm the only competent backend engineer in this project.<br><br>I did everything. I built the backend, the frontend, the API, and even the infrastructure. He did nothing but plug the ChatGPT machinery in the code.<br><br>We delivered the project, and just 10 days later he said he resigned to take another job with better pay. We were completely in shock and sadness.<br><br>The next week I saw, again, the CEO and the board meeting us, since they were suspicious he never did anything. I tried to defend him saying that the project was mostly his, and I was happy to help since we needed that.<br><br>Then they asked me to show them the repository. I showed them the code, and the CEO asked me if I used the ChatGPT "as a service" during the development of the project. I said I couldn't since it wasn't completed at that time. Then the CEO said "But... but why this line of code is exactly the same as the one the engineer had on his ChatGPT project?". I was speechless.<br><br>They said I'm no longer a member of the team, that the project is no longer mine, and that I will(should) receive an email in 30 days from now for my contract to be terminated.<br><br>I'm sad and disappointed. I feel betrayed and I know I'm a victim of circumstance. But I know that I'm also to blame for all this to happen.<br><br>I don't know what the future holds for me now. I'm 26 years old, and I'm not sure if I can find a new job quickly. I may lose my apartment, my car, and have no money at all. <br><br>But I'm not completely out of hope. I'm applying to as many jobs as I can, everyday. I also have a plan B, which is to start freelancing. I already had some offers, since I'm well connected with the people I met during my time in the job.<br><br>I see this as a chance to learn a lot, even though the road is tough now. I will be a better person because I was shaken out of my ignorance.