Comment by DavidWoof

> blowing away the production database seems to rank pretty high.

In this case, it's not a matter of degree, it's a matter of responsibility. The junior dev is absolutely not the one responsible for the prod db getting blown away, and is absolutely not responsible for the backups not being adequate. As somebody else mentioned, this is like leaving the electric cable to the production system strewn across the office floor, then firing the person who happened to trip over it.

I agree somebody's job should be in jeopardy, especially if the backups weren't adequate: not for a single mistake, but for a long series of bad decisions and shoddy oversight that led to this.