This is about the last thing I thought I’d be posting this weekend, but about 2:00 yesterday afternoon, one of my two bosses asked to speak with me. As I mentioned 5 or 6 weeks ago in an IMHO thread, I’d been pretty crazy with with various and sundry projects, so I didn’t think anything of it. He was waiting with our head of HR in a conference room, and together they gave me the bad news. The good news is several people in my branch of the company fought to keep me, but I wasn’t racking up billable hours (too busy building contact management software to track billable opportunities), so I’m out of a job. Our HR person has offered me help with my resume and interviewing skills, and, since I hate updating my resume, I plan on taking her up on it. I’ve also spent the past 24 hours in the company of two good, supportive, practical friends.
Right now, I’m still a bit shocky, although the worst of the pain has passed. I’ll be driving into the office on Monday to pick up several boxes of reference books, and, while I’m at it, sign up for unemployment. I’ve also got the numbers of a couple of head hunters, one of whom came to me because the father of one of the people who works there uses one of the databases I’ve designed. I’ll be all right, but hugs would be appreciated. More to the point, if anyone knows of a company who could use a Japanese-speaking database developer (Access and SQL a specialty), please e-mail me.
That sucks. I was laid off in March and I spent most of the first couple of days curled up in the fetal position, except when I was chain smoking.
Give yourself a few days to clear your head, update your resume, etc. and then contact everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, you’ve ever met.
One person I worked with in the 80s threw a free-lance job my way. One person I studied with for an accreditation test more than 10 years ago got me an interview.
After three months I got full-time work again, so trust me when I say things will work out.
Yeah, I’m there, too. My company started collapsing back in May and I was one of the first out the door.
But it looks like I’ll get some good news next week. I’ve been interviewing a lot so it’s my experience that there’s work out there for skilled people who are willing to pursue it. Good luck to you.
Good Luck! I was out eight months before I found a job. Oddly, I was in contact with the company I hired on with nearly the whole time but it took that long to get an interview and an offer.
CJ: Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Where are you now, and would you be willing to relocate? We might be able to use someone with your skills. My e-mail’s in the biography section of my profile, if you want to send me your resume.
best wishes. when I’m on the beach (you probably say bench), I veg, take long walks, re-charge.
[sub]it went zip when moved and bop when it stopped,
and whirr-r-r-r when it stood still.
I never knew just what it was,
and I guess I never will…
[/sub]
{{{CJ}}} I am sorry to hear that. It is a horrible feeling. I am glad you have some supportive people around and seem to have a plan on what to do next. Best of luck!
I’m sorry to hear that,((((((cjhoworth)))))). I suppose techically I’ve been laid off too- my postion as a paraprofessional (working one on one with 3-6 yr olds with developmental delays and autism) didn’t get funding for this year, so I’m looking in the want ads too. I suppose they could find out in the next two weeks that they’ve gotten the $ after all and call me back like they wanted, but I really don’t see that happening, so it’s time to look for a job again.
I think in cases like yours and mine it’s almost worse to know that they didn’t want you to leave, because you know it wasn’t anything you did, just how life turns out.
Sorry to hear about that, CJ. Good luck in finding something new! Although I’ve somehow managed to avoid unplanned unemployment, so my advice isn’t the voice of experience, I’d say kunilou’s suggestions have a lot to be said for them.
FWIW, many Federal government agencies need computer geeks of various sorts, and I know the Census bureau, where I work, makes some use of SQL databases. The government probably doesn’t pay as well as private industry, but the pay’s still comfortable, and you don’t have to work evenings and weekends, either. www.opm.gov would be the starting place to look, IIRC.
Thanks everyone. RTFirefly, a friend of mine who works for the Veterans Administration who was telling me someone needed to design a nice, comprehensive database. I’ll certainly consider the government.
For everyone who asked, I live in Pittsburgh, but I am willing to relocate. I’ve got some good local contacts. I’m also drawing on that silly Mensa membership I picked up a couple of years ago in the hope that that might pull something in.
Oh well, my grandmother has arrived from England for a visit, and will be getting to Pittsburgh tomorrow, so at least I’ll get to spend a bit more time with her than planned.
ultrafilter, as soon as I get my resume updated and gone over, I’ll e-mail it to you.
Sorry to hear that CJ. As a person who is currently reviewing resumes I’d like to offer some advice on the resume. HR may try to tell you to make it one page only. This came into vogue in the late 90s. If your career warrants only one page, make it one page. However, if there is more to tell, use two or three. One of our current leading candidates almost didn’t even get an interview. His resume was one page long and didn’t tell me enough. I passed him over when I reviewed the stack of resumes that I had. The only reason I went back to him was the fact that he lived in our town and figured it wouldn’t hurt to give him a call.
However, don’t do the opposite. I got one resume that was 10 pages long - much too much information. 2 or maybe 3 will be fine.
You’re taking this better than I would. In your previous post you mentioned that you were working long hours on a difficult task with basically impossible deadlines. In this post you mention that this task kept you from working on billable tasks. This sounds like a complete failure of your management not to mention a complete lack of gratitude. Is this a struggling company that is essentially throwing bodies off the sledge to keep the wolves at bay, or are they just a bunch of jerks?
Anyway, my sympathies. Good luck in your job hunt!