Yesterday I Resigned. Will I Ever “Work” Again? |
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I fully expected to type that title… I just didn’t expect to type it now. I figured in 2-3 years it would be appropriate. If I typed it before that, it would be a joyous occasion - followed by the popping of champaign Champagne. So now I type it, but there is no champaign. Truth be told, I spent much of last night choking back tears… Why?
The company I worked for decided things weren’t working out and gave me the option to respectfully resign. It came a little bit as a shock simply because I had been there a year and other than a feeling that I wasn’t completely pulling my weight hadn’t received much of a warning. At the same time, I’m not dumb (at least most of the time) and if you don’t pull your weight and do your share, this is the likely result.
As I write this, it’s just four hours after I’ve received the fateful news. I’m still sorting out thoughts and emotions. My first thought was, “Was this preventable?” The answer to that is, “Of course.” I simply needed to focus on doing a better a job. It didn’t take a lot of time for me to move on from the question of “what if” to a different question.
What now? There are no shortages of software engineer jobs in Silicon Valley. I could probably have 5 interviews lined-up by the time you are reading this. However, we are going on our honeymoon in 3 weeks. Is this the proper time to be looking for a new job? I talked it over with my wife, and an obvious question came up, what if I didn’t look for a job right away? Money would tighter, but exactly “tight” as my wife makes a very generous salary - and the health insurance. What if I wrote more often and perhaps tried to… wait for it… blog for money? It’s too early to think such thoughts, isn’t it? For now, we’re thinking in a different direction…
It’s time to think about survival mode. What areas can we save money in? We certainly won’t be buying any robot vacuums or FoodSavers. Our food bill will go up as I won’t be eating at free at work anymore. Our car expenses will go down slightly since I won’t be driving to and from work. As far as I can tell everything else will remain the same. However, our housing expense will be only around 23% of our take home - and that is by far our biggest expense. Thus perhaps we don’t need to be too much in “survival mode”, which is dangerous for me.
Why is it so dangerous? I’m tittering teetering on the edge of being depressed about the days’ events. I could very easily spend the next couple of months wearing out the couch. Or I could utilize the time to do one or more of the following a) find my dream job b) explore new business opportunities and actually act on them c) exercise d) learn all the computer science skills that I should have learned a long time ago e) make reading my writing the highlight of your day.
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November 29th, 2007 at 6:10 am
I had the same thing happen to me but I think I might have jumped back on the work wagon too quickly. All in all the severance check allowed me to pay down some debt and get engaged so it was a good thing. You’ve got the opportunity to work on growing your alternate income.
October 29th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
ah, here’s the post. yes, check out my post tomorrow and you’ll see we have a lot in common.
good luck with the non-work thing and don’t worry too much about how things will work out. they will. just enjoy your honeymoon.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Hey Lazy Man, I’ve just started catching up. I am sorry to hear about this situation, but as they say, Crisis = Opportunity. It sounds like you are staying positive and upbeat and open to the possibilities that await you.
In CA there are funny rules about unemployment. The labor laws there are generally strict and trying, so be really clear in understanding what your former company will and will not do about the unemployment payments.
I wish you a lot of luck. If you’re looking for work in SiliValley, and you’re not on LinkedIn, you might try that. I find the quality of the contacts to be high there, at least from my tech friends and former co-workers.
October 17th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Hello Lazy Man;
I am so sorry to hear about your recent job loss.
I work with people who have recently been “re-organized.” I know how incredibly difficult this time can be for even the most talented professionals.
Take this time to find the right “fit.” It is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your future employeer. Good luck.
October 16th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
The greatest day of my life was September 20, 2006 when I fired myself from Corporate America and went on a crusade to help others win with their money!
Here’s to you going and doing exactly what you have been put on earth to do - regardless of the income potential!!! The income always seems to follow those who are most passionate about what they do!
October 15th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
HI Lazy Man,
I’m a software engineer myself so I can relate to what you say about “Lazy”. The best engineers do indeed automate everything!
FYI when you start looking for a job the first place to check is http://www.indeed.com - it aggregates jobs from a number of sites e.g. Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice.com
and it’s much faster and more quickly usable than those sites to boot!
Best of luck,
-F
October 15th, 2007 at 11:04 am
My spell check changed those. I thought it didn’t look right, but spelling check is usually better than me.
They said they wouldn’t fight unemployment case, but I need to look into what the rules for unemployment are. Right now, I do make money with this website, so in a sense I’m employed. I have been unemployed in the past and collected, but it was a very clear cut layoff, not this murky situation and in a different state, with likely slightly different rules.
There’s a chance that something written in the blog could have contributed to the situation, but then they are a fairly uninformed company. The best software engineers are lazy and program things so that they don’t need to maintain them. It’s a very well known thing in the software engineering circles. This is what the “Lazy” refers to in my name, not the negative connotation that most people have.