As expected...
Well, the ax fell today, which wasn't unexpected. I told my manager that I saw it coming and had been well-prepared for it, and even went so far as to tell someone the night before that I hoped I was wrong but would have been surprised if a manager didn't come to my cube and ask if I had a minute.
I'm fortunate in the terms of this, as I have essentially an insurance policy with the termination. I'm still on the payroll until December 15, severance is six weeks and if I stay through that date, I get a little over 3 months' pay upon termination. According to my very back-of-the-envelope calculations involving time still at the company, termination bonus, remaining vacation (more than 2 weeks), severance and unemployment, I won't be in any kind of money trouble unless I don't have a job by sometime next summer, and that's not including tax return money, which figures to be a good amount since I'm a homeowner who will wind up paying plenty more than the standard deduction in interest this year. (This is, of course, barring some other disaster striking like an illness/injury that leads to high medical bills, but that could happen while gainfully employed so it really goes without saying.)
So worry not for me, friends - besides, the job market in engineering is far better than it was when I was laid off in 2003. Between that, the better experience I now have and walking out of here with at least two good references, as well as the current job not being the best match for me skill-wise, life could be a lot worse than it is right now.
I was reminded how this can bring out the best in people, too. Plenty of people who heard stopped by to express their thoughts and reflect on things. Oftentimes, we get so caught up in business that it's easy to momentarily forget that we're all people, too. This time around, only a handful of people from this office got hit, a marked contrast to 3 years ago when it was a large number, but it's still a case of lives disrupted. One engineer who got laid off is out immediately, with two young children. His colleague, who did a lot of work with him over the years as they served the same big customer, was clearly bummed in a big way.
I'm fortunate in the terms of this, as I have essentially an insurance policy with the termination. I'm still on the payroll until December 15, severance is six weeks and if I stay through that date, I get a little over 3 months' pay upon termination. According to my very back-of-the-envelope calculations involving time still at the company, termination bonus, remaining vacation (more than 2 weeks), severance and unemployment, I won't be in any kind of money trouble unless I don't have a job by sometime next summer, and that's not including tax return money, which figures to be a good amount since I'm a homeowner who will wind up paying plenty more than the standard deduction in interest this year. (This is, of course, barring some other disaster striking like an illness/injury that leads to high medical bills, but that could happen while gainfully employed so it really goes without saying.)
So worry not for me, friends - besides, the job market in engineering is far better than it was when I was laid off in 2003. Between that, the better experience I now have and walking out of here with at least two good references, as well as the current job not being the best match for me skill-wise, life could be a lot worse than it is right now.
I was reminded how this can bring out the best in people, too. Plenty of people who heard stopped by to express their thoughts and reflect on things. Oftentimes, we get so caught up in business that it's easy to momentarily forget that we're all people, too. This time around, only a handful of people from this office got hit, a marked contrast to 3 years ago when it was a large number, but it's still a case of lives disrupted. One engineer who got laid off is out immediately, with two young children. His colleague, who did a lot of work with him over the years as they served the same big customer, was clearly bummed in a big way.