OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Well, I got back from a great vacation, got hammered by the Klez virus, finally got that fixed, and was thinking about how it was going to be rough to get going back to work after two weeks off. Then I got a call from the COO at work. Turns out that I don't have to go to work after all! It seems that I have been laid off, along with most of the other developers.

Oh boy! Job hunting again. One of my favorite activities http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Ugh! Sorry to here that AK. Job security is one of the reasons why I didn't go into computers...

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Ouch..

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">God I am sorry to hear about this AK. RL sure can dish out the punishment. Dispite the the set back, the bright side of this is that at least you know you can find work. Try and find work where I live.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Yeah, they're talking about redundancies where I work, and I'm pretty sure I'll be on the list.

I'd like to take voluntary, but my gfriend and I are just a week or so away from completing on our first mortgage. Don't want to risk that unless I have a definite job offer lined up.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

That's a tough one AK, good luck, hope you find another job soon. At least you'll have unemployment for a while hopefully, good jobs are harder and harder to find...... Good Luck

just some ideas Mac

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Ouch! Sorry to hear that AK. Stories like this always make me worried... especially when I'm only a year away from graduating from university. Aeronautical engineering jobs are always even harder to find than computers, and thanks to a bunch of idiots Last September they made it twice as hard again.

[ July 01, 2002, 16:32: Message edited by: CW ]

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Bad break Alpha Kodiak,

Good luck on the hunt.

OMG, Your address is Chandler AZ. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif You worked where I work, don't you? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I actually worked in Phoenix with a small software company serving the telecom industry.

BTW, if you know of anyone in the East Valley looking for a C++ programmer/analyst with 20+ years of experience, let me know!

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

I'm on the verge of being in the same boat. My company (a government contractor) just lost a couple bids, so Last week we all got told to find a contract to work on ASAP, or be laid off. I found a contract willing to cover me for 4 weeks, but no guarantees beyond that. So I've been calling everyone I know within the company, plus some friends at other companies, to see if anyone can provide a longer-term commitment. Since I live near Washington, DC it should be (relatively) easy to find another job; it's just a question of how quickly I could switch jobs/companies.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Alpha Kodiak,
I wish I could help you. I do know someone in Austin TX. Maybe...
No Email from her in months, time for a personnal phone call.

20yrs, C++, etc... wow, You must have been hot property a two years ago.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I probably would have been, two years ago. Unfortunately, I have been working for the Last 5 years at the same company, thinking I had finally found a place I could stay long term. Now, the Computer section of the want ads in the Arizona Republic from Sunday was a whopping column and a third (mostly not programmers).

With kids in school, I am really hoping I can stay local, but we'll see what happens.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

I'm sure things will work out for you, AK. I just hope sooner rather than later....

Quikngruvn

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I Hope you don't mind me asking but...

connected to worldCOM?

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

I am.

EDS.... THis week will be a bad one.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I Hope you don't mind me asking but...

connected to worldCOM?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No, but that situation sure won't help the telecom market loosen up any! I'm not that unhappy to get out of the way of that mess. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Alpha,

I can empathize with your situation. I went through a hellish lay-off Last summer, and my wife (former VP of Communications) is enduring a lay-off from a Telecomm startup called Telegea.

I wish you well, and if I see any inviting job Posts in your area (I am always looking) I will post a link.

I have recruiter contact in the San Diego area, it that is of interest.

Cheers!
Trajan

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

For those of you in the DC/Metro Area, there's the Washington Post's WashingtonJobs.com.

Good luck! I may be looking in Seattle in a few months myself.

zen

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Zen - moving to Seattle, huh? Interesting place; I visited there not too long ago. Very pretty mountains, and the culture was much more comfortable than the DC/NoVA area tends to be. At least more liberal... I saw some shows on the Seattle public access station that wouldn't be allowed on pay-per-view in Virginia.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

I wish you the best luck Alpha!
For the people that live digging trench (making software) , like you and me, is not easy get age and keep a work to maintain a family!
Something interesting: I believed that fire a guy after their vacations, was only a "third world" vice...

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

You might find some resources at www.businessknowhow.com. The site is geared more towards starting and running a small business, but there are a few gems for job hunting there as well.

One of my favorite pearls of wisdom I picked up from BKH was to pay taxes by credit card. It's a mandatory expense, but it is still treated as a purchase by most credit cards. If you have one of those cards which offer frequent flyer miles, you can pick up a bunch by simply doing what you have to do anyway.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

DirectorTsaarx - Yah, I'm going to be shooting for there probably after I finish up my degree. It is pretty decent out there...didn't rain as much as I expected on my Last jaunt there. My girl just got a job with Valve Software, so...

And I hear the West Coast in general is a little more, um, liberal than we are out here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

zen

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Well, the resumes are going out, and I've been signing up at all the Internet job registries. We've started cutting expenses to prepare for a bit of a long haul. Jobs seem mighty thin, but part of that may be because this is a holiday week in the US.

MB: Yeah, I was not particularly pleased about being laid off on vacation. My quite short severence pay package started 9 days before I knew I was out of work and could start looking for a job.

Thanks to everyone for all the encouragement. It is nice to have a friendly place to vent a little. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Blimey, sorry to hear about this Alpha K.

I thought redundancies etc had to go through a prior consultation period with employees etc that meant you never went through the "got back from holiday and the company had relocated without telling me syndrome" - you cant do that in Europe (or at least the more civilised parts) and I am shocked it can be done in US

I hope it all works out for you

I have a view that these things are God's way of telling us we should have moved earlier, and that the next job will be a doozer

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

As you all may, or may not know, I do Shrapnel as a part time thing. I work full time in the IT area (Unix Admin mainly).

I almost faced the same thing myself, but I heard the axe coming early. Took me 4 months (and we also cut our spending, increased our credit limits, etc) but I found a nice job at Cardinal Health. It's a 6 month contract to hire, but I here that it is fairly easy to keep on until they pick you up full time.

It can be rough. This is my second job I have seen going away due to data center moves, and it sucked equally both times. Good luck.

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Yah, good luck Alpha! I actually found my current job through Monster.com (or rather, they found me). Like Growltigga said, you never know...my girl was looking for months here in the DC area and then out of the blue a company in Seattle calls her up. Not quite the location she was looking for, but it was a grand opportunity nonetheless.

For those in the DC area who need help, I got this recently:
_______________________________________
Mark your Calendar for July 17th!

JobFest-DC at the Washington Convention Center is your opportunity to meet with area employers who are ready to hire.

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 17, 2002, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM

WHERE:
Washington Convention Center, 900 9th Street, NW

WHY:
This event is a free, day-long jobs and skills fair to help put the Washington, DC region to work. Limited childcare for job seekers will be available at this event.

JobFest-DC is an event you won't want to miss!

For more information visit www.washingtonpost.com/jobfest-dc or
call 1-877-US-2JOBS.

JobFest-DC is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Navy and the DC Department of Employment Services, in partnership with washingtonpost.com, The Public Forum Institute
and Bridges To Friendship.
_______________________________________

Good luck out there!

zen

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Well, hopefully Monster.com (or one of the others) will work for me like it did for you. They were the first service I signed up with.

Going to be a busy day today. There weren't too many open positions in yesterday's paper, but a couple of them will require me to apply in person. Plus, I'm going to go over to the University and check out the job board there. It's a long shot, but I don't have anything better to do with my time (outside of SEIV, which doesn't help pay the bills).

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Alpha,

How far is Tempe from you? (Company I work for has Software Eng. position open there along with several other positions if your interested)

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

Alpha,

While I am waiting for my current company to run out of cash (90 more days or so) I am actively seeking employment using any method I can think of. My wife was laid off from her telecom firm approximately 5 months ago and is still seeking a new position (FYI - She was a VP. of Comm. and PR).

We are using the following sites with some success:
www.headhunter.net (drop some cash $30 U.S. to get your resume to perform better.)
www.flipdog.com (nice crawler of company sites)
www.washintonpost.com (though this is of limited value)
www.techies.com

...and many more.

With all of these I highly recommend that you change the title of your resume frequently (every couple of days) to get it to remain on the top of the search engines.

FYI I will see if I can get a list of all the engines we use. Also, we have some recruiters that we use though they have not found anything at the executive levels. The market in Wash. DC is cut-throat and we are competing with other very qualified people.

Good luck! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
' Trajan

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Tempe is right around the corner. I would definitely be interested! Let me know who they are and how to get in touch with them (either here or in a private message) and I will see what turns up! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: OT - RL Strikes Again
 

This was posted at my work:

"Attention All Employees"

Do to finacial concerns, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.

Please be advised that flashlights are now availible for a small weekly fee.

(Things have to get better, don't they?)