December 17, 2002
Why 2001 was an upsetting year.
Or... Is it over yet?
Adventures in unemployment.
March 2001
After 5 years of hard work, the latter two in great frustration as a Systems Administrator at Will Vinton Studios I get pissed off enough to make my exit. Three people in my department quit citing the same list of complaints. I am told by the VP that managers my manager that I am the only one complaining, which means the problems are mine alone. Yeah right. My last few days I begin to feel a sense of relief that tells me I am doing the right thing.
I take a week off and move to a job I had already accepted with Extensis Corp, a local software company, with promises of a competitive salary, stock, a good career path etc. The people there are good. My entry is delayed by a week though as the week I am due to begin they end up laying off 20% of their staff. Not a good sign. A month later another 20% are laid off. two months later another 20% including me. Damn.
For the first time in my life, since I was washing dishes at Little Caesar's Pizza at the age of 14, I am unemployed. The hiring rep at Extensis assures me that my resume is good and that even in the economic depression I am very employable. She helps me with the name of hiring agencies and job boards and tells me I should not worry. I worry.
June 2001:
Whereas in 1999 a search on dice.com for 'Systems Administrator' yielded a few hundred hits, the economic state of the US is such that the same search now yields only a few dozen postings. I am concerned about what compromises I may have to make in my career in order to be employed. I have savings to last me a few months. Add to it unemployment insurance and a frugal life and I figure I can search for a job that fits me rather than simply search for a job.
My last day at Extensis is June 14th. On June 28th, exactly two weeks later I receive a call from a recruiter saying my resume looks perfect for a job he has with an International software company with a local office. I speak to him from a small deli on Hawthorne Avenue where I am lunching with a friend. He calls the hiring manager who calls my cell phone a half hour later. I get directions to their office in Tualatin and interview. The manger seems like a person I will get along with great and their projects are focused on data telemetry and media management, two subjects I am intimately familiar with.
The following week I receive a job offer, which I gladly accept. My luck seems to be making a turn for the better. I am hired on a 3 month at-will contract. The new manager lets me know that he would like to hire me onto the staff as the US IT manager as soon as my contract is up. I let him know this sounds quite perfect that and I would be happy to make my stay at the company By now, dear reader, you should recognize the size of the hump at the top of this roller coaster can only mean that the next drop is going to be a screamer.
July 2001
The weekend of the 4th of July a rather upsetting event forces me to decide whether I will fight to rebuild the two-year relationship I have forged with my girlfriend or end it. I spend most of the weekend sitting on a dock on the Columbia River trying to figure out what I should do. Upset, unsure and heartbroken I gather myself up as best I can for my first day at my new job.
Monday July 9th I spend taking in information from my new boss. It feels almost as if he is trying to give it all to me in a single day. Later that day he resigns his position, something I will not find out for two more days. Two weeks later the company lays off 20% of their staff citing a change in company direction and the cancellation of a major project. A month later they lay off 80% of the remaining staff citing fiscal hardship and drastic changes in company direction. The office goes from twenty-two to five people. Need I say I am not one of those five?
September 2001
The last job search had felt like a shot in the dark. Since then a decline in the technology industry has continued to tank the national economy. Oregon becomes state with the second worst unemployment rate in the nation. Most of my friends and acquaintances work in an IT related field; about half of them are out of work. My last few days on the job feel awful as I look forward to the unhappy prospect of being laid off in a recession.
I document my work and do final cleanup. I am done by 3pm and decide to head home to see if I can relax enough to shake off some of my anxiety. That evening I stay up working on my resume. My plan is to wake up early the next morning and start an active and hard job hunt. The day is Monday September 10th 2001.
Tuesday September 11th around 7am my ex calls me from her new boyfriend's house to tell me the US is under attack. I turn on the TV just in time to see the World Trade Center collapse on national television. Around mid-day the shock and fear subsides to the point where I can begin think about my job situation. I conclude that it would be counter-productive to start contacting employers that week. I spend most of the week home alone watching the news. The reports of the newly declared war on the United States are interspersed with quick reports on massive layoffs and fiscal depression. I keep calling my father in Manhattan to see if he is all right but will not get through until Thursday the 13th.
I believe the phrase rhymes with 'clucking bells'.
October 2001
On September 21st I receive a call from Xerox in regards to a position that looks quite good. I know my chances in the current job market are not exactly high, but am determined to give it my all. The phone interview is promising; the live interview is downright encouraging. The people I interview with strike me as articulate, intelligent, devoted and well. quite nice.
The first week of October I accept a job offer and finalize plans to take what I believe the British call 'a constitutional'. I spend two weeks in Hawaii visiting friends and doing a lot of thinking. Part of me is delighted with the prospect of my new job. Part of me is still desolated and broken up. I try to put all of me in the moment and just 'be' on the beach.
I start work at Xerox on October 29th. From the first hour I have a good feeling about this group. The team I join is incredibly supportive. The position seems in many ways tailor made for my skills. I am promised that the work will be sizeable, challenging and interesting. So far so good.
Everyone: Please stay seated and keep all your limbs inside the cab until the roller coaster has come to a full and complete stop.
