Well,  It been a busy few weeks with Dec birthdays, and the Holidays, but I have some time now so I get to come on the forums more.

On Dec 3rd I was downsized from my job.  I was a Computer Chip new project planner/expediter.  

I was actually told on Jul 22nd that it would be Sept 10th.  But then the guy they wanted to take over the work, started training and said NO-WAY he wanted to do this much grunt work and transferred out of our group.  So I then got extended to Nov 5th, with the plan being that they would keep a person in Singapore that they originally were laying off.  Well, that person said "Go to H#LL", and left.  Then I got extended to Dec 3rd so that they could hire some new person in Singapore.    

   I'm actually relieved.  Not so much that I am in the job market now (it's not that great), but that I'm not working the crazy hours any more.   The company I worked for used subcontractors in the Asia-Pacific area (12 hours time zone difference from here on the east side of PA).  Well, since computer chip new projects are always "hot", I use to get up at 5 am and log in from home to check emails and project status's.  The 12 hour diff made it 5 PM at the sub-con's so I could email real time to them.   I would work for about 2 hours then get ready for work.  Work 9-5 in the office (many times working thru lunch).  Then come home and spend time with the family till about 9:30 PM at which time I would log in again for an hour or so to check emails again.    I also use to check work emails on the weekends and plan vacations around hotels with WiFi.   You almost had to when you were  getting 200+ emails a day.  A week off meant 1400 emails to weed thru when you got back from vacation.  For those that don't know, that takes about 4 weeks to catch up since you're still getting new emails every day.  Long hours for a person that is in the trenches doing grunt work.

The hours did pay off, all my projects were shipped on time or early, and  I got some nice pay raises.    But that made me the high paid guy in the group with the least amount of time in the group.   That pretty much put a target on my back when the cost cutting time rolled around.    Most modern day accountants in the business world don't have time to do risk assessments when cutting costs.

Only complaint I have is that I wish they would have laid me off in Sept while it was still nice riding weather  .  Dec was cold here on the east side of PA and Jan doesn't look much better.  

Wish me luck in my job Hunt.

T Mack

Best of luck to you T Mack ... this whole outsourcing labour is a double-edged sword and I fear that here in the Western World we are in serious danger of outsourcing our entire economy ... what I don't understand is how North American coroporations haven't realized that? Maybe I just don't have enough understanding of the innear working of Globalization, I dunno.

In addition to the personal crap I'm dealing with, like you T Mack I am dealing with a job "transition" now as well ... upside is, that here in Nfld. we are currently in a bit of an "economic bubble" that has largely escaped the global down-turn ...

T Mack my friend, you are in my thoughts/prayers and I am sure that with enough perseverance and an open mind you will land right-side-up as far as employment goes ...

All the best buddy ... please keep us posted.

T Mack 1 - FSO wrote on 01/05/11 at 07:54:50:


Amen on the fun jobs don't pay!  haha   Mine's not too awful now, I'm getting paid while sitting here typing this at least...

I have an Associates degree in Computer Science and I work in Accounting!  Go figure.  But that's what I put myself through college doing, and never really got into the computer field.  And my degree is from late 80's, so there was no way I could apply for computer jobs!  Oh, we ran SAP at that past company too!  Loved it... and hated it!   Sounds like you have some viable options.  Just see what shakes out.

I heard 2 people are splitting the Mega Millions, one in Idaho, and one in Wisconsin, maybe?   $223 million cash option, or something crazy like that?  Can you imagine.

Got laid off after 22 years in the computer field.....WHAT A BLESSING!!!......Anyway at 51 years of age nobody wants you,,,,,,,got behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler (48 states and Canada) and loved it.  Should have done it 22 years ealier.  Wife and I took SS at 62 and I quit working period.....been retired now for 12 years and loving it.   Good luck on the job hunting.

Best of luck with the job situation, hope you find something you like.  Or at the very least, something you can tolerate!