Bad News and Good News

The last few days have been quite a shock. In retrospect, I’m not sure why the incidents of the past few days have come as such a shock; I’ve been through the very same events so many times before. I suppose I’m a bit tired of it I guess.

We had a pretty significant layoff last week, and about half the people in my office were let go. Being in the tech industry, it isn’t the first time I’ve survived a layoff. I was a consultant for a large company, as my first job out of college in 2000. When I started there were well over 200 people in my building. Almost quarterly, from 2001 to 2005 we experienced continuous layoffs. I survived until summer 2005, when there were only about 5 of us left. Talk about survivor syndrome!

So when the company I am now working for announced a significant round of layoffs, it kind of shocked me. No, it really shocked me. For the past couple of months I had felt a little frustrated at work; uninspired and not very motivated. This is really the first job I’ve had, where I honestly believe in the product, so I want to stay employed there. Not because I need a paycheck so bad – there are other jobs out there – but because I want to be a part of the product we provide. It’s meaningful to me.

So I decided to reinvest myself into my work. I’ve come in early and left late almost every day since the layoffs. I even worked over the weekend and have received some kudos because of it.

So what is the good news? This almost sounds horrible – but I have to find the silver lining in this, so I’ll take it. I got a pretty good raise. In fact it was a lot more than I had been expecting. I also received a pretty nice bonus. Enough that between the raise and the bonus, I ought to be able to speed up Baby Step #2 quite a bit.

Before February is over I’m going to call and cancel my credit cards. That’s a pretty big deal for me; however, it is necessary. No more borrowed money for insignificant things that aren’t worth the additional interest. I’m done with those things.

So I ought to be able to have my car paid for by October. That will be really nice.

One of two things is going to happen – either I’m going to leave my current company with some significant new skills and a great recommendation, or I’m going to be in management where I’ll have my chance to see whether I can do any better.