Monday, April 13, 2009

From the Central Coast

This side trip is turning out well!  Drive into the central coast with a beautifully presented marine layer.  First day of digging deep into the inner workings of a small IT company with secret weapons!  Ah yes, all the indications of finally being involved in something successful.  Open minded people, ready to help build a road map to a future for the company, check!  Smart people wanting to engage in building the company together, check!  I truly don't know how to act, other than stick my head down, put my thinking cap on and enjoy the fruits of employment with the new team...

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Roller Coaster

Ok, update time.  So, what exactly is it like to be unemployed?  Hardly know!  What an interesting ride this one has been.  Got the call and the nice speech as mentioned earlier.  Decided, you know what we just have to trust God and enjoy the ride.  What were the choices?  Freak out, run around with our hair on fire, make each other miserable or what?  Decided to just trust and enjoy...

During the winter of 2007, I helped an old friend do some things with his fledgling company to get it kind of going.  Fast forward to last Saturday, in response to my LinkedIn "What are you working on now" fill in the blank of ...is looking for a job, I get a call from this old friend who is babbling about the stars aligning and opportunity.  Additionally, he and his partner have just launched the secret weapon that is going to make this thing go.  They want me to join and develop the roadmap for where they need to take the company and then keep everyone between the ditches.  

Oh man, I was just getting used to goofing off......, no problem though, I could get used to working with people who feel more like your close cousins rather than co-workers.  People with a passion for what they are doing, people really good at the parts they do...........Side Trip In Life, here I come!  Check back here as I share this side trip...

Thursday, April 2, 2009

An Ultimate Side Trip In Life

Ok, so another 'last paycheck' vacation, what now?  This was our question as I got a call on Monday that as of Tuesday 1 Apr (no April Fools, right boss?), I was unemployed.  One of the nicest lay off speeches I ever received, but still a lay off.  Again, what now?  Being a 'Tech Refugee' several times over, my wife and I went through this before.  Before was terrible, we got very stressed, but stuck together and made it through and were stronger for the effort.  So, what now?  

There is a total up side to this thing.  All the time given away from family for a job, got that back.   What about money?  Ok, re-arranged money to make it accessible, between that and unemployment, we can do this!  

First thing that happens are your friends, the ones that care about you come out of the woodwork.  That's meant in a nice way.  I got calls, emails, recommendations on LinkedIn from friends I hadn't heard from in a while.  They just saw my "looking for a job" on LinkdedIn and responded with kindness.  Or co-workers who just wanted to say hi and wish us well.   Wow, connections are even more important than I mentioned in an earlier post when I was hopping from roof top to roof top in the Bay.  People and our connections to them make life happen!

This feels so different than the past layoffs.  A kind of weird freedom to just explore life with my family!  Keep coming back to learn how this turns out.  Time to explore an 'Ultimate Side Trip In Life'.