On Friday afternoon, I was informed that Big Blue will no longer be requiring my services after Sptember 30th. Yep, I got three weeks' notice.

So, I won't be going to the SCCA Nationals this week, and I'll probably be taking the buyback option on the RX-8 unless I can line up another job before the end of the month. Anyone want to buy a barely-used MP3 player?

This sucks. :(

That Sucks.:(
Are you getting any severence package?

The worst part is you have to give up the 8.

Sorry, and good luck finding another job.

Originally posted by cueball1029
Are you getting any severence package?No package - I'm a contractor, been there for almost four years, and was assured just last month that they would be renewing for another year. I guess assurances ain't what they used to be.

that freking sucks...


what do you do?
________
Chrysler Rfe Transmission History (http://www.dodge-wiki.com/wiki/Chrysler_RFE_transmission)

They probably just replaced you with a H1-B or L1 visa holder or simply shipped your job to India where they can pay someone 10 times less....

RotaryStalker

That sucks. Sorry to hear it.

I was layed off from IBM/Rochester a few years ago. There is absolutely no way I would ever work there again. They layoff about 10% every other year. They then hire back on the off years. Doesn't make a lot of sense. I was hired out of college with 9 other new hires in my department. At the end of the year they layed 8 of us off.

After working a couple years at a smaller company that went under, I now work for the Mayo clinic in informatics research. Man, I can't believe how much better we're treated. Pay is not quite up to IBM standards, but for the job security and awesome benefits, I have no complaints.

I realise the job market is tight. I had to draw unemployment for 6 months before landing the Mayo job, but believe me, in the long run you will be glad this happened. Almost anywhere is better than IBM.

Good luck. Hang in there.

Originally posted by RotaryStalker
They probably just replaced you with a H1-B or L1 visa holder or simply shipped your job to India where they can pay someone 10 times less....Close. One whole section of our department is being outsourced to India later this year, and the people in that section are being "redeployed," but that's not what killed my job.

No, an edict has come down from on high, that all internet and intranet servers must be managed by another division within the company. (The same division that couldn't make money selling these services to outside customers, so has now found a captive market within the company.) Despite our proven track record of looking after ourselves, we have to fall under the corporate umbrella. (Or shroud, depending on your perspective.)

In order to find the ridiculous amounts of money that they demand for this "service," something else in the budget had to be cut, and since a large part of my role was supporting these boxes, my job was obviously one of the prime candidates to be cut.

Originally posted by P00Man
what do you do? Systems administration.

That really sucks...


Vince

That's awful! You have my sympathy. My brother is in IT - database programming - and he was laid off a while back. It's tough to keep your spirits up. Hang in there - things will turn around, and you'll get some new wheels (or keep yours...) Good luck!

Sorry to hear that :( If you would consider a move my Girlfriend and others I know work for Compuware Corporation in Milwaukee and my best friend works for Rockwell Automation. Let me know and I could have them get a resume in the right hands. Goodluck finding a new job!

Ike

Good old corporate america, where nothing is certain except the promise of unbelievably poor management decision making.

I lost my job with John Deere in December '01 when they decided to "exit the operations" of what was Homelite, before they bought the wad from Textron in '95 and moved 95% of it to Mexico. Couldn't figure out how to get out of the red. The 5% here in SC (that was not in the red, by the way) got the axe too & I lost my job of 16 years.

In 2 months, I got my new job just across town & now I'm making 21% more money + I'm not anchored-down with the production woes that were a general pain in the posterior. I do nothing but design work now. I get profit-sharing that's for real. Also, I don't work on Friday afternoons. Gives me a stretched weekend every week. Three weeks vacation per year for starters too.

The competition, that came in and vulturized the equipment, keep asking me to do some contract work on the side.

It truly was a blessing in disguise. It was time for a change afterall. I keep getting the same stories from all of my ex-co-workers too.

I pray for your well being, eccles. Life does go on without Big Blue. You are in high demand everywhere. Should be a piece of cake to get a new job, if nothing more than just a stepping stone to your next career job. Good luck & keep the faith.

Well I don't have such a rosy outlook for the American IT professional. My friend was just layed off in Atlanta. The entire company is moving offshore in order to "stay competitive". Recently HP announced they were starting a new R&D department in India after allegedly not being able to find enough high tech talent in Silicon Valley. This is just pathetic...

Some other interesting things to consider....

H-1B and L-1 visa holders are temporary non-immigrant foreign workers.

Last year, 9 out of 10 American IT jobs went to H-1B and L-1 workers.

There are over 1 million American IT workers on the street looking for work.

There are over 1.5 million H-1B workers in the U.S.

In the next 18 months, 1 out of 10 American technology jobs will be moved offshore.

Off-shoring requires the use of H-1B and L-1 visa workers.

40% of the workers in a typical off-shoring project are H-1B and L-1 visa holders working right here in the U.S. The Indian off-shoring firms have stated publicly that off-shoring depends crucially on H-1B and L-1 visas.

As of Sept the H1-B program cap was changed from 195,000 to 65,000. The 195,000 limit was set in 2001. 193,000 H1-Bs were issued in 2001 and 69,000 last year (due to the economy).

This doesn't only affect IT jobs as we all know. Customer service, banking, financial analysis are other types of jobs leaving the US and parts of Europe as well.

I'm an American programmer with a masters in CS. I spent a year trying to find a job and finally got one about 6 months ago. A crappy one though.

Here's an interesting picture to consider...
http://www.hireamericancitizens.org/images/0502vis2.jpg

Photo by: BRUCE HOSKING May 3, 2003
Programmers Rangandh Vemuriand, left, and Pavan Chilakapati confer with Ravi Kanuri on a custom computer program at System Soft Technologies in Clearwater FL. All three tech workers are on H-1B visas from India.

Makes me sick...

http://www.hireamericancitizens.org/

RotaryStalker

eccles - sorry to hear you lost your contract with Big Blue. Corporate America sometimes sucks the big one. You are nothing but an expen$e to them. They don't know your name, only know how much you are costing them. :mad:

My cousin lost her job when Budget decided to move their whole IT department to India. I was reading in Newsweek that some of the IT professionals are talking about unionizing. I used to be concerned about unionized workers because of all the horror stories I heard from colleague about UAW (didn't paint a very pretty pciture), but in this case I think the union might be beneficial.


Good luck,

Magic8

I have a spare gearshift knob that you could keep as a memento I'll trade ya that and some cash for the player. PM me if interested.

Sorry about the job.

wow...

anyways, thats a good proffession, but very unpredictable (as everyones said pretty much)
________
Extreme Q Vaporizer (http://extremevaporizer.info)

Hopefully you'll be able to find something else soon :( Time to whore the resumes out...

Our whole department was laid off at First Data back five years ago. I was just an intern but my boss who worked there for 15 years got canned just the same. No warning, just "staff meeting in 15 minutes", and bam.

I'll be graduating this year with a BS in CS, doesn't look too promising for job prospects. I already have a few years corporate experience from the networking side of things, so at least that should help...

I've worked on the IT industry my entire life. Been an instructor, CS, TS, Techincal Sales Advisor, and as of 2 years....head (and only member) of an IT dpt. for a small telco. services wholesaler.

I can't complaint, thus the company is relatively small (very little bureocracy...things work or they don't.)

Eccles, best of my wishes again! (although, sometimes discouraging) HANG-ON there....don't ever stop looking, don't be a jerk (like one I knew a year ago...they guy was so darn pretentious...) and know how to show what you are worth!

Sincerely,
M.-

Eccles, sorry to hear that you lost your job.

I'm in a similar position. I'm due to rotate back to the states Sept 28, and was just informed from my company that the do not have any current openings in my labor category, System Engineering. Nor do they forsee any openings in the near future. So I'll be job hunting when I get home. Fortunately I have about 13 days of paid vacation, a few sick days, plus I have enough emergency funds to last 1.5 months for living expenses in a worst case scenario.

Trust in God and your abilities, and everything will be fine. I have learned from past experiences that if I put my trust in my God, that he'll take care of me and my family. Every job always seems to turn out better than the one before, whether it is salary, benefits compensation, work conditions, or sheer job satisfication.

Hang in there, and best wishes!

I have been a network admin for about 5 years or so at different companies. The last company I worked for, MasTec, laid me off and my boss told me it was a "restructuring" time for the company. Not even 2 months later the entire IT department (50+ people) was fired and it was moved to India. After that last job, I decided IT was not for me anymore. I have since moved on to other things. I am currently an Account Executive doing mortgages with a very well known bank. (Don't want to say the name of the bank as I am on my work PC right now!) It's great. I love the job and I have the potential to make 5X what I made as a Network Administrator. Don't let IBM get you too down. Hey, at least you got some notice...