The Blog

It’s quite funny to me that my last blog post was about wanting to leave the world of telecom for web development.

It didn’t quite happen by the date I had imagined in that post, which was April 2020 (Hello, pandemic), but it eventually did, and not of my own choosing, either. Which, knowing myself, that was probably for the best.

The company I worked for has a penchant for doing layoffs, every year, in January. This was virtually without fail. It didn’t always affect every department, but it was always stressful, because everyone knew it would come to someone, but more so for my family, since my husband and I both worked for this same company. Something-something all eggs in one basket, indeed.

In January of 2021, he was ‘the chosen one’ in his group, one of two unfortunate folks. Fortunately, another group within the company was in need of folks for long term project that was being developed, and he was able to rejoin the company by July 2021, before his severance was depleted. The downside of this, however, was that we had to repay an amount that the company deemed was ‘owed’ for coming back before the date they calculated that the severance would have covered - which was August.

Then, in January 2022, apparently it was my turn, within my group, except I was the ONLY person in my group who got the boot. I did get a call from a manager in another group that very same day, telling me of an opening they had, and we did have a nice chat, but I did not express interest in the position, it was not a job that I saw myself enjoying. I came from the support/operations side of the company, and the job was 100% project management. While it might have been very interesting, it was way outside of my wheelhouse. I did appreciate that someone was thinking of me though.

I was also contacted by a person who I’d worked with from another org in the company, via LinkedIn, about something within their group possibly opening up. I briefly touched base with their manager, but it seemed they had a lot of red tape to fight to get a spot opened, and eventually that manager ended up retiring a few months later, so that fizzled out. That’s okay though. I had decided by that point, which was probably around April 2022, that I probably would never go back to that company unless they: a) came to me begging; b) offered at least 50% more than I had made before they laid me off; and c), didn’t make me do their silly video interview process, which happens before any human being ever sees an application. (UGH, I have big feelings about that kind of interview - I want to talk to humans, not be screened by a bot!!)

Fortunately, due to the length of time I had been with that company, I got 30 weeks of severance - AND I wouldn’t have to repay it if I never went back by August, either. It actually lasted us until September, once I determined that a flat rate every two weeks would last X amount of time and we could manage just fine on that. We paid off several remaining credit card debts, and by the time it was depleted, we were in a good position where I would only need to work X hours per month with what used to be my ‘side gig’ to maintain funds for food & gas, while the husband’s paychecks would tend to the utilities and such.

Speaking of that ‘side gig’, it is now my main gig. It’s with the same small agency that I spoke of in my last post, too. It’s been awesome so far, and it was a big relief to have something to fall back onto. It’s not 40hrs a week, and it’s not salaried, but that’s okay, too. As long as I meet my self-imposed minimum hours per week, it’s all good, and I’m grateful.