f13.net

The start up I work for just laid off 37 people - myself included. Not too bad for me as I kept doing contracts on the side but still shifty.

Apparently a large VC called in their debt/investment basically destroying our cash flow. Yay.

D'oh!

This is not a good thing.  :ye_gods:

Gah! Sorry to hear that!

Yeah it kinda sucks although for me it's a bit of a relief in that I was essentially working two jobs. And I've been in hitech marketing for 12 years from very large corporate (SAP) to start ups so I've been in this situation before. But man some of the young'uns were completely shell shocked. There were even tears - to which I had to explain over beers that there is no crying in baseball. Still sucks ass - I am hoping to move to Moscow next year and this seriously impacts my ability to build reserve funds. Ah well - c'est la vie.

Moscow? REALLY? Is Canada that bad now?

If you want snow, Denver has plenty. And we seem to be doing OK for jobs right now.

Sorry to hear it.  I hope you find something soon!

Heh no, it's temporary. My girl is with the VANOC olympic group and I've done 4 or 5 contracts with them and it looks like we may both have an opportunity to work on the 2014 games which are in Sochi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sochi). But we'd have to do a year in Moscow first. That's the current - very liquid - plan.

SAP? SAP?! YOU DIE NOW

To be fair I started at a company called Crystal Decisions. Then we got bought by a company called Business Objects. Then we got bought by SAP. Then I left.

Ok, I don't wish you were on fire anymore.

Sounds like you've worked with SAP before. Aren't they neato keano? Worst DB design and most unfriendly co. ever = profit?

Sorry to hear man. Best wishes

Do you have a job?

Then you have no clue how Denver is doing for jobs.

Trust me. I'm in one of those "recession-proof" cities also.

Hope everything gets back on track fast for you. 

It's pretty sad (scary) the way things are right now.  My dad just lost his job of 36 years as an electrician in a plant that supported auto manufacturing here in Ohio.  Late 50s, not quite ready for retirement but has to find something for the next 5-10 years.  Health isn't quite where it needs to be to take on construction work, so he's left looking at going into a whole new profession. 

What can you do, but keep plugging away and hope the cards draw in your favor. 

Suck.  IT is getting hammered all around, as far as I can tell.


Apparently!

SAP AG: Your source for DB and OS facepalms.

Or

What are ya gonna go, convert to JDE?

Are you convinced the recession is your problem? :oh_i_see:

Not saying it's recession proof, but I do watch the tech job boards, and I see a lot of new jobs posted every week. So, yah, I'm not watching all industries, but it seems OK.

And "recession proof" doesn't mean "the best job for everyone!" it just means that folks aren't getting fired much more than normal and that jobs do exist - just maybe not the bestest one you are looking for. Another good indicator is housing sales/prices, and I'm not seeing it slow down or go down much more than it was before all this crap hit the fan.

Schild, bad as you think things are, this ain't nothing.  Games has it particularly bad all over thanks to all the publicly traded companies trimming payrolls, but the city in general is still in good shape and games will recover in a few months.  When you go to apply for a minimum wage job as a swamper (cleaning up after drunk rednecks at 4 in the morning) and the line for applications stretches around the block, then you will understand why people who remember real recessions get all PTSD about it.

--Dave (Pueblo 1989, if anyone cares)

The last time I said "things can't get worse" my car got destroyed by an angry sky.

I'm not saying it again. This is as bad as things get.
/me hits karma for 52 damage.

I KNOW everything is going to be ok.  You are one of the bounciest boys I know.

That is a very clever way to call someone fat.

Schild, you must use your powers for the good of humanity.  So, say it with me:

"Things can't get worse for Mark Jacobs"

It's even getting bad for state workers. I do IT for a department in my state and our legislature just passed a bill to make a central IS department that would be responsible for all state IT. Luckily it doesn't even go into effect until next year, but we're all watching it closely. The way the bill is worded they could do anything from laying everyone off to hire new people to keeping us all on and adding a new layer of bureaucracy.

Luckily our library system isn't laying off people, but they're not replacing people that leave for the most part.  We also had to push back our public PC upgrade at least another year.  Our onsite IT guys are going to be trying to fix 5-6 year old Dells now.  :(

Shit, I've still got a couple 8 yr old imac piles of crap running. Aren't you guys getting any of the sweet, sweet Gates money? Last year I bought three new Dells and three new iMacs, and I get more Gates dough this year. Grants are the only way we buy tech, so budget cuts aren't really hurting us there.

But yeah, we're not replacing anyone and a few people have left. Cut the part-timers and salary freezes, closed on Sundays now. If the government makes another cut like this next year, people will be getting fired. A third year and we close.

I just heard a librarian calling in our 90-yr old volunteer to cover two hours over lunch because someone is out sick today.

The accounting firms in Atlanta aren't hiring at all in this market, and I've actually had a major career coach contact 12 of her executive contacts to see if there was a chance for anything. She got shot down 12/12. Headhunters have nothing either. Pretty much only the government has been hiring people involved in the financial/accounting field, which is pretty scary.