I’m so totally touched by the outpouring of support, prayers and good wishes, that I am almost at a loss for words. Once again, this community is one I’m completely surprised by (though I shouldn’t be by now, but am nonetheless) and deeply touched. I thank G-d that I found you all and you let me be part of this group. Thank you each and every one for your kind comments and emails. I’m going to answer each one individually but wanted to issue a mass thank you first.
Yes, the whole firing thing totally sucked. I could have definitely lived without it. It isn’t the first time, sadly its something like the third (2 in 2 years – talk about an ego killer!), but it has definitely been a while since the last one. I am a believer in what most of you have been telling me, that while this door has closed, a window will open. I also believe that things surely do happen for a reason. That reason might not be so clear at the time, it eventually does. My last "downsizing" (um, I’m all of 5′0", I don’t really want to be any smaller 
lead me to look elsewhere for a career. I had been in the Employee Benefits arena working for Ingersoll-Rand, doing statutory compliance (ERISA) as well as some other lawyerly things. When they fired me, I sat with the NY Times Sunday classified checking out other options. This was in ‘97 right at the beginning of the DotCom boom. I had HTML skills and decided to give it a go. I tinkered with my lawyer heavy resume and qualified technically as a HTML writer for a consulting firm. My very first assignment was B&N.com, who put me on their payroll a month later. Over the years there, I developed much deeper programming skills and changed positions a number of times. So what started as heartbreak being fired resulted in a whole new career. Without the dark, there is no light.
Where am I going with this? Oh yeah. After leaving the office yesterday, I sent an IM via my cell phone (yeah, I’m a geek, wanna make something of it? 
to my former boss as a "heya fellow former b&n’er". We chatted for a bit as he sympathesized greatly with my plight having been there not so long ago himself. Anyway, last night he called me. Would I be interested in a temporary job as a programmer at his current place? Of course! He requested that I get him my resume ASAP and he’d take it from there. Once I got the twins down last night, and finished my post, I dusted off the resume and updated it for the last couple of years. Thank goodness I didn’t have to write the thing from scratch. I emailed it to him last night. This morning, I got a phone call, could I come in for an interview. No moss here baby. I was on the 10:34 train into the city, in their offices by 11:34. At 12:15, I walked out as a hired employee. I start tomorrow morning at an hourly rate that nearly doubles what I had been making. Plenty of light there baby! At a minimum, the job is 2 weeks, maybe more like 4. If they have other work come in, we might extend it if I’m still available. They know I’m looking for a permanent fulltime gig and told me that if I need to take some time for an interview, do it. They just asked that I don’t leave before finishing a 55 hour commitment. Awfully fair if you ask me. I have to report in tomorrow morning to HR to get the paperwork done.
Up for more light folks? Well after leaving the new place, I walked few avenues over to the old place to return a signed release form which activates my severance package, a pretty decent one overall, and clean out my cubicle. I ran into a friend of mine in the elevator lobby. He’s sent my contact information over to his wife, who happens to be Director of Internet Production of a company that is LOOKING TO HIRE A DEVELOPER! I got an email from her this evening and will be forwarding her my resume before the night is out. Several other former coworkers suggested I send them my resume. Networking.
Whew. So it does look like that I’m going to land on my feet, running. The stress and despair I felt yesterday, not to mention doubt of myself, are gone now. I had a lousy night sleep as everytime I tried, my mind replayed the conference room scene again and again on a loop. Though with each repeat, I thought of something that I wish I had said to my boss and/or the HR VP (never good to see him in a conference room). I know it wasn’t a lack of ability of mine, it was a failure of him as a manager to keep his people working. I can’t deliver if I have nothing to do. I’m not doubting myself in the slightest. Hell today’s interview was barely an interview. They’d read my resume, my former boss KNOWS what I can do, heck he was the one who got me into programming in the first place and taught me most of what I know. It was more of a "this is what we need you to do, are you interested?" meet and greet.
In the end it does look like bn did me a bit of a favor, pushing this baby bird out of the nest. I’d gotten comfortable there, allowed myself to be marginalized, but stuck with it out of familiarity. Well that and the wonderful coworkers who I will miss seeing daily, but hope to maintain regular contact. Hopefully I’m about to embark on something, new and exciting. I’m now looking forward to that journey. I’ll relax when I have medical benefits beyond the severance package, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Things do indeed happen for a reason.
Now I must send my resume off to a few more folks before doing some much needed work around here.
WIP Wipeout updates tomorrow. I hope you all have been working on them. I have the energy to do some tonight!
Craft on and thank you from the bottom of my heart!
