Day 1

Day 1.

I went in to work today, very excited about a program that I had run over night.  It was a fairly complex software/hardware testing program.  I was employed as an automation specialist, so I would write programs that automatically tested our equipment.  I had been working on that particular program for more than six months.  The results I expected would form the first successful run of the program.  It consisted of many components that did various things in harmony to create the test, complete it and publish test results.  At around ten am, I was invited into the boardroom for a restructuring meeting.  Knowing immediately what this meant, I frantically went through my code trying to copy down all the classes and their relationships so that I would be able to remember it.  My plan was to have this particular software project ready to share at job interviews. I got about seventy percent through all the classes before I had to go to the meeting.  Once inside, I became certain of what was about to happen.  After a speech by both the owner and the CTO, my name was read off of a list of about ten employees who were to be put on "Temporary Layoff".  This meant no paycheck for an indeterminate amount of time, up to 35 weeks.  The size of the layoff really indicated that there was no hope for this company and so I quickly said good bye to everyone, packed up and left.  As soon as I got back to my apartment, I packed my briefcase with a notepad and a laptop and headed off to the coffee shop.  Once there, I began writing out a plan for dealing with the situation.

During the meeting where our names were called, the subject of unemployment insurance was brought up.  Temporary layoffs have happened several times at the company and I picked a former employee to contact about unemployment insurance.  He responded almost immediately with details on how to start the process.  After thanking him, I got online to start my application.  Within two hours, I was finished and the application was accepted, according to the website.

At that point, I moved to the public library, where I am assuming I will spend much of my time in the near future.  My apartment building is undergoing balcony repairs and there is a terrible racket of drilling all day every day.  I will have to get used to the library as it will be the only place I will be able to work in peace.

And so, I am sitting here in the Ottawa Public Library, having started a new blog to write about my job search.  I am a little nervous, but aside from that, I am excited about this process coming up.