Moment of thought...

Laid off

On April 1st 2009 I was called into my bosses office, while this happened many times before, I thought this was just a bit different. As I entered the room he closed the door behind me. Normally this means that someone is being fired, or I pissed someone off (like the time I asked a co worker if he was looking at porn because the internet was slow, that warranted a closed door conversation.) ** he probably was looking at porn** As the conversation went on my boss said at this time we are going to have to lay you off. I was just a bit shocked but at the same time understanding this economy has shown us that no one is immune anymore.

5 years

You see a couple of weeks ago I was in Austin, Texas attending a conference called South by Southwest (SXSW). Somewhere during the conference I made a comment under my breath, saying to myself “I could do so much more if I wasn’t working this job.” Well forward to April 1st as I’m told “your being laid off” this resonated with me. It’s been almost 5 years of me working for this company. Starting in one position as a contractor and then being in the right place at the right time when the previous Network Administrator quit right after getting his Christmas bonus check.

Small Company

This job was my first working for a small company smaller than 50 people. I usually have worked for companies that employ 2000 or more people. While working for a small or large company has its up and downs I won’t bore you with that debate, and Yes it would be a debate.

Where am I now?

So the question is where am I at this time? I’ve got a couple of weeks pay coming. Another drawback of a small company is no hefty severance packages. The last time I was laid off I walked away with $20K, and one time before that I walked away with $96K. That is the difference in small and large companies. “See I told you a debate” I digress.

What’s my next plan?

Well I have a technology blog which has been around for almost 2 years TheBlackTechReport. During this down time it’s critical that I get some direction and push forward. I don’t make any money with the blog but I love teaching people about technology. This idea was milled over for 1 year, and then I launched it to try and bring relevant technical information to people of color in a non technical way. Over time I realized that it didn’t matter if I was talking to African American’s or American Indians so the premise has been changed to people of any color needing to learn more about technology.

Conclusion

So my outlook is pretty good and upbeat, I have some fear, but I’m hoping to work through that. I look at what I was doing as a Network Administrator and I now look at the possibilities which are endless. I’m currently in the middle of planning for my tech blog, then redesign. After that I have a new site I’m going to be working on. If you’re a blackberry user you will love this new site. Stay Tuned…
Thanks for taking the time,
Jayson Flint