this has been a fun week. the 1 year anniversary of my father's passing was Tuesday (8/30). i feel kinda unburdened about that. the drama with my sister was the worst. we're on at least amicable terms now, so there's that. my moms is doing surprisingly well, and that's a blessing.

last week was my 23rd year anniversary w/ IBM (fuck their anonymity now). my mgr gave me 'the call' yesterday at around 10am or so. i've been RA'd (RA stands for Resource Action - ibm doublespeak bullshit that means layed off. employees have long since made a verb from it, so i've been, in the parlance, RA'd).

thing is, you don't get to last 23 yrs in this company without having ducked the axe many, many times. and frankly, i was tired of it, and increasingly disillusioned (and i operate on some cynical realpolitik shit on the daily, anyway, so it's not like i had a lot of illusions to start with).

i'm in my late forties (just generalizing some shit for plausible deniability). been in this organization for a bit over three years, and it was a respite, or i'd have bounced earlier. i'm in one of the areas which is supposed to be growth/strategic. but, as with the last 2 waves, and, really, for the multiple bloodlettings per year for the last 10 years or so, it really doesn't make a difference what you know, what you do, how well you do it, how MUCH you do it, how much you make or have made for them... the c level execs could give a damn about any of that. it ain't even about whether they can send what you do to india or china anymore, really. they are just indiscriminately lopping off anyone who got some years and make decent (not great) bank, so that they can continue financial engineering this company down to nothing.

i'm good, tho. working on my resume. bout to hit up that linkedin hoard. and, i have faith, and know that God has something greater in store for me that now requires me to get out of my comfort zone. prolly should have bounced sooner, but was kinda preoccupied w/ my dad's situation, and other ish, personal and professional, going on in recent years.

my wife called a meeting last night w/ all the kids (my two sons live out in eastern nc - one is in school, the other is working while trying to get this other business off the ground). my oldest daughter just moved back in with us. and my youngest three (all in hs now) were there. we prayed first. i talked to them and let them know what's going on. no cause for alarm or concern. the 'package' says i got to work till the end of nov and then i get an additional months salary. <-- they just changed that this year with the last two bloodlettings -- it used to be 2 weeks pay for every year of service up to a max of 6 mos, which i'd have easily had. *shrug, doe*.

after that, we asked them if they had any questions. my oldest son, cj2 said he appreciated how i was handling it, and that it sets a great example for them. (i been very calm about it, but had to catch myself at that part). my oldest, cj1, offered me advice from when SHE had been let go from her job that she got right out of design school -- twice (b/c they were some psychos). my son in college, cj3, texted me at 2am that his roommate works for a company that deals w/ ibmers and ex ibmers and that might be a foothold. i'm blessed.

this is about to be an interesting chapter.

chop it up w/ ya boy, since i got time on my hands, for a minute.



peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

All things considered, it sounds like got things well in hand, and your family has your back. So that's a start.

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

>All things considered, it sounds like got things well in
>hand, and your family has your back. So that's a start.

true indeed, and that's very key. and that's how i choose to look at it.




peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

and I have no doubt that the rhythm with which you have handled being a Son, Father, Husband, Brother and Employee/Manager, will swing back abundance and peace of mind towards you.

I am certainly sending positive energy. Bless up!

------------------
One Hundred.

>and I no doubt that the rhythm with which you have handled
>being a Son, Father, Husband, Brother and Employee/Manager,
>will swing back abundance and peace of mind towards you.

i certainly hope so. i can emphatically state that i've never screwed over anyone in my professional career, even those who have snaked me so, if that counts for anything... we'll see.

there's an appeals process of sorts to this thing. another dude who got hit, around 9 years ago, who was a band higher than me (he was a 10, i'm a 9, although i long since should have been b10) got hit. i went all the way up through the VP chain to tell them that this was insane and how much $$$ and intellectual capital and capability they were throwing away, and he ended up getting to keep his job. i don't doubt that there aren't at least a dozen highly placed folks in this company who'd at least attempt the same on my behalf, but i don't even feel like this place is worth fighting for.

>I am certainly sending positive energy. Bless up!

much appreciated! thank you. how's the writing career going? i stay inspired by you making moves, getting published and all that, and pray the very best of success for you and yours.




peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

https://twitter.com/jharrisfuture/status/771882127507922944

*fingers crossed*

------------------
One Hundred.

#TheBrightSide (c) Smokey.

Hold your head, fam. This shit is just a flat tire in the grand scheme of things.

sametime (our interoffice chat) and was like, "you know your full time job from now on is finding a job, right?"

ie, don't waste time on whatever day to day bs, and take care of the home front. he is cool peoples, and one of the reasons i ain't bounce three years ago.

but yeah, i'm gon set my indicator to yellow (away from my desk), and only thing i'll be doing on the system is taking training and doing things to further my new project.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

just based on what i've seen from you on okp, you're one of the sharpest, most solid people here. I have little doubt you'll land on your feet.

just dread and apprehension of, is it gonna be this time? it's very demotivating, to say the least. it's also demotivating when they constantly cutting people and you end up doing 3 and 4 people's work (not on this assignment but the one i was on 3 years ago, for 6 years, i was LITERALLY doing about 5 highly skilled people's work and that burnt me the entire fk out, and i'm still recovering from that).

and yes, that stress and the physical tax really takes a cumulative toll on you. and especially when you got the validated (from watching who else get cut) pov that no matter what you do, your number still gonna come up.

so i'm SO glad to be out of that mode.

>just based on what i've seen from you on okp, you're one of
>the sharpest, most solid people here. I have little doubt
>you'll land on your feet.

thanks, so much.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Whatcha gonna do with your free time?

wife w/ our candle biz (launched in may), and help my daughter w/ her furniture/design biz.

AND get this job search on. and coach these girls and boys in bball (my youngest son, a sr is trying to nail down a scholarship, and my middle daughter is good enough, but we got to really get her there academically or else she gonna have to reclass ).

i keep irons in the fire.

plus, i need to take advantage of all the training and courses at the j-o before i'm out.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

yo wife tho....

/
i have so many thoughts going on right now.
without counsel so I'm streaming this place online
I need to get up and go
I'm scared tho
scared of being venerable

/

i depleted my stash relocating. I need to reup
cause I remember,
no matter how broke my mother was
my aunts were
they always had stashes to keep us a float

under the mattress
in the titties...

/

out of the mouth of babes...

to come home and take care of the kids, and that was the same year we embarked on the foster care and adoption journey. could not do any of this w/o her.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

what it used to be

http://wraltechwire.com/ibm-layoffs-/15976338/

folks getting hip to them over the last couple of years, tho. basically crowd sourcing the info gathering. because they try to lay off people just under the radar of laws designed to deter mass layoffs. and make you sign a bullshit waiver that you won't sue.

they holding that one month severance hostage for that. we'll see how i feel then.

i been work from home for damn near 10 years, so i only go out to RTP for workshops and really big meetings and such. but yeah, our old buildings are a ghost town. its depressing when i do go out there. in the heyday, there were 14k ibm employees in NC, with most in RTP. that was before the sale of the pc company, and before they really got oc w/ the layoffs. i'd be surprised if there are 5k now.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

it was good it was great. they used to have an ibm family day when i was growing up and it was basically like a one day fair...rides, food, the whole 9. as time went on them layoffs started kickin in and shit started changing. pops was there for 25 years and set to retire in 30 but they started pressuring him and several other long timers to take packages...he took his at 25 years. they gave him an offer he couldnt refuse and he took it but others didnt and ended up losing out and coming up short. i worked out there out of college in the mid 90s and youre def right about it being a ghost town these days.

>it was good it was great. they used to have an ibm family day
>when i was growing up and it was basically like a one day
>fair...rides, food, the whole 9.

yeah. that shit was crazy. we came in on the end of that era. i remember, tho, back in the early 90s, they rented out the WHOLE hershey park. we had that shit by ourselves. riding everythaing. no lines. amazing, in retrospect.


as time went on them layoffs
>started kickin in and shit started changing. pops was there
>for 25 years and set to retire in 30 but they started
>pressuring him and several other long timers to take
>packages...he took his at 25 years.

those initial packages, man, were some cake and icing. now it's like you getting released from prison and they give you whatever spare ass change was in your pockets 23 years ago.

they gave him an offer he
>couldnt refuse and he took it but others didnt and ended up
>losing out and coming up short. i worked out there out of
>college in the mid 90s and youre def right about it being a
>ghost town these days.

yep. crazy. and yeah. mid 90s was the heyday. i'm thankful for that, tho. but fuck who they've become. and it's not just them. this pervades the whole system. but i can see the details here. venal and machiavellian


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

appreciate how you are handling tho..setting a great example for the fam(as stated already) respect.

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

>appreciate how you are handling tho..setting a great example
>for the fam(as stated already) respect.

i'm trying. and i can't be the man i want to be and fall apart at the first (or second) sign of adversity. it's crazy, though, in parenting and mentoring (i'm on our certification board and senior certification board internally, and am constantly mentoring technical employees), whenever you give advice or direction to someone, it points back to you, eventually.

so i'm lightweight leaning on advice i've given others over the years. and my kids literally kicked it back to me, so there's that.

thanks for the kind words and support. much appreciated.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Dice may be a better resource over Linkedin.


---------------------------

"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

over there, too.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Do they at least extend benefits?

they just did that this year. had i gotten RA'd last year, i'd have had 6 mos paid severance (max, based upon more than 12 yrs of service). 5 years or so ago, i'd have gotten a full year.

PLUS (and i saw this when they did it), these sphincters went and changed the 401k match program so that it now accrues, and you only get the match if you are employed on the 15th of december. dickheads.

i saw that and was like, that's cold as hell. they know good and well they will be laying ppl off by 12/14 or some shit. did not know i'd be in that number, but it has been increasingly hard for me to feel anything but contempt about our leadership with the way they've treated so many hard working and dedicated people. b/c they been on this layoff ish for *years*. the only ppl left w/ seniority are ones who've survived years and years of these layoffs, and have, therefore, been working with the handicap of massive corporate brain drain, decreased institutional capability, horrible motivation, and fires all over the place at all of our major customers due to us constantly getting rid of not just good but great people.

*sigh*.

so that's done.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

You gonna be up in no time.

Dis is a mere commercial break, ya dig.

https://chriswind.bandcamp.com/track/massage

"You can take an African out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of the African"
Afro-Americana/Afro-Caribbana/Afro-Latino unite. We are ALL Black!

that's how i choose to see it.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Let me know. Keeping you in my thoughts.

------
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

i clicked on usajobs and one of the first banners that came up was for NAVSEA something... and i had flashbacks.

my first real job i had (took a co-op senior year and never went back to school) was w/ a navy sub called Tracor applied sciences out in rockville. i was doing CAD on SIMAs (laying out where they repaired navy ships and subs in these HUUUUGE buildings in norfolk and on the gulf coast). that ended up on some b.s., but it was interesting for a minute, and i taught myself CAD, which sustained me for a couple years.



thank you.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

My Dad who is 60 just went through this. 30 years at the same company. He found a new gig through a former coworker after about a month. Hopefully it won't be too long before you find something.

-------------------------------------------------
http://www.soundcloud.com/sectachrome

>My Dad who is 60 just went through this. 30 years at the same
>company. He found a new gig through a former coworker after
>about a month. Hopefully it won't be too long before you find
>something.

i was talking to my former exec (the one who got pushed out of his position overseeing the organization he built from scratch) yesterday.

i thought he woulda been gone. he said he got a power move lined up. i'm like, what you still here for? you got the years (he one of them dudes that started workign for ibm at 18), do you not have the age?

he said,"i got both. i just like nice things".

i fell the hell out, laughing. go on, juice 'em for all you can get before you exit stage right.



peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

I'm sure you'll be fine with your attitude and ethic. Let me know if I can help in any way since it appears we're in the same area and I just went through a job search.
______________________________
http://i.imgur.com/Gj5Wy56.jpg

around 9pm before jumping on a conference call for work. kinda bleh because it was exactly a year since my pop passed, and contemplating everything that's happened over the last year. and i read your post and went all through the history as you chronicled your journey and i was excited by that, and even moreso when i got to the happy ending that you'd found a job. and up front, before you'd even mentioned it, i figured it was durham code academy b/c i be getting the popup ads for them all the time and had lowkey thought about that.

one of my todos over the next x to 3 mos is to hit the tutorials heavy and get my coding weight up. i won't be able to land a position doing it (at the salary that i need to keep things going), but it will enable me to be much more involved in my side hustles as i have ideas for days, and can do everything from concept to detailed design, but not really code anymore. and then i know everything from test to deployment to support. so i got *almost* the full SDLC but not the piece that keeps me from needing skilled help to implement my vision. and that's where my son's project is stalled.

so i think i'ma do that regardless.

>I'm sure you'll be fine with your attitude and ethic. Let me
>know if I can help in any way since it appears we're in the
>same area and I just went through a job search.

much appreciated. i'm throwing the general resume together, and doing some research (on what the major needs are and what the market will bear), and then i'll have the fine versions of it, accordingly. will definitely hit you and everyone else up in my meta networks when the time comes.

i saw the post about your first day and the archaeology shit. that was hilarious. when i was first doing ABAP (customer support), there was this program called zmexinv1 that EVERYBODY in the damn dev't team and prod supp team had made changes to before. it was horrible. the change log in the header was pages long. i came into IT (and SAP, particularly), via testing and code analysis (performance), not really programming, and i had one of my infamous late night calls to try and fix this because it was holding up around $4m of computers from shipping, and we would not realize revenue if it didn't ship. and the division's margins at that time were so razor thin that we would miss the quarter if those servers didnt ship and we didn't recognize revenue. so i had them give me debug in production (all kinds of controls violations) w/ the damn IT director looking over my shoulder and changed a flag in the program to bypass a subroutine and allow the shit to ship with about 15 min to spare (because the plant in mexico was on central time and an hour behind us).

worse, tho, was the sap programs where you'd be layers deep in function calls and end up 'in the german' (after you got too deep into the functionality, it was really only meant for the s/w engineers in sap to know what was going on and all of the code comments were in german, so we'd be using google translate for the ish we didn't understand).

at least be glad that the dude you are following wasn't disgruntled, or it'd probably be even worse. thing is, tho, once you crack the code of all the weird stuff he's done, you'll be the man, because you'll be the only one who can understand it.

my suggestion: leave it jacked up where only you have the breadcrumbs to figure it out. that's job security until you know they love you and you're ready to move onto another challenge. THEN undertake translating it for the masses.



peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Dang, that's wild. You sound like you're pretty qualified for project management or a similar role. Crazy how things seem to happen at the most random times.

There are some great online coding tutorials, so since you know development fairly well, you would do just fine to grind on those on your own time (and for free or very low cost -- some of the paid ones like Pluralsight are worth it).

I'm sure the big money pressure situation like yours will hit for me eventually...I'll be ready. I think the comments to decipher will be in Korean, though, hahah.

Good luck and prayers, again, on your situation. Have a good holiday weekend with your family!

______________________________
http://i.imgur.com/Gj5Wy56.jpg

You’ve got the personal and professional tools to deal with something like this as well as anyone, scary as it may be. While completely unsurprising, it’s good to see you have your head on straight going forward.

This just seems like a blessing in disguise. Frankly I expect you to make a few pivots and propel yourself toward bigger and better things and I look forward to all the incredible developments you’ll most likely post about in the coming year.

So instead of offering condolences, I’m going to instead offer my congratulations on your newfound freedom heading into what ideally should be an exciting, if uncertain, phase of your life.

So be encouraged because you’re the right man for the job of getting fired and smelting it down to gold.

and yeah, interesting, indeed. but i'ma call it and say it has been on the upswing. but that's a helluva year in retrospect to be literally bookmarked by my father's death on 8/30/15 and being notified that i'm laid off from my job of 23 years on 8/31/16. (and my b'day was earlier in the month -- they really tryna fuck up my appreciation of August).

>You’ve got the personal and professional tools to deal with
>something like this as well as anyone, scary as it may be.
>While completely unsurprising, it’s good to see you have
>your head on straight going forward.

thanks very much for the assurance / reassurance.

>This just seems like a blessing in disguise. Frankly I expect
>you to make a few pivots and propel yourself toward bigger and
>better things and I look forward to all the incredible
>developments you’ll most likely post about in the coming
>year.

yeah. i've been at a bit of an impasse on some of my side hustles (although the candle business is going great). and one of the big stalls on my son's app has been that i didn't code. i can go ahead and teach myself app dev -- at least enough to be dangerous -- in the short term and recode it to get past the few, but major shortcomings, and if THAT takes off... sky's the limit. thing is i coulda/shoulda done that last year, but... work eats up the clock and i had hella side hustles at ibm going on some self-preservation shit, like looking for a soft landing spot.

but i was looking around and all of the other divisions i was working with on these side projects / joint venture intrapreneurial ish are going through the same shit. so i'm not even gonna fix my lips to ask if they got openings. it's not worth it.


>So instead of offering condolences, I’m going to instead
>offer my congratulations on your newfound freedom heading into
>what ideally should be an exciting, if uncertain, phase of
>your life.

and i thank you for that, and understand and respect the heart it comes from.


>
>So be encouraged because you’re the right man for the job of
>getting fired and smelting it down to gold.

i love that imagery. and that's biblical. when the fire comes, the impurities are burned off and only what is pure and of lasting value remains, to paraphrase.

i could make a living selling t-shirts like that to fired IBMers.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

God probably already has something bigger and better in store for you.

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

and it's probably something that was already within my grasp and i was ignoring it.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

peace 2 u and yours brotherman

*******************************************************
i will not let finite disappointment undermine infinite hope
- Cory Booker

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans always win
- Gary Lineker

to this whole deal.

just talked to a dude that i'm working on w/ one of my many side projects at work, and told me that the other cat on the project (brilliant dude, btw), ALSO got laid off.

smh.

so between me and him, you got two guys w/ crazy experience, working big hours on complex projects for customers that love us, AND doing stuff in our spare / off the books time to create more value for and revenue for IBM (and the underlying premise, which i provided is a means for us, as workers to counteract the historical effects of them understaffing projects and stretching the truly experienced folks so thin).

so, yeah.

fuck ibm.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

What was life like at IBM back when they made the transistion away from their former core business to this new globalized yet seemingly regional dependent version of itself?

It sucks you got laid off and at the same time you deserve a lifetime achievement award for lasting 23 years at this multinational corporation as a black male.

get out.

>What was life like at IBM back when they made the transistion
>away from their former core business to this new globalized
>yet seemingly regional dependent version of itself?

it was cool. we always been global. at least since i got into IT. we were doing this huge SAP implementation for pc company (well before the sale). i had just laterally transferred into the IT side of the house (global services) as a performance tester, making 24k / yr. (off the strength of some shit i did while working in admin / ops where i did the requirements, taught myself how to code, prototyped it, finished it, DEPLOYED IT (to all 5 customer support sites in the US) and documented it -- it saved 30% processing time for CSRs and i documented that there was at least a $1M savings from it. for my efforts, i got a curt 'thank you', and the 'permission' to look elsewhere in the company. and a bullshit $1,000 ideas award. could not even clock OT while doing it).

anyway, i started off on that project as a perf tester, responsible for testing the most fragile and complex part of a $100m / yr project, and the go /no-go decision came down to me.

we used to have dozens of developers, business analysts, pms, testers, flying back and forth to mexico. cats used to joke that this was the 'fill the skies' approach. another dude who was a consultant used to always smile and call it the 'high flying life of the IT professional'.

>It sucks you got laid off and at the same time you deserve a
>lifetime achievement award for lasting 23 years at this
>multinational corporation as a black male.

it was a good run. there were others that made it further.

i'm low key pissed that i never made it to Distinguished Engineer. (that was my professional goal). i was on the fast track for a hot minute and i had one asshole mgr who snaked me from getting my band 10 promotion... and i been chasing it for a good 10 years, and then i was coming to the realization of eff that. i don't need it. i need to bounce. i was doing a lot of stuff and accomplished a lot of things. i'm good what what i've been able to do. created a buncha things. helped mad people.

its been cool.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

shit was crazy, crazy bonuses, crazy stock splits
it was good times

then 9/11 happened and shit hit the fan forreal, everything changed after that. I quit in 2003 I think

COBOL and PL1 programmers who'd been there for years had a renaissance and were rock stars for those couple of years prior to y2k, and around 2 yrs afterward. ibm made a shitload on consulting and that actually was instrumental in our transition from a hardware company to a services juggernaut.

but after all those y2g contracts dried up, rather than train these cobol and PL1 programmers in java and such, they just layed them off. these were folks with 20+ years in the business (foreshadowing, right?) and, more importantly, joined when ibm had a contract and culture of 'ibmer for life'.

when my wife joined, in '89, was right when they were starting to pivot away from this, and learned how to lay people off, gradually. i joined in '93, moved into IT in '97, and by the early 2000s (when jerome york came in as axe man under ceo lou gerstner), they really got into laying people off.

>shit was crazy, crazy bonuses, crazy stock splits
>it was good times

word. the frontend of the tech bubble was nice, but even by then things had changed. when my wife joined, when they had department functions, they ate off of china and had all kindsa catering and whatnot. ceos had personal chefs and all kinds of perks.

>
>then 9/11 happened and shit hit the fan forreal, everything
>changed after that. I quit in 2003 I think

you got out early. early 2000s were great for me, tho, but i definitely was listening to the old heads and watching how dirty they got done.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

they took us to six flags
catered breakfast

it was awesome

I won employee of the quarter again like 3 years later, we got a plaque!

first time in my life ive been unemployed since I started working, a bit of a reality check - especially when you pour so much into a company. I trying to enjoy the time I have that I may never have again til retirement while finding the right place longer term.


The way those severances changed for you sucks though. What do they expect from you through November? You gonna be cruising or the expect some real work outta you?

---
"though time has passed, im still the future" (c) black thought

>first time in my life ive been unemployed since I started
>working, a bit of a reality check - especially when you pour
>so much into a company. I trying to enjoy the time I have that
>I may never have again til retirement while finding the right
>place longer term.

aww dayum, that sucks, man. i still remember being siced when you got that job. what happened? they try to grow too fast? i checked them out on your sayso, and our teams actually used it last season and it was a huge help to me as a coach and also in my son and daughter's recruitment process.

very sorry to hear that. i'm praying that your situation works out, also.
>
>
>The way those severances changed for you sucks though. What do
>they expect from you through November? You gonna be cruising
>or the expect some real work outta you?

pssh. i've put them near first or way too high on the list for most of those 23 years. my number one priority in these coming days and weeks will be finding a job. THAT's my new project. i'll do some customer ish. but nothing above and beyond. i am going to seriously manage my scope for the first time in my career here.

i'll do stuff on my side projects at work b/c i'm cool w/ the people i'm working with, and it also may be helpful in my search.




peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

_____________________
puttin' the roota in the toota since 98'

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

You're extraordinarily talented - and you may find more opportunities available to you than you would've imagined as you navigate the market. I'm teamed with a strong network of high-level Search professionals. Whether you're on a nation-wide search or a regional search - I'd be glad to assist in any way I can.

-->

>You're extraordinarily talented - and you may find more
>opportunities available to you than you would've imagined as
>you navigate the market.

thanks. i hope that's the case.

I'm teamed with a strong network of
>high-level Search professionals. Whether you're on a
>nation-wide search or a regional search - I'd be glad to
>assist in any way I can.

much appreciated. once i got my stuff fully together i'm reaching out to everybody in my networks, and i'll definitely take you up on it.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

You're gonna be just fine.

and my fam helps keep it in perspective. i got things ibm ain't give and could never take away.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

my first job in the industry twenty two years ago was at ibm in niwot.

not sure if there's anything i can do to help but man i know you got the strong will and the strong crew in ur fam to work through this. all my best to you.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

notified the pm's on my side for my current client of the deal, and they were like, "WHAT??" they understand. my job search is now my main project. everything else is extra. i'll hold them down, and the customer. but the being on conference calls at 2am and all that shit is over.

and i'm billing out straight 40 hrs per week. effa utilization reqmt. i hope the department fails. if i calculated how much extra time i've billed and worked over the years?

psssh.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

This is your unleashing. Once you lean into it your life's going to take off. Again.

I wouldn't be able to say this to just anyone, but I can to you.

God bless.

Just IMO though.

>This is your unleashing. Once you lean into it your life's
>going to take off. Again.

'preciate that.

>
>I wouldn't be able to say this to just anyone, but I can to
>you.
>
>God bless.

i understand what you mean, and thanks for the implicit and explicit encouragement in your words.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

your stories in a comedic anectadote form.

life always offers you a 2nd chance...it's called tomorrow. use it wisely

how the fam doing?

>your stories in a comedic anectadote form.

if i could find a way to hustletize that, i would. certainly have thought about it over the years. like, frfr, i have thought about writing up some ish on parenting, coaching, and all types of other stuff i've done. it would be interesting.

might be good therapy just to start jotting some stuff down, tbh.




peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Im not worried about you.

You seem like you got things under control and navigating 23 years at ANY COPORATE JOB takes a level of brilliance, you definitely seem to have so i know you will land on your feet.

Good luck in your search though. And as i know you are a former New Jersean, im rooting extra hard for you.

Us New Jerseans have to stick together.

Speaking of which, you remember when Kevin Walls from Camden dropped 81 points in a High School game on Glassboro? That kid was a BEAST in High School. Wonder what ever happen to him.

>Im not worried about you.
>
>You seem like you got things under control and navigating 23
>years at ANY COPORATE JOB takes a level of brilliance, you
>definitely seem to have so i know you will land on your feet.

thank you for the vote of confidence. could have just been blind luck, tho.

>Good luck in your search though. And as i know you are a
>former New Jersean, im rooting extra hard for you.

right Pod People (that's what my wife, who from bmore, calls new jerseyans since she says she sees more of us in other states than any other brand of people) gotta stick together.
>
>Us New Jerseans have to stick together.
>
>Speaking of which, you remember when Kevin Walls from Camden
>dropped 81 points in a High School game on Glassboro? That
>kid was a BEAST in High School. Wonder what ever happen to
>him.

lol. i felt some kinda way about him when he broke the nj scoring record in bball. b/c a dude my pop coached, reggie miller (not that one, this one played in the 70s) had that record, and that was the pride of pleasantville. k walls got it b/c his coach allowed him to drop 81 points on our lady of the blind an shit like that.

but still, dude was a baller, and i was pulling for him to do work like all the other camden connects (milt wagner, billy thompson, *fastforward* dejuan wagner...) . kev did that against glassboro, tho? i really thought it was a smaller school. nonetheless, dude was RAW, and i wish he'd have gotten more props.

me and one or two other poasters in here used to build on that era of bball in nj -- back when camden and AC used to clash in the seagull classic. good times.

last time i 'hung out' in camden for any length of time was a party around christmas time w/ tat money and cash money. may have been on break freshman year of college. that was some 'tuck your chains' type shit. i remember, before the let out, they came over the mic and reminded girls to take they earrings out so they ain't get snatched out outside.

good times.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

>lol. i felt some kinda way about him when he broke the nj
>scoring record in bball. b/c a dude my pop coached, reggie
>miller (not that one, this one played in the 70s) had that
>record, and that was the pride of pleasantville. k walls got
>it b/c his coach allowed him to drop 81 points on our lady of
>the blind an shit like that.
>
>but still, dude was a baller, and i was pulling for him to do
>work like all the other camden connects (milt wagner, billy
>thompson, *fastforward* dejuan wagner...) . kev did that
>against glassboro, tho? i really thought it was a smaller
>school. nonetheless, dude was RAW, and i wish he'd have gotten
>more props.
>
I saw Dejuan a few months ago at this political fundraiser. One of his boys ran and won a State Assembly seat and he was there in support. I really had high hopes for him. Couldn't get past those health problems.

>me and one or two other poasters in here used to build on that
>era of bball in nj -- back when camden and AC used to clash in
>the seagull classic. good times.

I remember those games. i never went but word traveled about how great they were. Went to a couple Camden vs Woodrow Wilson games that were classics also.
>
>last time i 'hung out' in camden for any length of time was a
>party around christmas time w/ tat money and cash money. may
>have been on break freshman year of college. that was some
>'tuck your chains' type shit. i remember, before the let out,
>they came over the mic and reminded girls to take they
>earrings out so they ain't get snatched out outside.
>
>good times.

Lol. I have many Camden memories also. Hanging out at the bar called Off Broadway where all the pretty girls hung out at after 12. Went to Camden about 2 weeks ago for a haircut and you wouldn't recognize Broadway(the main street running through the city). They have a new Hospital Center, industrial buildings, and alot of new legit businesses. Used to be nothing but bars, churches, abandon houses, and Broadway Eddies. They are really making a big comeback.

As before, keep your head and do your thing. Everything will work out.

Peace

Dog...I don't even have words for how livid that shit makes me. Our scale was similar to yours at my old position....don't know how this new position plays out but I'm going to start researching that RIGHT now...

Well...I'm sure you've picked up that I work for the Death Star and we are constantly looking for talent.

You know how to reach me offline if you need any info on something specific to your skill set.

You got it dude...everything by design

D

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Waldorf and Statler Vol 4:CONAN IS OUT NOW!!!: http://waldorfandstatler.bandcamp.com

and don't forget to check "DVS 4 ALDERMAN"

http://windimoto.bandcamp.com/album/dvs-4-alderman-bandcamp-exclusive-expanded-editio

>Dog...I don't even have words for how livid that shit makes
>me. Our scale was similar to yours at my old position....don't
>know how this new position plays out but I'm going to start
>researching that RIGHT now...

they just started this bullshit this year. under last year's layoff package, i'd have gotten 6 mos severance, which is the max.

under the plan from about 10 yrs ago i'd have gotten a full year's pay for my trouble.

and i don't even see how the jerking people out of their 401k match is even enough money for the company. it's like they're going out of their way to be dickheads.

if they fire 10k people, and assume that most have a 3% match (ie, not maxed out at 6%, but not 0). that would be up to 11 mos of 3% of their average salaries.

if you're making 100k, 3% is 3k. for 10k employees (and they won't have all been making 100k, that's $30k 'saved' (stolen). in total. even if they got rid of 30k people, that's still only 100k.

maybe the additional interest on the money for the remaining 300k emmployees (11.5 mos of float and compounding) provides some level of operational enhancement, but that seems chump change compared to the overall bloodletting.

>
>Well...I'm sure you've picked up that I work for the Death
>Star and we are constantly looking for talent.
>
>You know how to reach me offline if you need any info on
>something specific to your skill set.
>
>You got it dude...everything by design
>
>D

much appreciated, fam. and i will be hitting you up as soon as i'm happy w/ how the cv looks.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

stay TRILL fam. i've long looked up to you & everything you've done for your family. hope i can be half the father u are.

& hopefully whatever ur into next involves more writing bc ur dope AF.

u lasted nearly 25 yrs in corp america despite a crippling recession.

w/the SAME company???

nigga @ kevin hart

you are the last dragon. you posess the power of the glow.

you'll be MORE than okay. ZERO doubts about it.

of course, it'll take some time getting used to civilian-life. u fresh out the state-penn.

stay up & stay strong + drop some stress-relief-tears if u have 2. peace.

♚♚♚♚

#BYLUG >>> https://goo.gl/1ooFp6

♚♚♚♚

screamin' mothafuck a 12 /
bitches ain't shit /
cops ain't neither /
they huntin' my people /

- i. rashad

♚♚♚♚

>stay TRILL fam. i've long looked up to you & everything
>you've done for your family. hope i can be half the father u
>are.

thank you for that. i'm just doing the best i can, and leaving breadcrumbs for those that have the same path to follow. but thank you

>& hopefully whatever ur into next involves more writing bc ur
>dope AF.

tyvm.

>
>u lasted nearly 25 yrs in corp america despite a crippling
>recession.
>
>w/the SAME company???
>
>nigga @ kevin hart
>
>you are the last dragon. you posess the power of the glow.

lmBao.

>
>you'll be MORE than okay. ZERO doubts about it.
>
>of course, it'll take some time getting used to civilian-life.
> u fresh out the state-penn.

w/ old ass sneakers and true religion jeans on an shit.


>
>stay up & stay strong + drop some stress-relief-tears if u
>have 2. peace.
>
>

thanks a lot for hte encouragement.



peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

i informed my pm on the project yesterday afternoon that i got hit w/ the axe and he couldn't believe it. and he lowkey shook because he got 15 years. really nice dude. indian cat. prolly came over on h1-b several years ago. (we do a ton of that -- i used to think that the customer facing jobs were safe, but they on this now, which a lot of subcons used to do). anyway, he told our interface at HOTELS and she was very concerned, as she holds us both in high esteem, and i've helped them tremendously on the project.

it's weird, because i got put on the project in late october. after we'd had my father's memorial in NJ (delay was due to some nonsense from my sister who lives in md, rihgt outside of dc).

so all of the delayed grief, plus stress of dealing w/ her losing her mind last year, and then i get assigned to a client and, to get to their HQ, i have to drive right past the hospital on 495 where my pop was admitted for nosebleeds the easter before last and they messed up an embolization and gave him a stroke, and then i go down 270 and i'm driving past the hospital where he was, 4 months later, when he succumbed to the repeated bouts of infections, and the war in his bloodstream and kidneys between the medications. and bear in mind i went to UMCP and settled down for 5 years after college, so i already know and HATE 495 and 270 on their own. so now i got a project and i'm up there 2 or 3 times per month, driving past all that and trying not to think about it.

anyway, it's cool, and i help them out. and i'm still on the project. when the rumors about another round of resource actions i asked my mgr, who has always been transparent about this bs (including his distaste for it), if i was cool since i had a steady, paying client and 2 or 3 side projects that had revenue implications. he was like, 'nah, HOTELCLIENT is NOT safe'. that was less than a month ago. at that point i figured it was a done deal.

so anyway, the PM from HOTEL calls me up because my PM told her, and she asked for my resume profile and told me that they have several openings and she would bring it up to her boss and the VP.

that's extremely sweet. i really enjoy when i work with truly nice people. makes all the nonsense bearable. i was telling her over the phone about some of the other stuff i've doen and she was like, 'dayum, i didn't know you did all that'. our role on this project is kinda limited and we already do more than we should do, so we refrain from overstepping the bounds. i'll do extra shit now and then either to help them out if i know that they don't know, or out of self-preservation, to save myself from a bigger mess to clean up later.

so i haven't formally told people i'm on the market and got some leads going, which is nice.

i'm not moving back up to dmv, tho. i wouldnt have 6 kids had we stayed up there. my eldest would be my only. but i know they have another pm who commutes and travels up there around 50%. that might could work.

if nothing else, i feel good to get that confirmation that they value(d) my contributions.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

I had an account management gig for a long time, and I could never understand co-workers who didn't take real good care of their clients. Every day you work with them can be a mini-job interview. That's how you build your network.

Props to you for handling your business. That's how you build that network of good people who will look out for your as best they can.

Keep your head up and don't get too comfy being unemployed, you might have a job sooner than you think!

In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king.
-Hunter S. Thompson

>I had an account management gig for a long time, and I could
>never understand co-workers who didn't take real good care of
>their clients. Every day you work with them can be a mini-job
>interview. That's how you build your network.

exactly. even if the company is screwing over a client, i'll look out for them when i can and put them up on anonymous game. it's what's right, and also there's the 'you never know' aspect to it.

>
>Props to you for handling your business. That's how you build
>that network of good people who will look out for your as best
>they can.

thanks. i be trying. and i do got a whole network of ex-pats to tap. just getting started.

>
>Keep your head up and don't get too comfy being unemployed,
>you might have a job sooner than you think!
>

thanks a lot. i hope so. this limbo ish is crazy, but it could be worse.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

through all your years, you'd have a ton of connections and contacts and such to get another gig.

Out of curiosity, did you see any sizable changes with IBM once Chinese ownership got involved?

"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.

to reach out. many of 'em in exec positions with competitors.

>through all your years, you'd have a ton of connections and
>contacts and such to get another gig.

bout to see about that now.

>Out of curiosity, did you see any sizable changes with IBM
>once Chinese ownership got involved?

chinese ownership? we don't have any chinese ownership. sold pc company to lenovo. (and that remained one of my best customers and somewhere i'll be looking).

but generally, nothing like that. our chinese influence was due to the opening of the IT markets in china. that's why i spent a good deal of the early 00's back and forth to china. (need to put that on my resume). that huge foothold into a rapidly industrializing asia led to double digit growth in both hardware and, especially services for years.

but our dumbass execs took that to be the norm and judged future growth by that standard, which was due to the presence of a large, untapped market. once you hit a saturation point (and business was great for a while), those same growth rates were unsustainable.

so you drop to single digit growth and begin defining that as 'failure', and then you go to the only levers you can pull -- increasing profits by expense cutting. but if a huge chunk of your business is services (ie, consulting, ie, PEOPLE), you start systematically cutting off people. well, your business is your people, dummies. we were basically eating our seed corn.

this led to realization of short term (only thing the stock markets recognize and incentivize) profitability at the expense of both revenues and capacity. soo many times i'd do side trips (high profile consulting gigs while fully and overutilized on a major client) and propose work to customers who'd agree that it was a great solution to their problem. but when it came time to sign the deal, we couldn't, because we DID. NOT. HAVE. THE. RESOURCES.

and then the impact of those of us 'left behind' after layoffs where we didn't get hit was that we were doing the work of all of the people who were let go.

or they'd blindly replace resources with folks in india and china. india is currently at about a third of US rates for prices. china is actually a bit more than that. but when i'd go to china, our big centers would be in part of big tech campuses where every other major global and local player would also have offices: ibm, accenture, wipro, hp, micorosoft, google. etc. cats over there told me that they'd get approached literally on lunch break w/ job offers from in the same building.

the upshot of all of that is that while, in general, on an apples for apples basis, you could replace US resources with global resources with the same expertise, the dynamics of the labor markets in china, india and mexico were decidedly different. in the US, a mature market, yeah, i had to fend off headhunter calls and such, but things tend toward stability. nobody's offering to up my salary by 50% at lunchtime. in india and china, with the margins so high, companies were doing EXACTLY that.

so what you ended up with was US resources w/ mad experience and skills (remember, anyone left in ibm past early 2000's had already survived years of layoffs, so the fat had long been gone, and we were cutting meat, tendons, marrow, white blood cells, what the fuck ever they could find to cut) being let go. and replaced by folks from halfway around the world who didn't have the skills -- not because of anything inherent to them -- but because the labor pool dynamics churned the fuck outta the personnel and you ended up with a carousel of newbs. anytime anyone got some good expertise on a project they were GONE. and we'd be up at 2 and 3am trying to get them to do shit, and if they didn't like the stress and pressure, they were GONE.

so we ended up, especially those of us in hot market skills, doing the work to replace departed US colleagues AND to cover for the fuckups of undertrained, inexperienced and 'asymetrically motivated' (they didn't have the same market pressures as US workers to give enough fucks) global resources.

that's been my life, more or less, for more than a decade.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

I came home told the wife and we talked about what we were going to do. After 30 minutes, I hit up LinkedIn + all the recruiters who sent me a position via email the last few months..

I had double digit responses with 1 hours or so, 3 interviews within 1 week and 2 job offers in 2 weeks.. I had so many people calling me AFTER I accepted an offer I didn't even want to talk on the phone any longer.

Brah, this might be the biggest blessing in disguise. Growing companies will have a spot for you if you have a really marketable IT skill..

Just get them resumes out there...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<---- 5....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlgiritpmfo

=======================================

company they hired to aid our job search, they mentioned that there's already a list of employers who've expressed interest in RA'd ibmers.

they finna dive all through our dumpsters.

>I came home told the wife and we talked about what we were
>going to do. After 30 minutes, I hit up LinkedIn + all the
>recruiters who sent me a position via email the last few
>months..
>
>I had double digit responses with 1 hours or so, 3 interviews
>within 1 week and 2 job offers in 2 weeks.. I had so many
>people calling me AFTER I accepted an offer I didn't even want
>to talk on the phone any longer.
>
>Brah, this might be the biggest blessing in disguise. Growing
>companies will have a spot for you if you have a really
>marketable IT skill..
>
>Just get them resumes out there...

that's dope. we gonna see how it goes.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

you'll be aiight.

so much life left.

and hopefully everything works out from there.

thanks.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

how'd you make this still inspiring?

fucking dickhole just let me be sympathetic

also, I dunno if AOL has anything in the area you'd want to do, but remember you do know people

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at