Economic Casualty – Week One

So, for those of you who might not have heard already, I was laid off last Friday (Jan. 30) from my position as a Software Tester. I was a bit surprised, since there hadn’t been any indicators to the rank-and-file that this was coming, but at the same time, one must expect these sorts of things during recessions.

It’s an odd situation for me, since I’ve been employed in IT since I graduated college, but I watched both my parents go through it in previous recessions, so I sort of knew what to expect. I got a decent severance, especially considering I was a few weeks shy of my 1 year anniversary at my previous employer.

So, for the next N weeks, I’ll be blogging about my experiences in what is, for me, mostly uncharted territory.

Week One has been pretty productive all in all. The news came pretty early in the day, so I spent the afternoon giving the news to famiy and friends. I spent the weekend focusing on other things. In particular, there was a fantastic aikido seminar at Aikido Shugyo Dojo with Clyde Takeguchi-sensai from Capital Aikikai. I learned a great deal, and had a fantastic time! As well, my family came down to Toronto for a belated birthday lunch at a local Italian restaurant. Both were a great way to relax, and give me an opportunity to ensure my head is on straight.

My resume was already somewhat up-to-date, since it helps me keep track of the cool things I’m doing at work, but I’ve had a few people give me some great feedback. I’ve been really lucky so far – plenty of friends and colleagues have offered support in either providing a reference, a recommendation on LinkedIn, or passing along my resume.

All in all, this week has been quite productive – being a “house husband” as my father-in-law joked, isn’t too bad. I’ve had time to do some projects around the apartment, like going through my seed inventory, and planning out my seed starting schedule. I’ll be in St. John’s for part of this coming week, and part of the next week as well, which I’m really looking forward to.

Until next week, cheers all!