Those that had followed me, might have seen me drop off the radar for a bit. This is because, I had a major life changing moment. You see, do to the attacks on the public sector and major budget changes, I found that my place in said sector was limited with time.
We found out about said changes coming this past New Years. No seriously...they sent an email to us that New Years Eve about the coming lay offs.
What a way to ring in the New Year.
I had planned another Fun At the Movies diary, but the recent movie I watched is so depressing, I'll save that for next week (Where in I'll castigate some seriously apologetic messed up stuff) However, for now...if you join me below I'll relate my experience in my transition from the public to the private and my happy journey therein.
So there I was staring at an email from our director, informing us that layoffs and a restructuring were coming. Right there in black and white was my position. Me specifically given that our organization was only slightly high of 50 some odd people.
The budget numbers had come in, and the current cost was untenable; I get it really. It still stings to some degree, not as much as it had that new years eve. I felt betrayed a little, conned even more. For not even 4 months previous I had gotten a salary increase to keep me on board. Little did I know that this ship had sailed.
I'm not above admitting that I imbibed just a wee too much that night based on said information.
The next morning, I started to plan my exit strategy. I had enough in savings to last me 20 months. And yes, though while they eliminated my department, they did keep an IT position under finance, however at a 30% pay cut from where I was.
My wife the warrior woman, and anchor to my life she has always been, told me to forget it. To strike out on my own, that I am worth more than that. I was leery of taking that advice though. I've been where I was for 10 years, why buck the trend? Why not just adapt to the changes and hope for the best right?
So like all wise men do, I took her advice and did just that. I accepted my termination and decided that a vacation was due to me anyway. Side bar, for those not in the IT field...we really never get a vacation. We might be out of the office, but in reality we are always attached to the office.
It was invigorating to some degree. The wife switched to full time from part time at her job and I was left to watch the kids at home, get the oldest to school, plan dinner, etc... And I really do have to admit, I had a hell of a time doing it. I would highly recommend any man in a two income household, to take a vacation to be a house husband. It really does open your eyes to the amount of work it takes to keep a house running.
And to you women who wear both hats, working and keeping a house in order? Honestly, my hat is off to you and I am humbled. You really do epitomize everything that is the empowered woman, and in this three month stent of doing this... I have no idea how some of you do it for a lifetime.
And I wasn't even working in these last three months!
But like all good things, sometimes they must come to a close. I was recently hired on as an IT Analyst at a local company with decent pay, good benefits, and a union house to boot! I mean to qualify for the union, I'll have to join as a journey man electrician but given that I wired my entire basement when I finished it, I expect not much problems there.
The point is, I just wanted to share the good news that despite the public sector woes there are opportunities out there. And in looking for those opportunities out there, I learned another valuable lesson in how hard you women work to balance both career and home life. I also learned how easy we men have it at times as well.