Corona Virus Lock Down 'Rant' Thread.

[Cressy Snr]

So sorry to hear that Dave.

[pre65]

That's tough for you both.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and hope that things get better soon.

[Ray P]

Sorry to hear your news Dave. Good luck with finding something else and I hope you get some help/support in the meantime.

Ray

[simon]

That really sucks Dave.

Hope you and Irene are okay.

[Thermionic Idler]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the comments.

What is upsetting me the most I think is the fact that the last 18 months have been probably the happiest I have ever been in my working life. The product was an engineering marvel, the people were brilliant, and the prospects absolutely first-rate. As Mark said, we had to uproot and move halfway across the country only just over a year ago for this job. It cost us a four-figure sum of our own money, nearly killed us physically, and doubled the rent we had to pay, but the job paid enough to make it worthwhile. Then CV19 comes along and snatches it all away, except the fucking rent of course. I'm trying to be gracious and not fall into bitterness and despair but it's tough going.

Thankfully the company are not making me work my notice so I get a further couple of months PILON which gives me a bit of breathing space - we can probably eke out what we get from that until the end of August with careful budgeting. I have some excess hi-fi gear to sell off too which will top that up (see ad in Buying and Selling plug plug) and whatever I can get from UC as well - I don't for a moment believe that will cover our costs entirely but again, all of that together probably means we should be okay into early Autumn before we hit serious problems.

It took me a year to find another job when I was last made redundant, but I had been in the same job for some 18 years before that so I really hadn't a clue about the realities of the current market, at least this time around I know what to expect. Geographically we're also in a better place, it's half an hour to London on the train from where we are. I also have Linux, Python, PostgreSQL and a host of other skills to add to my COBOL/CICS/DB2 background. My last day with the company is tomorrow, Friday is for CV update and review of our finances, cutting out any costs we can. The hunt begins next week.

[jack]

The best bit of advice I got after being made redundant/taking redundancy during the 2008 crash was that I DID HAVE A JOB!

My job was FINDING A NEW JOB. Sounds corny, but it's true. It gives you purpose and focus - what makes you get up in the morning. Finding a new job is not something you do on the side, it's a job in itself.

Discipline is vital - get up at 06:30, shower, shave, have breakfast, do some yoga or go for a walk, be on the phone/LinkedIn/whatever by 08:30 sharp. Work through till 12:30 with one short break only at 10:30 - look at your strengths & weaknesses and work on the weaknesses. Write lists of what you want to achieve in each day - be aggressive with timescales. Tick those items off - sense of achievement!

In the afternoon, do a project to redress a weakness. Want to work in devops? Set up an environment, give yourself a Node.js or GO etc. project. Run the project as a professional project with milestones and planning. Do the next project. Work on the next weakness. Do online courses. Get a qualification. Spend a couple of hours volunteering to do the IT or something for a local charity. Sweat those skills. Acquire new skills. Stretch your mind.

[Ant]

Very sorry to hear that Dave that's rotten
Keep a close eye on Meredith, I know just how much redundancy affects loved ones as well as yourself and its all too easy to forget that when you throw yourself headlong into the task of finding new work.
Take a few days, accept the situation, then remember the advantages you have in your search such as experience, qualifications, location ect, make a list of these and keep your chin up. When it drops, cos it will, go give Meredith a hug and then square the shoulders and go again.
But you know all this
Stay safe
Ant

[Max N]

Very sorry to hear this Dave.
Some really good advice being shared on here from others, apologies if the following from me is a bit lame in comparison...
Mrs N is on LinkedIn and informs me that Ocado are recruiting software devs. I guess the takeaway is that while many companies are struggling, others are expanding to to try to meet big increases in demand for their services.
So hopefully there are opportunities out there.
Stay safe and I really hope you find another job as fulfilling as your current one.
Max

[Ray P]

Dave, should have mentioned it earlier but we're investing in development capability and sometimes have dev vacancies - none at the moment but here's the page...

https://www.admiralty.co.uk/UKHO/work-for-ukho

Of course, you would have to get a smock and chew on straw.

[Thermionic Idler]

Thanks for the advice all. I agree, Jack and I think this was the mistake I made last time around - finding a job IS a full time job and should be treated as such. Whether I can get up at 6:30 each morning is another matter, I haven't had to do that even for my normal job in quite a while!!

Certainly keeping the skill-set active is something I intend doing, I'm investiing in Parallels for the Mac which I used professionally in this role, the software makes it so easy to spin up VM's and SSH to them, take snapshots and roll back / forwards etc. And with so much being open-source, no excuse for not learning more Python, playing with React, Flask, Ruby-on-rails etc.

EDIT - Ray, just seen yout update. Will look at that link, cheers!

[IslandPink]

Discipline is vital - get up at 06:30,

Yes, steady on, Nick !

[jack]

Discipline is vital - get up at 06:30,

Yes, steady on, Nick !

04:30 this morning!

I'll be generous. Get up at 7

[steve s]

Dave I echo everyones comments, I'm sad to hear that news,
my daughters in the same position in being made redundant even though she was being furlowed.. She does not understand why if there's no cost involved, it was selective.

Best of luck to you both..

[Ray P]

Discipline is vital - get up at 06:30,

Yes, steady on, Nick !

04:30 this morning!

I'll be generous. Get up at 7

around 06:00 most days for me, early mornings are a good time to get things done and so much more productive than a late evening.

[andrew Ivimey]

Sitting in the sunshine swathed in hat and scarf sipping hot coffee. I long to see the sea though. Things could be worse.

Best wishes to all and everyone.