November 5th, 2001

What's worse: Getting laid off by your employer OR being one of the few to stay and pick up the pieces? Well, I've been wanting something interesting to write about since life has been kind of dull in the past month, and well, I guess I should be more careful what I wish for.

My team was effectively dissolved from "up high" last Friday. They laid off my manager and my closest teammate - both of which I feel that I owe my job: The former had hired me 9 months earlier and the latter was the one who referred me to apply at Blue Wave Systems(and has also been a good friend for almost the past 2 years). I have been reassigned (along with the remaining teammate) to work on the software for one of our new prototype DSP boards.

Also, many of my friends who I have made over the past 9 months there are being let go as well. So, essentially, of the small company I came to work for back in February (that was gulped up by a larger fish in July), out of the 20 people in the U.S. office orginally, only about 10 are left. Of course, it still feels weird because we still have two other offices that merged into ours, so while the first floor is bustling with activity, the second floor where I sit will be relatively empty next week. Ya know, of the few nights I have worked, it seemed a bit strange with only one or two people in the office. Now it's going to feel like that all of the time.

I'm still not sure if I want to stay at Motorola or even for how long. This is an opportunity to get to see a software product from start to finish in six months, but I just keep thinking about that empty second floor. I have no qualms about moving on to another company though. The Inverse of the Golden Rule would seem to apply here.

Over the past year, I've come to realize that corporations and those involved in business (including myself of course) are all just playing a game made up from one day to the next. When it really comes down to it, the only things that matter are the relationships between your family and friends and the basic necessities (food, clothing, shelter). Anything else is icing on the cake.

As for the future, we shall see. On Friday, I felt like a nine-year-old who was told that all his friends were moving away. Now my emotions are now tamed, and a solution has risen from them and is already in execution.

Sincerely,

Jas

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