Got notice at quitting time that my services were no longer needed, my job is being outsourced.

LOL, good luck with that.

Now the hunt begins.

What really blows is that we closed our 20 year old business so that I had the time to do everything this company needed me to do. My husband ran the day to day at the store and I had him working for me part time too. So we're both out of work.

And I alienated a lot of my loyal customers because I was overcommitted to this one, and had to put them off. So I really have nothing to fall back on, and no unemployment for either of us (self-employed).

Sorry to hear that. Godspeed on your search!

That Sux Vikki....
1) Cant they outsource it to you then_ You know the job...
2) Any way you can re open your own businnes??

3) Eggs are going up quite a bit , since you have that coop, can you expand? sell some?

I asked if they put together a bid package, will they send it to me. I don't think that's their plan, they couldn't write an IT package unless I wrote it for them.

No, sold the name of the business to our tech who will continue as a solo operation. So that's a closed deal too.

Yep, have another 100 chicks on order. That'll make 300 layers, but they don't bring in *quite* as much as I was.

And we're committed to the tuition bill for RPI now. Ouch.

I had an appointment to hire an assistant on Saturday. Glad I didn't f-up his life too by having it happen after he gave notice.

Sorry, if that 68 you have for sell sold then that would help for awhile. Maybe you could put it on ebay if you had to.

Yeah, one car "sold" is being picked up on Sunday, finally. Or it will go on eBay.

Have to move the other too. It runs and drives, should sell pretty easy. Really clean car, wish I could put paint on it and pretty it up...

Laz, good news coming your way on this mess.

Very sorry to hear the news Vikki. Hopefully this will open the door to a better opportunity. Best wishes.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. IT outsourcing is the stupidist thing a good company can do. They'll spend more time (=money) bring someone else up to speed only to find out it just dosent work in the long run. Then hire back in-house.

The Cleveland area is in a big IT boom now and there isn't enough good IT people. It took almost 8 months to find a good Oracle guy at my company.

Anyway, I hope you find the right company soon!

It is a tough road these days Vik... I have lost half my sales to folks cutting back and am quickly trying to reinvent myself... times have never been tougher for me... but just keep up the good fight, there is nothing else I know to do?

I am hitting hard military contracts... the war will continue... the money is budgeted and someone will get it.. I've knocked the bottom out of everything..

Vikki

I worked at an Civil Engineering firm where we were very dependent on computers, CAD, Structural Programs, Civil Design stuff. We had a great IT guy. While he was there (7 yrs) we never had more than an 1 hour of downtime.

Corporate had some brilliant idea to outsource it to an IT company. Things were okay for about two weeks, then the system came to a grinding halt. IT could not come till the next afternoon.

So we have an office of 70 people with approx 50 of them throwing paper airplanes now.

Office Manager said F this and called back our IT guy. Guy came over right away fixed the problem and told the office manager
not to call him again. Office manage says Oh I won't call you you have your job back plus a substatntial salray increase.

Good IT people are hard to find. Something will pop up

I did on-call net admin for a Tier 2 auto supplier where downtime was $5K per MINUTE. I was a 25 minute drive a away. They'd burn through $125,000 in lost productivity waiting for me to get there, but were unwilling to pay me a fair (much less) wage to keep me on site 40 hours a week.

Blind stupidity, beancounters, everything but common sense.

I am certain something even better will come along, I've been at work for the last 21 years preparing for my next job.

Best wishes Vicki, I just went through the same thing, but I worked for a local telephone company that was bought out by Windstream, if you ever herd of them.
They offered to move me to Little Rock Arkansas, where thier engineering teams are, but I was not going to move.
Good news was that they gave me a very nice severance and I got a job at Time Warner Cable, doing routing and switching for thier IP network, so things turned out ok.
Not sure of what part of Michigan you live in etc, and how big a city, but IT jobs around here are not that hard to find, Chrlotte NC is not hurting to bad, so if you have to move to Charlotte, its good Firebird driving weather!
I put my resume online, on a website I setup just for finding a job, not sure if that really helped or not, pushed hard at the companies I wanted to work at, big companies like Time Warner Cable etc, have nice 401k pension and do not fire people as often.
If there is ANYTHING I can do, let me know, and good luck.

Sorry to hear that Vikki, and without re-hashing the above, good IT people are always in demand, and look at all the good references you have right here

Good IT people may always be in demand, but in a shrinking economy there are more good IT people than good jobs for them.

I will probably end up building my business over, but for now I will look for a position that's already there, or some contract work. I'll just have to set aside a few projects for a while.

My family won't uproot, there is too much family here. So whichever of my career paths I follow, it'll be here.

Best wishes Vikki. Sounds like you know what you are doing and have a strong business mind!

Sorry to hear the bad news Vikki. I am tettering right now myself with the downturn in the economy. I wish you all the best in finding a new position soon.

D@mn another unemployed Michigan resident. Sorry about your misfortune Vikki. www.indeed.com is a great search engine for employment. I'm teetering on the brink of unemployment myself, which is why I have contemplating selling my car.

The only thing that bothers me is the lack of a safety cushion (unemployment insurance). I haven't been covered for over 20 years, so I know I am on my own, and I banked half my pay this year as a "just in case". Actually I banked it to go toward an engine rebuild, but things change.

I will start marketing co-op IT services to the remaining shops in the area and try to build a new venture. None of them can afford to hire me alone, but if I do IT for a whole industrial park including provide shared FTP servers then I think I can pull it off.

Thanks, Brad, I'll look there too. My brother-in-law lost his net admin job in January and just now found a position, but at a 30% pay cut. I was working at a 50% rate cut to get the stability of having a dedicated customer. So much for that idea. They got me for the projects they really needed me for and then boom, out the door, as soon as the website went live.

I woke up this morning with a fine attitude. It's my birthday, I have the day off, it's reasonably warm and not raining right now, life is good.

My company, a global IT company is super smoking, and there is no end in sight, with projections of going through the roof.

Are you interested in looking around? No, silly, you don't have to move. I'll pm you.

I am definitely interested in moving onward and upward. I have a very well equipped broadband-enabled office and can work from anywhere.

Happy Birthday Vikki!!!

Thanks!

Happy birthday, nice, and the day off too! Well with a downturn in the economy surely the IT will shift from sales oriented to say collections oriented.....unfortunately they likely do not pay as well....

You'll find something interesting and challenging, you have the drive and the smarts....I have no doubt of that.

I didn't realize how much of my soul I was selling off to get the healthy paycheck I received. I feel like I am seeing the world again for the first time, I feel FREE.

And when that wears off, I'll be feeling broke...

Unless something really good comes up, I will likely go back to phone call admin...always on standby until a crisis. Half the hours for the same money. I just need to round up a pool of clients.

With your knowledge and skills you'll be back in the race in no time. If all else fails, UPS is always looking for more folks to fill the rank and file. I'll see you and Tom on Sunday.

I'm feeling pretty positive for the moment, I just started searching the job listings and at least the lists are well populated with jobs that I am well qualified for. I've put out four resumes so far, all for what look to be good, challenging roles. And I am getting some great leads from members here as well.

Thanks!

See ya Sunday, Tom...

Happy Birthday Vikki. I have never meet you but your posts and your help to others on this site has alway impressed me.

I believe that with the nework of people out there that you have touched will pay off somehow. Good luck on your job hunt

Happy Birthday Vikki...............I am sure you will do fine with your job search........I had the pleasure to meet Vikki last summer she is smart, dedicated, and good looking as well!..What more could a company ask for?...AND she has a picture perfect family....Good luck Vikki and I am sure we will hear soon of your new job!.Again HAPPY B_DAY !

ditto!...I`ve met Vikki twice...nice gal....but of course ,shes a Firebird woman!

anyway...Happy B Day Vikki!
I was too engossed in your troubles before to remember to congratulate you...

Gods speed on your job search too!

Best wishes, Vikki!

From what I have picked up on various posts you've made on this site when talking about your job, I'm of the impression that you have VERY marketable skills.

Being in finance, I can say that financial institutions (for one) are starving for good IT help. I'm confident that, in your case, it's a new door opening.

You'll be fine.

vikki...Just do not become

Way, way too funny, John. I sat and watched the whole thing...me, who can't even sit through a commercial.

LOL........... I found it while watching the Red Sox !!

Not an "I told ya..." and not a gloat. Professionally it bugs me, as a lot of people I know are aware of who I worked for...but the new web server is down, hit overload and needs a reset, 30 second fix for me, and I would gladly do if asked even under the circumstances. But since they won't ask, I will sit and watch it not work...

Why are people so STUPID and stubborn? I get as mad as the next person, maybe more so, but I don't hold a grudge, and if I need help I ask.

"Stupid is as stupid does."

We wish you the best of luck and know that you'll get something going for yourself. We hope you had a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday Vikki and good luck

When one door closes, another eventually opens up.

The IT world has become shark infested these days. I've been lucky enough to keep my job for 14 years but I've been planning to become something else for the last few years. Since I've already been something else 10x over, I'm not as worried as most but I will miss my IT career.

I've been self employed and borderline broke but reasonably happy for the past 20 years. I'd take the nicest days off for myself, would take family event time as needed, and set my own schedule and type of work I'd accept. I finally gave it up to be a responsible, reliable, full time plus kind of employee...doing what needs doing, and collecting a fair wage...in order to be sure we can give our son a good chance at a great school.

I have 4 trades that I am equally qualified in, but IT pays the best of them.

I'm too old to do the low wage thing for long, so I hope IT is going to pull through for me.

Like I said Vikki..When one door closes, another one opens up. It's only the vigilant that pick the right door and I'm sure you're perched at all the thresholds.