laid off D:

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I got fired from the only tech gig I've ever legitimately enjoyed over a bunch of nondescript numbers and the assertion that I was overqualified. This seriously could not have come at a worse time. I needed the money and I needed something to do. I had a better situation at work than home. Now instead of being absurdly underpaid I'm not paid at all. I'm not into technology for the money but I'd really like to live above the poverty line for once. I've become entirely accustomed to working and/or studying 24/7 all year so far, it's kind of scaring me how aprehensive I am about taking a break...

/nobody cares... shut up yuppie, amiright?

I'm sorry this happened to you.

Have you applied for Unemployment Insurance?

I know what you mean. When I lost my job once, a long time ago, I cried like a baby.

But you have to get out there, and try for another job as soon as possible. Thinking yourself a failure is useless---and it's probably not true, anyway.

I'm not sure I've been thinking of myself at all of late - save for my meager finances. Thinking about money at all sort of disturbs me to be honest, I'm not even close to capitalist but I can't avoid being surrounded by them. Never bothered with unemployment insurance - no clue how that works. It wasn't hard saying goodbye to a giant corporation's prickly cutthroat office politics; I was far from the first one in my group to get canned in such a questionable manner. The work was really fun but no way in hell will I miss that hierarchy. Contracting is the epitome of exploitation but it's been my only option for years.

In spite of the web of lies, opacity and absurd collateral pressure I was excited about at least partially belonging somewhere. Too bad I'm weird even for an aspie in that I'm good under pressure. Gonna just sedate myself & see what happens.

Getting laid off hurts, no two ways about it! Like kraftiekortie said, try not to take it personally. It happens to be the best of us (if I do say so myself ) and, who knows, you may yet get a better job. Being overqualified isn't the worst reason to lose a job (though any reason sucks!), since it means you may be able to get a better one, right?

Edit: By the way, of the 4 "similar topics" shown by the forum software, 2 are about getting laid off and 2 are about getting laid!

I think most of what's bugging me is the likelihood I'll end up with a better job in a worse environment. I mean... the only unambiguously negative part of my last one was being mislead about my contract by the most powerful managers I ever spoke with. The only real pain is that of rejection in lieu of a real explanation and knowing what a grind it will probably be to find my next gig.

Time for bikes & caffeine...

fox hugs.

Yeah... cyclical Karma just seems REALLY slow when one works with some of the fastest technologies on earth's surface. As far as I'm aware I possess a decent modicum of patience but it's sharply contrasted with the pace at which I'm accustomed to thinking. As far as the vast majority are concerned I'm a grade-A hacker with minimal legal baggage which gives me all the technical skill I might ever really need, with the caveat of painting me into a bizarre & unapproachable corner; I don't view myself as a "vendor" because my immortal soul is NOT FOR SALE to technology conglomerates. Our leads feigned discouragement of the practice, but a lot of people at this last office guzzled "Mountain Dew" and worked 12 hour shifts whereas I got spurred along for sticking with tea and working ten. The bosses disliked my habit of studying every day after work and threw my leads under the bus.

Damn... I miss my friends, this post would be longer but I need to proofread my resume.

In America today, it would seem most of everyone agrees corporations are people and people function something like this:

Recursive hacker hugs ad nauseum...

Yeah, I know what you mean. In my first job I had a team leader ask me if I would work overtime (unpaid, of course). Now, if I felt there was a good reason for it (eg. problems no-one could have foreseen) I would have agreed and if it was to fix my own mistakes he wouldn't have even had to ask me. However, in this case, I felt that the deadlines were completely unrealistic to begin with and this overtime was completely preventable. I couldn't see why I should have to suffer the consequences of poor project management.

In fact, he phased it as "are you be able to ...?" and I, in true aspie fashion, replied "well... I'm able to, but I'm unwilling to". He took that in stride and said "sure, no-one is 'willing to', but I'm asking if you would help the team out" and I said "no", without giving a reason.

It sounds amazing, in hindsight, that it didn't go any further than that. It got mentioned at my next performance review, but I still got a good review overall. So, yeah, I got lucky - you didn't. You still did the right thing, though. Not all companies are like this, believe it or not!

Interesting story. They probably left you alone because you didn't let them push you over. Office politics are drag.

TBH I think this was someone's heavy handed, inefficient, destructive way of leveling the playing field, as it were... 2 of the 3 months I worked there my team was the only one on schedule in the building. Pretty sure this was a lowlife means of keeping one ofmy leads in lock step with the rest of a conference table.

Fracking social climbers! Time for me to ride more bikes...

Once upon a time, America cared about getting the job done right. If you did your job and did it well, you were golden. Now, all anybody cares about is social climbing. You have to be "positive" and "fit in well" with the "corporate culture" to get hired. Then, it's all about brown nosing the right people and climbing the office social hierarchy. And then people wonder why nobody wants to hire Americans, it's because all Americans (in general) care about is social climbing and office politics. Nobody cares about doing any work any longer. If you care about your job, you are forced out because you make the social butterflies "look bad". It's a system that is proving to be our country's downfall.

Oh...
Damn. It all too easily really could be that simple. For a while I've been thinking about just making digital security/hackathonning my entire profession. It's sure a lot lower pressure than contracting just about anywhere and there's more free food. I'd probably have to wait around quite a while in order to get a few more local wins under my belt but sooner or later hopefully I just end up flying all over the globe testing code and breaking firewalls for money.

That said... perhaps I should just stop caring entirely what my bonkers ivy league parents think. I'm also a really good ski bum >.>

Fired for being overqualified? That's f*****g inane. If anything, that should have been a reason for them to hold onto you, and perhaps maybe even put you into a higher paying position. Hopefully they come to their senses and beg for you to come back, or better yet, you get employed by another company that treats you better so you can rub it in their face.

I wouldn't be the first to get canned and re-hired there. Suffice it to say I'll have some backstage demands in the event they do want me back, my gut instinct (something I keep reminding myself to pay more attention to) says they'll probably burn through 3 or 4 new hires and then tap my shoulder, by which point I'll either be working elsewhere in technology or just doing something relaxed and short-term with friends.

With any luck the world won't be a smoldering ball of radioactive debris by then...

I've been thinking about this too. The Western job market seems to be more concerned with the following:

- meeting short term goals
- hiring someone who is so called "right fit", but not competent
- meeting personal goals

That being said you can always argue with management to get what you want, if you really want the job badly enough.