Novell Layoffs

This is old news, but I thought I’d share that my company is currently restructuring some business units. We have been restructuring for quite some time, and this is just a continuation of events.

Several people have asked me whether or not I’ll have my job. As far as I know, my job is fairly safe, and I should be able to ride out the turbulence. It stinks to see people that I know and have hung out with get a pink slip. Unfortunately, it is just a part of life and the technology industry.

This sort of job uncertainty is part of being a technology knowledge worker. This is the hardest thing to explain to my parents. My father’s engineering career is about to end soon, and he spent 45 years working for three companies – GE, Parsons. and Bechtel.

Because I have been traveling to Arkansas for the last 9 months, I don’t get to see my friends and family as often as I’d like. Whenever there is a news article (e.g. selling out a deal with Microsoft), I get a lot of questions from concerned people. Giving updates to everyone is sort of like sending home letters from a war.