It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged from my website. I’ve been so busy with life and comfortable with my job that I completely abandoned it, along with my portfolio. Well, there’s nothing like getting laid off to help get me back on track.
For those of you who may not have known, I worked at Citrix for almost 4.5 years. I can honestly say that it was one of the best companies I’ve ever worked for. Unfortunately, life or Divinity had other plans for me for 2015. Before I could reach the 5 year mark, I ended up being one of the 700 full-time employees that was laid off on February 4, 2014.
“Everything happens for a reason” is a phrase that I’ve heard quite a few times since that fateful day. At first it annoyed me, but then I started to see the truth in it. For one thing, this layoff gave me the motivation I needed to take down the maintenance page that had been on my site for almost 6 years. It also freed up my time so that I can both give the site a much needed facelift and update my portfolio that looked like something out of the 90’s. I’m even finding myself wanting to get back into art again…
In addition to everything already mentioned, here are three lessons that I learned from all of this:
Lesson 1: Don’t allow yourself to be too comfortable with a corporate job
It’s easy to become very comfortable with a corporate job after you’ve been at a company for many years. Before you know it, you become lazy and complacent. You forget that at the end of a day, you’re a replaceable employee. Unless you’re the CEO or a board member with a high amount of shares, you can easily be replaced. So, stay sharp. Keep up with the latest best practices and trends in your field. Keep your resume and/or portfolio updated. Learn from my mistake. Don’t wait until you’re unemployed to try to figure this all out.
Lesson 2: Maintain good relationships with peers both inside and outside of your place of employment
Maintaining good working/professional relationships is very important. You never know when you’ll need to connect with someone in your field for reference or recommendation. Even if you don’t like someone’s personality, try to find some common ground or something about him/her that you appreciate. Trust me when I say that often times, the ones you least expect are the ones that end up helping you in the future.
Lesson 3: Maintain good relationships with recruiters
No matter how much you love working at a company or how long you’ve been there, it doesn’t hurt to have good relationships with recruiters in your area. Even if you have no plans of ever leaving, you never know when you may not have a choice. So, it makes sense to keep in touch with recruiters so that you have people to reach out to in case the inevitable happens. Good recruiters will work hard on your behalf. Trust me when I tell you that this is very helpful, especially when you’re forced back into the job market after years of employment.
Anyhow, that’s all I have for now. Time to move forward. My prayer is that all of us who were impacted by the layoff will find career opportunities that are perfectly suited for us. With that said, do you know anyone who’s looking for a UI/Front-End Web Developer in the South Florida area and who doesn’t mind some singing/humming every once in a while, occasional conversations about nutrition and a weird sense of humor? If so, let me know. Thanks. 😉
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