New Job, Summer Break

I was let go from my job on May 15, along with at least 2 others that I know of, due to slowing work at the company (so they say). They told me it wasn't a performance issue. I did sense over probably the last year that they may let me go at some point just because they've been changing things up and it didn't seem like they were sure what they wanted to do with me. Last year I was working as the lab manager for the previous 2.5 years (I was with the company for 6.5 years when they let me go), but they changed the structure of the lab to cut me out. They moved me to the commercial department to do more project management/assisting other project managers (I had previously worked in that department, as well as the residential department doing project management and various other roles over the years so I was familiar with the new placement). They also envisioned a new role as mainly a public works project manager so it seemed like there was some direction with the move. Over the past year work did seem to slow down a bit and I did notice I personally was getting low on things to do from time to time. I was able to stay busy enough, though. 

It wasn't so surprising that they let some people go, but who they let go was a bit surprising. One of the people was a licensed engineer (PE) who was hired earlier in the year. I can understand that he was newer so that made some sense, but I would think they want to keep PEs on board. There's a lot of younger EITs (Engineers-in-Training) at the company working toward getting licensed, so I would think they prioritize keeping people already licensed. He worked in the office directly across from me. The other guy had been working there for 5 years, but wasn't licensed. He was working in a different department, but I knew him well since we've worked together during some of our rotations through the different departments. It surprised me because he was more experienced than alot of the other younger EITs. The company had hired a bunch of EITs over the last few years but I learned that they all were retained. As for me I am licensed and more experienced than them so it was a little surprising that they let me go. It seems like they moreso wanted to cut people who were making more money. It's even weirder because I found out they actually hired some new people soon after left. I learned this because I still had access to our payroll website where I can see the company org chart, so I stalked that a few weeks after I was let go. I'm not sure if they let anybody else go; I didn't notice anyone else that I knew missing. 

I learned that the other two were fired when I got to the office. I had come into the office just after noon since I took Mumina to a doctor appointment in the morning. One of my coworkers in another office across from mine had come to me and asked if I heard about the other guys getting let go. I said 'no' and didn't think too much of it and got going on my work. About an hour in my supervisor called me into his bosses office to let me know I was being let go. Ok. Great. Thanks. Early start to the weekend! I packed up my things from my messy office while someone watched me so he can usher me out and get my key fob. My kids had one more week of school so I looked forward to spending some time with them during the summer break. That made it bittersweet since I needed a break anyway. I hadn't taken real vacation time in a while so it was nice to get that with the kids. Financially I wasn't worried. I did get my final paycheck right away (and got paid for the full day despite being kicked out early), but I didn't quite have an emergency savings like I should. I was just getting to a point where I can start saving decent money. Over the last year I was being more conscientious by cutting unnecessary bills/spending (I wasn't good about budgeting and it caught up to me when I got behind on my mortgage). I got finished catching up on my mortgage at the beginning of the year. For the previous 6 months I was on a payment plan where I was paying extra on it to make up for missed payments. So this year I was paying off some debts, but didn't quite have a real savings yet. Fortunately I do have some 401k retirement money from my job that I could use. I opened an IRA with my bank and in moving my 401k money to it I took some of it out as emergency money. Of course there's a penalty for doing that which sucks but it's fine. I took enough out to last me almost the rest of the year in case the job search was prolonged. I still was able to keep a decent amount in my IRA and hopefully I can build it up again with a new job. 

I put in for several jobs right away and weekly would put in for more, mainly government jobs. I got a few responses but only 1 interview from that. Later on I put in for several private companies and got some phone interviews, but those didn't go anywhere. I landed an in-person interview with a company that is a direct competitor to my previous job. I knew of them because of my other job, but I was interested in applying after learning that my coworker who was let go at the same time as me (who was there for 5 years) actually got hired pretty quick there. He encouraged me to apply after he got hired. He's a good guy. When we were fired he reached out to me by text and over the next few weeks would check to see how my search was going. Appreciate it, bud. So that interview went well and I felt pretty good about it. They called me in for another interview last week to discuss the role I would be in a bit more. One of the guys I interviewed with was someone I remember from my old job. He left not too long after I started there, so I don't think he remembered me. We didn't cross paths much but he was a manager so he was important enough for me to know him. Anyways, that interview went well, too, so I anticipated that they would call. The next day they called me and offered me the job. Yay! Alhamdulillah! They said I won't start until August 17, so it'll be a few weeks. It works out fine since the kids start school August 10 so I get to spend the rest of their summer break with them. 

The job is actually perfect for me. I would be doing pretty much what I've done at my old job, but there would be a clear path to a more prominent role. They would actually have me eventually review and stamp documents, which I didn't do quite yet at my old job. The location is great too. It's about the same distance from my house as my old job, but a little closer to my kids' school, so it would be easy to drop them off and pick them up. I'm really excited about it. Hopefully things work out with this and I can grow with this company and retire there. Being out of a job really sucks and the job search process is so stressful. I feel really lucky to have landed with this company. I wasn't having much luck overall. It even seems like the responses have slowed lately, and none of the more recent applications are getting responses. I did have an interview lined up with the state this week, but I cancelled it since I've accepted the new job. It would severely suck if something goes awry with this job. I would hate to be back in the job search market. It'll be 3 months off work by time I start my new job, so I'm ready to get back to the grind. I feel for people who are out of work and looking for jobs. I hope I'm not back in that spot anytime soon. It is such a relief to know I'm about to start work, but I won't feel comfortable until I actually start. 

The summer has been great. It sucks that I've missed out on thousands of dollars by being out of work and having to take money out of retirement, but overall it's been worth it. I've been able to do a lot with the family. Even though it's been super hot and unbearable to be able to do anything outdoors, we were able to do many activities. We've gone to parks, the cinema, library, a wetlands preserve, an indoor playground, stayed in some cabins in Utah along with the in-laws for a few days, a lion habitat, and some other places. I was able to go to Grandma's 90th birthday celebration, which was great. I was able to work with the kids on schoolwork to help prepare them for the next grade, which they really needed. I would not be able to do all that if I was working, so I see it as a blessing of sorts to have that time off and the timing of it. The kids would have been so bored and it would have put a lot on Mumina as well. Sanai has a birthday coming up, the kids meet their teachers next week, I have a birthday coming up, the kids start school the week after, so it'll be no time before I start work insha'Allah.