Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Full-Time Indie Time... I guess
Well, I was planning a different topic for the blog tonight, but life has a way of sneaking up behind you and giving you a pinch once in a while just to make sure you are still awake.
We had a "reorganization" today at work. The new head of IT (yes, we got a new VP of IT, two months ago... I guess this WAS in the cards) decided that the department would outsource development to other companies. Since we only had to do integration rather than development, it was time to scale things down so we'd have a bigger budget to pay third parties. And I was part of the scale-down. Considering I was one of the most senior guys who was still working on new development rather than production support or on the RFP / RFQ team for third parties, I guess I was a good cost-savings measure.
However, it was handled pretty nicely. I've got some severance to tide me over to find a new job, and they are paying me for my unused vacation time. I actually can't blame them much for doing it... I was just caught off guard. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
I don't pretend that Rampant Games could yet pay the bills as a full-time endeavor. But until I get something else lined up, I guess I'm a full-time indie game developer for a few weeks.
Though we had a vacation planned already for next week. So I'll be full-time except for the well-deserved vacation :)
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:33 PM (Permalink)
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Good luck with the indie development and the job search (after vacation--I'd be too stressed to go).
I'll keep my RSS reader pointed here for updates.
I'll keep my RSS reader pointed here for updates.
Glad you're taking it so well. You're much more reasonable than you should be :). That is a seriously messed up company (and I know whereof I speak).
I'm gonna be "silver lining guy" here... When I told my wife that you'd been laid off, she said, "well, duh, that was no surprise." So there are a lot of upsides to this!
* You'd mentioned some pretty bogus technology decisions and difficult individuals at the company.
* You had mentioned that, although it paid the bills, you didn't find the job particularly satisfying.
* The tech job market is really good right now. You can choose your next position knowing that you have lots of good opportunities and you don't have to take the first one that just comes along. I'm getting at least one unsolicited contact from a recruiter every day right now. And you know the demand--and pay--for sysadmins is lower than that for programmers.
* You can go flying with me on weekday mornings.
It's that last bit that I'm excited about. I'll give you a call and we can talk (flying) turkey ;)
* You'd mentioned some pretty bogus technology decisions and difficult individuals at the company.
* You had mentioned that, although it paid the bills, you didn't find the job particularly satisfying.
* The tech job market is really good right now. You can choose your next position knowing that you have lots of good opportunities and you don't have to take the first one that just comes along. I'm getting at least one unsolicited contact from a recruiter every day right now. And you know the demand--and pay--for sysadmins is lower than that for programmers.
* You can go flying with me on weekday mornings.
It's that last bit that I'm excited about. I'll give you a call and we can talk (flying) turkey ;)
Good luck with the game development! It sucks to find out about your lack of a job in this way, but it sounds like you weren't dumped too badly. The company seems to actually care about you as a person. As I understand it, severence isn't usually given during lay-offs.
Thanks for the happy thoughts being sent my way!
I expected I'd wake up with a panic attack this morning - though I hoped it wouldn't happen. It did. Woke up with a headache and stress at 6 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. While my conscious mind feels RELATIVELY certain that everything would be fine (at least, that there'd be a high probability of things being okay), my subconscious brain was screaming, "CHAAAANGE!!!! CHANGE BAAAAAAD! WE FEAR CHANGE!!!!"
I've been pretty busy this morning with sending our resumes - by request, even! I'm pretty floored by the response. We sure ain't living in 2002 anymore.
I expected I'd wake up with a panic attack this morning - though I hoped it wouldn't happen. It did. Woke up with a headache and stress at 6 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. While my conscious mind feels RELATIVELY certain that everything would be fine (at least, that there'd be a high probability of things being okay), my subconscious brain was screaming, "CHAAAANGE!!!! CHANGE BAAAAAAD! WE FEAR CHANGE!!!!"
I've been pretty busy this morning with sending our resumes - by request, even! I'm pretty floored by the response. We sure ain't living in 2002 anymore.
Wow. That sucks, but it's great! If you need a reference, let me know. We're hiring, but we're in Washington too... It's nice here.
...my subconscious brain was screaming, "CHAAAANGE!!!! CHANGE BAAAAAAD! WE FEAR CHANGE!!!!"
Mine often screams, "You can't pay rent next month! You're going to starve!" It's a very tangible fear, though not a realistic one. I just wish my brain would get with the program and realize this.
I've been pretty busy this morning with sending our resumes - by request, even! I'm pretty floored by the response. We sure ain't living in 2002 anymore.
It's nice to hear this; I wish you the best of luck in finding something that pays well, and is intellectually stimulating!
Mine often screams, "You can't pay rent next month! You're going to starve!" It's a very tangible fear, though not a realistic one. I just wish my brain would get with the program and realize this.
I've been pretty busy this morning with sending our resumes - by request, even! I'm pretty floored by the response. We sure ain't living in 2002 anymore.
It's nice to hear this; I wish you the best of luck in finding something that pays well, and is intellectually stimulating!
I would really LOVE to just forget this whole process and go to business full-time working for myself. But it's really not feasible at this point. But it's a GOAL!
I always figured I'd try the full-time business out before I attempted to start a family. This way, my kids won't have to go to school wearing paper bags for pants because a game didn't sell well. Of course, at this rate, I may well be 40 or so, before I start a family. I see myself arriving at my kid's college graduation while tottering along with a cane. There's always tradeoffs, I suppose. But I don't mind wearing paper bags for pants. Even if they're irregulars with three legs.
How about hunting around for financing? The Three F's of Startup Funding can be surprisingly helpful. With some healthy post-startup capital, an entrepreneur can afford to live, and even own a pair of real pants with two legs.
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How about hunting around for financing? The Three F's of Startup Funding can be surprisingly helpful. With some healthy post-startup capital, an entrepreneur can afford to live, and even own a pair of real pants with two legs.
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