In this crazy economy, there are a lot of people out of
work. I have been fortunate enough to be
making the most money I’ve ever made at this point in my life…but it has come
with a price.
My dream job was going well a few years ago. I worked for a company that sold healthcare
IT products to radiology clinics. They
used the software that I’m a specialist in (OnBase) to manage the patient
documentation. It was a great job
because there wasn’t much travel and I could often work from home. I usually did work from home and then go to
the office in Daytona Beach to teach a class on occasion. And I
would fly to customer sites when it was time to go live with the products.
There was a rumor that we were getting bought by an
investment firm. My company told us that
it would most likely be business as usual.
At the last minute, a different company swooped in and overbid the investment
firm by quite a lot of money which shocked us all. After the purchase, they started laying
people off left and right. I was on a conference
call with the new president and he said that everyone on the call was
safe. Then I received an email after the
call was over stating that I had 90 days left.
Apparently they decided to scrap OnBase and develop their own document
management product and I would no longer be needed. Nice.
By the way, this happened a month after I bought a house.
So I went into a scramble to find a new job. I was hired as a contractor by a reseller of OnBase. That was a good company with a good bunch of
people. I enjoyed the work…it was
challenging. And the pay was nice, but
it was still contract work which is still an unstable position. I should have been saving the money but I
wasn’t. For example, last year for
Christmas I bought two trees, a gel fireplace, and some nice gifts for my
family (the family I used to have).
In January of last year, the company I was contracting for
drew up an offer to bring me in full time.
I was ready to accept but they put the offer on hold to see if some more
deals were going to close.
This past March I was in a wedding in Punta Gorda
Florida. I got a call from a company
that had talked to me before. It’s a
healthcare IT consulting company. I was intrigued
by the offer but the one thing that stuck in my head was the frequency of
travel. I was supposed to be onsite Monday
through Thursday every week and attempt to put in 40 hours of work during that
time (no, the travel time didn’t count).
I figured I would just wow them with my abilities and at some point;
they would relax the travel requirement.
After all, about 99% of what I was doing could have been done here,
where I’m sitting and typing this in my office in Florida. I’ve been a remote employee for years and it
seems silly to spend such a large amount of money to fly me up there every
week. I would go to my cubicle (I hate
that word!) and open my consulting laptop and do things I could have done at home.
At first, the job was cool because it was new and I didn’t
know how it was going to go. After a few
months of flying each week, it started to wear on me. I became irritable and moody. I felt isolated up there because I didn’t
really know anyone or spend time with anyone.
I sat in my hotel room missing the ones I loved…very lonely.
I was in a relationship back then. I asked her to quit because she really didn’t
like her job and I figured since I was making more money, I could keep things
going while she worked on her personal business and a special project she was
involved with. Plus, my Friday’s were
very light days and I figured we could spend more time together if she wasn’t
working. That decision was not a good
one. Unfortunately, it took her 4 months
to start making money again and I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders
during that time. I was paying for
everything and there is a lot of pressure there. Plus the fact that I was not enjoying the
work and it affected my mood which ultimately affected my relationship. I felt trapped in that job and that other
jobs would be hard to find at that salary level. My frustration level increased.
It was essentially turning into a nightmare. Then in October, she started working again
and I was so much happier. I was looking
for a new job and I was starting to gain some ground in that area. Well…(sigh)…even though things were getting
better, she decided to leave. I have
been devastated ever since (as you may be able to tell from some of my other posts).
On this past Friday, I had a job interview and nailed
it. It looks like a great opportunity
and I found out today that they want to bring me in. It’s a contract job but the initial term is
one year and they expect to extend that at least another year. Also, they asked me about eventually becoming
a full time employee. That’s what I’ve
been looking for since I was laid off so I told them that I’m very interested. I have a few concerns but they seem to be
very open to remote work since one of the persons who interviewed me lives in a
different state and I voiced my concern about that on the interview call.
In a nutshell, I would be working for a state (I’ll leave
that info out for now) who is retooling their Medicaid eligibility program and
they are using OnBase to manage that system.
They are also affiliated with a nearby university and that school will
also be using OnBase for various projects.
I’m excited because I’ll be getting my hands on the software again. I was not doing that much technically with
this consulting project and I don’t need my technical skills to
deteriorate.
This opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time. In all honesty, I’ve been suffering since she
left. I’m slowly getting back on track
and this new job will hopefully be just what I needed. Interestingly enough, that company that I
contracted for after getting laid off is the software vendor for this state
agency. Small world! I’m happy about that too. I know that there are good people there.
I’m not looking for sympathy, but this was my first
Christmas alone. It was no fun at all. It was the first year I didn’t receive a gift…(well,
my mom sent gift cards). But when I got
the call today about the job….that was my gift.
I hope it plays out well.
I hope anyone who takes the time to read this had a great
Christmas and has a fantastic new year.
Oh, and I’m renting a tux and going to a James Bond themed New
Year’s Eve party at the Enzian Theater in Maitland with some friends. It should be interesting. I’ll be thinking of her at midnight though…(sigh).
Peace
