Job Off-shored! Unemployment On-shored
It was a Monday morning. A morning like any other. As usual I went to my office at my usual time 7:45AM. Had a cup of coffee and cleaned up a few systems, installed new builds and started some long running stability tests on three different platforms.
Around 9:00AM, I saw an email titled All Hands Meeting! I saw that it was sent out to all members of the team. I did not see any names missing. Every time a note like that gets sent, I used to notice a few missing names or hands :-) Those hands or rather heads that are missing are the ones that have been chopped or rolled!
I told Eric that I see no "hands" missing and that must be good! He said that the last time it happened his name was not missing but then got another note in which his name was missing and was told he was in transition. However his position was not eliminated. He stayed. Eric said, "Let us wait and see whether another note will be sent!"
At the All Hands Meeting I sat next to James and told him that I was glad to see all hands which meant no heads rolled that day. The meeting began and we were told that the VCs have sold our company. Any of us who have exercised options loose all! I lost $1400!
The new company that bought us have a business model of their own. They do no in house development! All their development is done offshore, which meant development will be affected. We were told that there will be another meeting where we are going to be told of the details. Lunch will be served.
After Pizza, the second meeting began. This time there was a power point presentation by the company that bought us. Their business plan was to buy companies that have sellable products (which they termed as companies that are under-performing), lay off development and outsource entire development. They could bid the development world wide and get development done cheaper and better than us, we were told. They had already bought many companies and ours was the the latest one.
What does that mean to us? As a result some 50% will loose job immediately, some 25% will be put on transition anywhere between 1-6 months. The rest will be offered opportunities if they are excited about the company's way of doing business. The VP's of respective departments will have a 1-1 on each employee to let them know of their severance packages.
We were also told that we don't need to do any work or stay! We could inform our families and then go exercise if we have to .. etc.
It is hard to describe the mood any one was in. Nobody had any clue, when they walked in the morning that they will be hearing the news that they will be out sourced. Outwardly everybody seemed to be calm and no one knew what they were thinking .. There is a corpse inside each of us. And everyone today, it appeared everyone was a walking corpse!
Everyone had worked very hard for the upcoming release due in one week. Long hours, sometimes as long as 10-12 hours trying to fix bugs and make the product stable! For months!
Everyone was called to the VP's office one by one and everyone was told about the severance package which is the standard for any company .. We will be paid for the week also though it was Monday. Our medical insurance will only be effective until Friday and then we will be on CORBA. And papers will be there for us to sign on Friday.
The company had 50 people. In one fell swoop, some 38 lost the job that day. Nearly all executives (barring one), all of development (barring two) and all of HR and operations barring some were gone. Of those who were to stay some were in transition. No one was sure how long the rest will stay! A neutron bomb had just exploded!
When I joined the company it was already four years old and I think I was the 44th employee then. I am not sure of that number. The company had a board, where they posted picture of every current employee (ordered by their date of join) along with some tidbits .. They were arranged in a matrix and each row had 17 pictures.
And that's how I knew how many people were were working for the company then. I had seen the company grow (the number jumped to nearly 90+) and since shrunk twice (after ALL Hands Meeting) to current 50. Now after today, it will shrink to less than a row!
Though I did not see the beginnings of the company, I saw it rise, fall, rise, and fall and rise now I am seeing the folding of the company! I had seen companies laying off people! But I had not seen any company letting go of all people. Usually when a company purchases another, the HR, operations and the executives go. But in this case, development is going first.
I worked with great number of very very talented people. I had worked with another big company for some 17 years! But I had never seen a bunch of so talented people as I saw here! We had a great product, better than any the competition could offer!
The name of the company may stay in name but it will not be the same as it lacks the soul or the character. It lacks the spirit of the people who put their heart and soul in building it through various releases from a small downloadable product to an enterprise level product.
I like to wish all my friends with whom I worked during the past four years, be they in development, support, HR or operations or elsewhere the very best. I hope they all find new and better opportunities. I wish them all the very best!
If any of you, reading this blog, is interested in considering me for a QA job, here's hastily cobbled up resume. It is a cut and paste job. As any cut and paste job goes .. it is shoddy and needs rework! I need to re-write it and I will do so when I find time. However you can leave me a comment here and I can mail you the resume.
Around 9:00AM, I saw an email titled All Hands Meeting! I saw that it was sent out to all members of the team. I did not see any names missing. Every time a note like that gets sent, I used to notice a few missing names or hands :-) Those hands or rather heads that are missing are the ones that have been chopped or rolled!
I told Eric that I see no "hands" missing and that must be good! He said that the last time it happened his name was not missing but then got another note in which his name was missing and was told he was in transition. However his position was not eliminated. He stayed. Eric said, "Let us wait and see whether another note will be sent!"
At the All Hands Meeting I sat next to James and told him that I was glad to see all hands which meant no heads rolled that day. The meeting began and we were told that the VCs have sold our company. Any of us who have exercised options loose all! I lost $1400!
The new company that bought us have a business model of their own. They do no in house development! All their development is done offshore, which meant development will be affected. We were told that there will be another meeting where we are going to be told of the details. Lunch will be served.
After Pizza, the second meeting began. This time there was a power point presentation by the company that bought us. Their business plan was to buy companies that have sellable products (which they termed as companies that are under-performing), lay off development and outsource entire development. They could bid the development world wide and get development done cheaper and better than us, we were told. They had already bought many companies and ours was the the latest one.
What does that mean to us? As a result some 50% will loose job immediately, some 25% will be put on transition anywhere between 1-6 months. The rest will be offered opportunities if they are excited about the company's way of doing business. The VP's of respective departments will have a 1-1 on each employee to let them know of their severance packages.
We were also told that we don't need to do any work or stay! We could inform our families and then go exercise if we have to .. etc.
It is hard to describe the mood any one was in. Nobody had any clue, when they walked in the morning that they will be hearing the news that they will be out sourced. Outwardly everybody seemed to be calm and no one knew what they were thinking .. There is a corpse inside each of us. And everyone today, it appeared everyone was a walking corpse!
Everyone had worked very hard for the upcoming release due in one week. Long hours, sometimes as long as 10-12 hours trying to fix bugs and make the product stable! For months!
Everyone was called to the VP's office one by one and everyone was told about the severance package which is the standard for any company .. We will be paid for the week also though it was Monday. Our medical insurance will only be effective until Friday and then we will be on CORBA. And papers will be there for us to sign on Friday.
The company had 50 people. In one fell swoop, some 38 lost the job that day. Nearly all executives (barring one), all of development (barring two) and all of HR and operations barring some were gone. Of those who were to stay some were in transition. No one was sure how long the rest will stay! A neutron bomb had just exploded!
When I joined the company it was already four years old and I think I was the 44th employee then. I am not sure of that number. The company had a board, where they posted picture of every current employee (ordered by their date of join) along with some tidbits .. They were arranged in a matrix and each row had 17 pictures.
And that's how I knew how many people were were working for the company then. I had seen the company grow (the number jumped to nearly 90+) and since shrunk twice (after ALL Hands Meeting) to current 50. Now after today, it will shrink to less than a row!
Though I did not see the beginnings of the company, I saw it rise, fall, rise, and fall and rise now I am seeing the folding of the company! I had seen companies laying off people! But I had not seen any company letting go of all people. Usually when a company purchases another, the HR, operations and the executives go. But in this case, development is going first.
I worked with great number of very very talented people. I had worked with another big company for some 17 years! But I had never seen a bunch of so talented people as I saw here! We had a great product, better than any the competition could offer!
The name of the company may stay in name but it will not be the same as it lacks the soul or the character. It lacks the spirit of the people who put their heart and soul in building it through various releases from a small downloadable product to an enterprise level product.
I like to wish all my friends with whom I worked during the past four years, be they in development, support, HR or operations or elsewhere the very best. I hope they all find new and better opportunities. I wish them all the very best!
If any of you, reading this blog, is interested in considering me for a QA job, here's hastily cobbled up resume. It is a cut and paste job. As any cut and paste job goes .. it is shoddy and needs rework! I need to re-write it and I will do so when I find time. However you can leave me a comment here and I can mail you the resume.
posted by satish at 2:28 PM
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