Tomorrow, it will be four months since I was made redundant by Cogsys Ltd, where I was a software developer. The six months prior to my leaving were tough, with big commercial and cultural changes. My partner, Debra, also lost her job in the first the first round, and I went in the second. The division I’d worked in was shut down and every product I had worked on over the previous eight years was canned.
The next couple of months were kind of, ah, interesting. One of the directors (another newly ex-employee) and myself attempted to buy some of the canned products. Very interesting, this: setting-up a company, being a director (yay!), writing business plans, getting funding, researching office space and equipment leasing. All good stuff, and hopefully useful for the future. But not the present. Despite much hard work from us both, in the end it didn’t happen.
So, what to do? Cogsys gave me a decent pay-off and so, not currently having no family commitments and mortgage to pay, and having worked pretty damn hard for over ten years, I’ve effectively taken the summer off.
There’s a degree of calculated risk in this decision. At some point in the next few months I’ll have to get a job or earn some money – which means keeping my skills up-to-date and relevant. On the other hand, I will probably never have this opportunity – this time – again; and so I’m determined to make the most of it. On the skills front, I’m trying to dig deeply into .NET and other technologies, and pursuing various projects that have been on the back-burner for too long. Including building this web site.
I’ve also been doing some backpacking, and we had a relaxing couple of weeks in Spain. We’ve also been busy with some stress-inducing redecoration of our kitchen and bathroom.
All of which, I find, keeps me busy enough for now. The future can wait for me.