When Bad Things Happen to Tech People

My youngest son was just laid off at MHC Software, which—ironically—was the inspiration for this blog entry.

I was only laid off once in my 40 years in the computer industry— a minor miracle.

I’d been lured away from West Publishing by promises of stock options and bonuses with a scrappy little dot com. But six months later, having finished the project they needed me for, they no longer had any use for me, and I was out.

Silly me.

My boss called me into his office, where I saw the head of HR was also waiting, and my blood ran cold. My fears were confirmed when I entered and they shut the door behind me.

“Uh, this looks bad,” I said.

“It is,” they confirmed, then gave me the bad news.

I went back to my team, shook their hands, thanked them for their work, then headed for the door.

On the way, I saw the CEO, so I turned to greet him, thinking to thank him for hiring me and to express my regret that things didn’t work out.

He turned on his heel and ran down the hall and around the corner, avoiding me.

Well, then. And that was that.

Finding another job was fun. One place I interviewed told me told me my 20 years of UNIX experience was not of interest to them because I had no experience specifically with HP-UX UNIX.

This is like objecting that you’ve never made toast on a Sunbeam brand toaster.

At another interview, they insisted that I have at least 15 years’ experience with JavaScript—which had been invented seven years prior.

In both cases I didn’t offer any kind of rebuttal, since I figured I wouldn’t care to work for anyone that stupid.

I did some contract work for Wells Fargo, which meant working in downtown Minneapolis, which was a fun adventure, but eventually found legit employment with MHC Software, located close to me behind Burnsville High School.

Twenty fun years later I retired. Safe!

I’m glad to be out of the industry now that it’s obsessed with AI hype and downsizing payroll via offshore contractors in Romania.