Unemployed (Again)

Back in June of 1997, I was let go from a job. I was going to school full-time and working full-time. I thought I could handle it. I couldn't. I was making silly mistakes on the job, my performance was slipping, so I was let go. I probably wasn't doing as well as I could have been in my school work either.

I made a decision that day. I was going to apply for financial aid, go to school full-time, and perhaps get a part-time job. It worked out. I graduated from DePaul University in 1999 with a BS in Computer Science. Specifically, I had a degree in Human Computer Interaction - a field which had been around for a while but was just starting to gain prominence with the emergence of the Web and eCommerce.

In 1998, a year before I was going to graduate, I took an internship at SPSS. I ended up on a project in which SPSS was going to incorporate some mapping capabilities into the flagship SPSS product. I spent my days noodling around with the mapping product; documenting its features, chatting with the software engineers, and even participating in usability testing. (I had only done this in classes with class projects, but this was "the real thing".) When I graduated, they offered me a position - making twice the money I made when I was let go.

That job came with a little culture shock. I was amazed when, in a meeting, someone would turn to me and say, "Elizabeth, what do you think? You've done some . Is this possible?" Or when another designer would come to my desk, paper prototype in hand, and ask, "Would you walk through this task analysis with me. I want to get your opinion." I was happy as a clam when I asked another designer what he thought of my design for "Random Sampling from a Database" and he chuckled and said "You are really talented, and you have a sense of humor for these things - red dice. Kind of funny." (I hadn't really thought of humor. What else could imply random sampling except dice or maybe a coin? Every stats course I took used flipping a coin and throwing dice to demonstrate probability.)

I loved my job. I looked forward to Monday mornings so I could get back there. Then came off-shoring, the dot-com explosion, 9/11, bad economic times. I was laid off. "This has nothing to do with your performance. The company will be moving in a different direction and your skills are not in line with the company's direction." Oh well. They wanted to develop more web-based applications and my skills were in desktop applications. Time to move on.

Fast forward four years. Now I have a Master's Degree but I am underemployed at a company I didn't really love and who didn't really appreciate what I could offer. I got a tip about about a job. Applied for it, spoke with the HR person about setting up an interview, and waited for the call with my interview date. The next day I found out "my position has been eliminated". I was laid off again. "This has nothing to do with your performance... etc." Oh well (again).

Two and a half years later, I'm looking for a job again. I don't know what I can say about this situation. I haven't accepted the severance package so I will error on the side of saying nothing.

Except.. This has nothing do do with my performance.