I've been *very* lucky
Up until Jan last year I worked as a web dev for a new media agency. For giggles I convinced myself I was bored there and landed myself a job as a back-end dev at a financial information co in the City.

Lesson learned: the grass is always greener on the other side. From day one I realised I'd made a mistake. To be fair the co was no less fuckwitted than anywhere else, and with a couple of exceptions the people were decent and good colleagues. I just somehow assumed that being on the "inside" I'd learn that shares, CFDs, FX etc are really quite interesting and I'd enjoy the work.

I didn't.

Although I achieved my quarterly bonus for the first two quarters I was eligible, by the end of the year my motivation was slipping and my boss had given me an informal chat that my performance needed to improve.

So when, three weeks before Christmas they announced that there would be two redundancies and it would be based on performance, I wasn't at all surprised when the next day they told me I was to be one of them. I can't blame them. I knew I'd made a mistake taking the job, and the part of me that wasn't bricking at the prospect of an iminent 50+% drop in household income was actually strangely relieved.

So why am I lucky? Well firstly, even though I hadn't been with them long enough to be entitled to redundancy, they gave me a pretty generous severance anyway (I said that they were decent), essentially an extra month's pay that would cover me until the end of January, and secondly, I got a new job, starting immediately after the New Year, within ten days!

I'm now doing JavaScript development for an Internet advertising firm. I like them, they like me, the work is really interesting and whilst they originally took me on a three-month contract as my skill set wasn't exactly what they wanted and they wanted to see how I'd shape up, they made me permament after just two months.

Now I know the above must make me sound like the smuggest of jammy gits, but like I said, I know I've been exceptionally fortunate, and I will *never* forget what it feels like to be told you're out of a job. It's the worst, even if it is a job you don't enjoy. First time it's happened to me since leaving uni (two decades ago). I hope it never happens to me again, though In today's world, I know it may well one day.

So I have every sympathy with all those posting here who are looking for work, whether it's been a long time or short. I hope that fortune smiles on you all as she smiled on me.

Oh and we've got enough work in the pipeline that we're looking for a second JavaScript dev. So if there are unemployed b3tans with OO JavaScript looking in London, post a reply and I'll point you at the vacancy. Best of luck to you all.
(Vainomoinen went looking for the Sampo on, Mon 6 Apr 2009, 19:07, Reply)