bloodletting
Feb. 19th, 2009 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
totientIn the two weeks leading up to last Thursday, Vanu Inc fired seven people, all "for cause" though none of the causes with which I am familiar are ones I would normally consider firing offenses. My boss Jim was the first one; I was the last (at least so far).
In my own case, I should have seen it coming: my political capital was mostly with Jim and I was a strong ally of his. I took my most recent position there in order to get to work for Jim and to see if I could put together an effective organization, and it was pretty clear by a week after Jim was fired that I'd have to start from scratch in order to accomplish the second goal. So, I had been planning to speak to another manager there about an internal transfer. Had I not been approved for that -- and I know there are people there who want to move and have not -- then I don't think it would have been long before I quit, recession or no recession. Still, I wasn't expecting it to be so quick, or on these terms.
Vanu, Inc was a great place to work for almost the entire time I was there. I will miss many of my coworkers, and I learned some fun things along the way. I won't soon take another director-level position so many reporting steps away from the CEO in such a small company; the politics in that configuration are just too treacherous.
Tactically,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miss_chance and I should be OK; this is actually reasonably good timing for a break. I've had a week to put together a resume and I'm a lot more relaxed now than I was three weeks ago, which I needed. I have an intriguing meeting set up for tomorrow, and I'm hoping for many more -- if you've got any interesting leads, please let me know.
In my own case, I should have seen it coming: my political capital was mostly with Jim and I was a strong ally of his. I took my most recent position there in order to get to work for Jim and to see if I could put together an effective organization, and it was pretty clear by a week after Jim was fired that I'd have to start from scratch in order to accomplish the second goal. So, I had been planning to speak to another manager there about an internal transfer. Had I not been approved for that -- and I know there are people there who want to move and have not -- then I don't think it would have been long before I quit, recession or no recession. Still, I wasn't expecting it to be so quick, or on these terms.
Vanu, Inc was a great place to work for almost the entire time I was there. I will miss many of my coworkers, and I learned some fun things along the way. I won't soon take another director-level position so many reporting steps away from the CEO in such a small company; the politics in that configuration are just too treacherous.
Tactically,
miss_chance and I should be OK; this is actually reasonably good timing for a break. I've had a week to put together a resume and I'm a lot more relaxed now than I was three weeks ago, which I needed. I have an intriguing meeting set up for tomorrow, and I'm hoping for many more -- if you've got any interesting leads, please let me know.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Sorry to hear that
Date: 2009-02-20 12:34 pm (UTC)For the record, you're one of the best engineers I ever worked with, so (a) I know you'll get any job that you apply for and which is looking for a great engineer; (b) I'd be more than happy to be a reference.
I wish our own budget wasn't so tight - I'd definitely get on the "I want to hire Phi - I hope he consents to work here" line !
Re: Sorry to hear that
Date: 2009-04-14 05:23 pm (UTC)I'm about to take you up on that, thanks!