The Shrine

Updates to follow!

If it happens, hope you've got more to keep your mind occupied than I do.

You're a bum also? I'll be in excellent company then.

I think my company may be about to go belly up. We find out more tomorrow.

Heh...Insight is in the middle of a Comcastic split. We're better off without them. Insight's been rated (both by customers and by cashflow) as the top cable company for the past few years, even though we are soon to only have about 700K video customers.

The only thing that sucks is that budgets are tight and people are jumping ship because they fear for their jobs. (I think they are too paranoid. I won't leave until the job get unbearable or something drastic happens.)

Anyway, keep us posted Andrew.

My company just posted their Q4 results (loss) and Q1 forecast (loss) so we're doing far from great too.

I understand the people jumping ship thing, but I'm too loyal. I've survived three rounds of layoffs here and have joked that it would take the company exploding to get rid of me. I think that might be happening, heh.

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:I understand the people jumping ship thing, but I'm too loyal. I've survived three rounds of layoffs here and have joked that it would take the company exploding to get rid of me. I think that might be happening, heh.

Doesn't hurt to take this opportunity to update your resume

Oh, best believe my resume was updated within a couple of hours of getting home today . I've got the number of a good recruiter and friends in a bunch of companies in Brisbane, so I've got a good couple of weeks at least of grinding out leads before I need to start getting depressed.

Anyway, here's some back story: the company I work for runs a bunch of online casinos and poker rooms. I rocked up to work this morning to find that our licenses to operate those casinos and poker rooms had been pulled. Management called a meeting, we were told what had happened and sent home half an hour after we got in and told to rock up tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM for an update.

Without those licenses we've got no revenue, so I'm expecting the axe to fall. I'm hoping for a decent severance package and my outstanding leave paid out. After I got home I updated my resume and made a couple of calls.

I'm actually sort of hoping we get some closure tomorrow because I'd like to be able to start looking for work without feeling conflicted about it, which I'll hopefully be able to start doing in earnest come Monday. (I'm flying south on Friday night for my sister's engagement party.)

Rock up? Maybe I'm actually having an international language problem on this forum...

Anyway, how the fuck does a company just up and lose their license?

any explanation as to who pulled those licenses or why?

Start lookin' for work anyways. May as well get the process going if there's a strong possibility you've received your last paycheck

I have to be vague because I don't want my employer or our players discovering this forum, but: how the casino business works for us and a bunch of other operators is you buy a license from a software provider, who run the casino part of the casino for you (the games and network, etc.). It's then on you to set up merchant accounts, process payments, brand it, market it, offer support, and all that stuff.

Anyway, these software providers send out auditors to all of their licensees every so often (yearly, maybe?) to make sure everything is legit. We had their auditors visit us a couple of weeks ago and everything seemed fine, but then they issued a press release last night our time stating that our licenses had been pulled and then shut down all our casinos and poker rooms.

We've (the workers, that is: I've got no idea what management knows) got no idea what's happening, but we're having another meeting tomorrow afternoon and I am expecting (and actually sort of hoping) for the axe to fall then.

Also, to rock up to is to arrive at. I had no idea that that was Australian vernacular.

sweet I'm pretty sure I'm gettin canned in the morning as well....although if I don't I just might quit.

I, uh... got an internship at IBM Research.

Andrew - that sucks, man. What were you doing for the current company again? I think you've mentioned it before, but I can't remember.

Kupek - that's cool. What does the internship entail?

Its public knowledge that AOL is splitting its Access and Advertising sides of the business. Rumor is that we will try to sell off the Access side, then rebrand Advertising to shed the AOL misnomer. The ad side might split from Time Warner and issue our own IPO, or get bought up my Google/Yahoo/Someone.

After Yahoo rejected the MS offer, its also public knowledge that Yahoo had talks with our execs... they may just be a game to get a higher offer or Yahoo could be serious about getting bigger. The changing environment and corporate chess is fascinating. None of this really affects my day to day job and i think my position will be secure through anything that happens, but its fun to follow and be in the middle of.

It entails... research? I'm working a with a group that's building a language and runtime systems for streaming data. Basically, the guy I'm going to work with knows my advisor and told him, "We're looking for someone awesome [1]." My advisor said, "I know someone awesome," so I talked with them and got the internship.

[1] Awesome, in this case, means someone with strong systems programming skils, C/C++ and Perl, to work on code generation for parallel systems. Since that's what I do, I didn't have any trouble getting in.

sweet. I didn't get fired. I got give me 2 weeks notice or I have to fire you.....

Kupek wrote:I, uh... got an internship at IBM Research.

Congrats

Manfarb wrote:sweet. I didn't get fired. I got give me 2 weeks notice or I have to fire you.....

Hey, we heard everybody else's story. Why not yours?

SineSwiper wrote:

Manfarb wrote:sweet. I didn't get fired. I got give me 2 weeks notice or I have to fire you.....

Hey, we heard everybody else's story. Why not yours?

because that's the story. I made a joke. it went through the daisy chain. by the time it got to the end it somehow turned into "we're investigating you for money shortage" which made me feel like shit because I'm friends with the girl who went nuts and called me boss. me boss flipped out told me to give 2 weeks notice or I'm fired.......made my day a little bit better as I hated my fucking job.

Manfarb wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:

Manfarb wrote:sweet. I didn't get fired. I got give me 2 weeks notice or I have to fire you.....

Hey, we heard everybody else's story. Why not yours?

because that's the story. I made a joke. it went through the daisy chain. by the time it got to the end it somehow turned into "we're investigating you for money shortage" which made me feel like shit because I'm friends with the girl who went nuts and called me boss. me boss flipped out told me to give 2 weeks notice or I'm fired.......made my day a little bit better as I hated my fucking job.

Thought you enjoyed your job? Well if not I guess this gives you the motivation to do so... but geez if that's not bad circumstances. I'd make them fire me, then sue for wrongful termination since they have no evidence that of you conducting any wrongdoing. Guess your company cares more about blaming someone than actually finding out who's doing it.

Manfarb wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:

Manfarb wrote:sweet. I didn't get fired. I got give me 2 weeks notice or I have to fire you.....

Hey, we heard everybody else's story. Why not yours?

because that's the story. I made a joke. it went through the daisy chain. by the time it got to the end it somehow turned into "we're investigating you for money shortage" which made me feel like shit because I'm friends with the girl who went nuts and called me boss. me boss flipped out told me to give 2 weeks notice or I'm fired.......made my day a little bit better as I hated my fucking job.

All because of a joke? WTF? Were you really short counting?

Barret wrote:

Manfarb wrote:

SineSwiper wrote: Hey, we heard everybody else's story. Why not yours?

because that's the story. I made a joke. it went through the daisy chain. by the time it got to the end it somehow turned into "we're investigating you for money shortage" which made me feel like shit because I'm friends with the girl who went nuts and called me boss. me boss flipped out told me to give 2 weeks notice or I'm fired.......made my day a little bit better as I hated my fucking job.

All because of a joke? WTF? Were you really short counting?

no. and the best part is. the joke I made wasn't even about the safe or anything involving money.....which is what's driving me crazy....yet happy I never have to put up with being treated like a child again

bah, make them fire you and collect unemployment

Yeah, don't quit that. Make them fire you. Just do your searching in the meantime, though, because if they can't fire you, they'll still make it a living hell.

SineSwiper wrote:Yeah, don't quit that. Make them fire you. Just do your searching in the meantime, though, because if they can't fire you, they'll still make it a living hell.

He'll still be getting paid at least.

Chris, make them fire you. For you, this can't be to hard.

Barret wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:Yeah, don't quit that. Make them fire you. Just do your searching in the meantime, though, because if they can't fire you, they'll still make it a living hell.

He'll still be getting paid at least.

Chris, make them fire you. For you, this can't be to hard.

I lol'ed

Manfarb wrote:put up with being treated like a child again

"Call of DOODY"

Black Lotus wrote:

Manfarb wrote:put up with being treated like a child again

"Call of DOODY"

*Looks @ BL's post*
*Looks @ BL's sig
*Laughs hysterically*

Yes, Eric, that is something a five year-old would say. Also, something our resident homo HAS said.

Wait... you meant the avatar, right? Otherwise, I don't get the humor.

Black Lotus wrote:Yes, Eric, that is something a five year-old would say. Also, something our resident homo HAS said.

Wait... you meant the avatar, right? Otherwise, I don't get the humor.

oh hell yeah I called it doody. because honestly...I still don't like the game that much

So Andrew's boss rang him today to tell him that they've postponed the meeting until Tuesday morning which means we've got a whole weekend of uncertainty stretching ahead of us. I just want it over with so we know where we stand.

Kupek wrote:I, uh... got an internship at IBM Research.

Oh man, that's awesome. Congrats, dude.

Kupek wrote:I, uh... got an internship at IBM Research.

Nice! Which location will you be working from?

Andrew - crap happens. I've blown through tons of startups. You seem to have the right attitude though - polish off the resume, come up with a good story for interviews, and keep on moving.

Ishamael wrote:come up with a good story for interviews

The truth tends to work, especially in this case.

Lox wrote:Andrew - that sucks, man. What were you doing for the current company again? I think you've mentioned it before, but I can't remember.

I was their marketing department, pretty much. I handled media buying, setting up promotions, tracking player wagering trends, sending emails, etc. I've got no idea where I'm going to go from here as at this point I'm more a generalist than anything else: my education (what there is of it) is in computer science, but my experience is in customer service, management and marketing.

Ishamael wrote:Andrew - crap happens. I've blown through tons of startups. You seem to have the right attitude though - polish off the resume, come up with a good story for interviews, and keep on moving.

Cheers, dude!

Web site marketing, then? Hell, even sales engineer is a good route with that experience. Combines sales with having technical knowledge of the product.

SineSwiper wrote:

Ishamael wrote:come up with a good story for interviews

The truth tends to work, especially in this case.

Definitely tell the truth. I guess I meant to say come up with a good story for yourself (i.e., selling yourself for interviews). This is an interview skill in which many people are lacking.

Ishamael wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:

Ishamael wrote:come up with a good story for interviews

The truth tends to work, especially in this case.

Definitely tell the truth. I guess I meant to say come up with a good story for yourself (i.e., selling yourself for interviews). This is an interview skill in which many people are lacking.

I usually just give it to 'em how it is. If they don't like it, fine with me. I just use it as a way to weed out the people I don't want to work for.

Essentially, I want them to reject me based on who I am if I'm not who they want.

Zeus wrote:

Ishamael wrote:

SineSwiper wrote: The truth tends to work, especially in this case.

Definitely tell the truth. I guess I meant to say come up with a good story for yourself (i.e., selling yourself for interviews). This is an interview skill in which many people are lacking.

I usually just give it to 'em how it is. If they don't like it, fine with me. I just use it as a way to weed out the people I don't want to work for.

Essentially, I want them to reject me based on who I am if I'm not who they want.

What I mean, specifically, is knowing in depth what you've done at various places, being able to explain and articulate your experience/education, and most importantly relating it to things that'd be important to that particular employer. Basically show the employer why you out of all people would benefit them. This is more than just "telling them how it is" -- it's selling.

If after all that, if the potential employer still doesn't like you, so be it. But more likely, it's going to be you deciding whether or not they meet *your* standards, which is a much better position.

20+ people were let go from my company today. Including 2 of my friends.

I work for the Los Angeles News Paper group in the interactive department. Most of the people who got the Axe were in editorial and print. My 2 friends were just scape goats for failed products our corporate offices were trying to not fix.

I'm thinking its time to revise my resume just in case

Just for the record, Canada is hiring, we need LOTS of workers to work the icefields... I mean, the cushy office jobs =P

Ishamael wrote:

Zeus wrote:

Ishamael wrote: Definitely tell the truth. I guess I meant to say come up with a good story for yourself (i.e., selling yourself for interviews). This is an interview skill in which many people are lacking.

I usually just give it to 'em how it is. If they don't like it, fine with me. I just use it as a way to weed out the people I don't want to work for.

Essentially, I want them to reject me based on who I am if I'm not who they want.

What I mean, specifically, is knowing in depth what you've done at various places, being able to explain and articulate your experience/education, and most importantly relating it to things that'd be important to that particular employer. Basically show the employer why you out of all people would benefit them. This is more than just "telling them how it is" -- it's selling.

If after all that, if the potential employer still doesn't like you, so be it. But more likely, it's going to be you deciding whether or not they meet *your* standards, which is a much better position.

That is an important point. People need to make sure they're interviewing the company as much as the company's interviewing them.

I'm big on culture myself so I spend a lot of time in an interview trying to get as much of the culture of the place as possible out of them

Well, we all got let go yesterday, and last night I got a cold. What the fuck. Thanks for compounding my misery, universe!

We got our notice period, all time in lieu and annual leave paid out. I ended up with enough to give me a bit of breathing room in looking for work, thank goodness. Now I've just gotta do it!

Good luck, man

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:Well, we all got let go yesterday, and last night I got a cold. What the fuck. Thanks for compounding my misery, universe!

We got our our notice period, all time in lieu and annual leave paid out. I ended up with enough to give me a bit of breathing room in looking for work, thank goodness. Now I've just gotta do it!

If you didn't have a cold I'd say you could take a nice vacation. Good luck with the job hunt.

Yes, go forth and make a name for yourself as Sales Engineer!