Just Lost Job - Coping/Job Hunting Advice Needed

@legowarrior Solidarity, my man. I feel your pain.

I’m still fucking jobless after being non-renewed back at the end of March. Just started a local code academy program, which is expensive as fuck, but beloved by employers in the area for turning out high-quality employees - they have a 92% job placement rate six months out of the program, which is pretty baller. They have an excellent network and a great program that builds your github portfolio and puts you in front of a ton of area companies and recruiters, so even if I learned very little it’d still probably be worth the (piles and piles of) money the program costs.

And still…oh mah god, I am an afternoon away from completing the six-week “pre-work” period before the full-time classwork period of the code academy thing starts up. It started Monday. I have 5.5 weeks to go before the classroom begins. I am soooooo boooooored.

Interview yesterday for a different position (client ops for an ecommerce company, job actually sounds pretty good) went pretty well, though. I’d have to walk away from the $1.5k deposit I put down for the coding academy, but I’d probably do so to take the job if the money is right.

Being broke sucks so baaaaaaaaaad you guys. Blehhhhhhhhh.

Signed up for LinkedIn Premium last night. Hopefully that will have a positive impact. Next step is to complete my general resume for non 401(k) related plans.

I have 3 great references in the 401(k) industry, but I don’t have a lot of current contacts outside the field. Will that be an issue when applying to non 401(k) jobs?

Good for you! When you get a chance (and after a little bit), I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about Linkedin Premium (like, is whatever they charge worth it?). No rush on that though.

In my field and location (DC area, software development) references aren’t very important - I don’t even know that I’ve provided references for the last 4 or 5 jobs I’ve applied for. That might not be true in your industry though (but since you haven’t applied for a job in a while maybe you should look around online and see if people provide references as a matter of course any more… maybe they don’t?). As far as your references go, if you’ve been working in the 401(k) industry for years, it seems reasonable that your references are from that field. So as long as they can verify that you’re an awesome person, I wouldn’t think it would matter. I wouldn’t worry about it.

So, this afternoon I was fired. Friday afternoon is such a cliche. Anyway, I already updated my resume, I have LinkedIn Premium and found some interesting jobs outside my field. I have 3 good references. And I get paid till the end of the month.

I would rather not have been fired, but now I finally have the time to apply for a new job.

So, besides a bit of anger, and self doubt, in the end I mostly feel relief. I am a bit worried about finding a job, since I have a wife and two young kids, but we have a few months savings in the bank.

I guess the big thing is going to be health insurance.

I’m really sorry to hear about this, lego. Can you get unemployment out of them? Good luck on the job hunt! Hopefully you can find something closer, and it will all work out for the best!

Well, shit. Very sorry to hear that. I wish I knew anyone in your field or related I could send your way, but that’s far outside my realm.

You’re doing the right things. Best of luck in your search.

Sorry to hear that, but like you say you can now focus 100% on getting a new job. It sucks to be laid off - one thing I did when I was laid off, was to get some contracting work. It blunted the blow and allowed me to be more selective. Can you do contract work in your field?

Shit, they FIRED you? For what?

COBRA is probably expensive, but will keep you on your insurance plan that you have now. Or go to the marketplace.

Good luck. :)

I put together a few procedure’s at work that I thought would be cool to have. I sent them back to my home email with some of my work certs and the files.

Uggghhhhhh, I’m not a lawyer, but that sounds muuuuuurky.

It’s pretty much how I feel. Anyway, the goal is to find a new job, something with a little more client interaction, and a little less administrative work.

If I can explore jobs outside of my field, I wouldn’t be opposed to a change in scenery.

I am also not a lawyer and I’m not exactly sure what @BrianRubin meant by “muuuuuuurky”. However, I do know that something called “work for hire” laws exist in the United States and many employers do not mess around when it comes to them.

As a computer programmer, for example since that’s my own personal field, I know that if I write some code while on the job I absolutely cannot legally take that code with me when I leave. Not for another job. Not for personal projects. Not for any reason. Doesn’t matter if it’s email or printed hard copy. If I tried to go home with my code to use for anything other than the work I’ve been hired by my employer to do and they caught me I’d likely be fired and possibly sued for copyright infringement or something (again, I’m not a lawyer).

I’m not saying whether the law is right or just and I’m definitely not passing any judgement on your situation @legowarrior, but it is something that I have to deal with as a career programmer that also likes to tinker with side projects on my own time.

I meant it sounds legally grey to me.

It sounds to me like just the excuse they were looking for.

My answer would be:

  1. I have a hard time answering stupid questions or dealing with incompetent people.
  2. I get a little passive-agressive when I’m upset.
  3. I get really upset when I realize I’m wasting my time.

How did they find out you did it? If they care enough to run security audits on what people send via email, almost anyone could get fired for that Usually they give you a talking to, first.

As others have said, this sounds like the reason they chose.

I am very sure it is. I am bummed how it happened, To be honest, the commute was killing me, as were the long hours and with baby and a toddler at home, both my wife and I were getting worn out.
So, it’s time to look for a new job. Maybe something in a different field.

I help manage systems that track things like that. It may sound scary and big brotherish (it is,) but as an example I can tell you what an employee attached to a email he/she is sending from a work computer even if they log in to gmail to do so.

The key here is that for them to know that, they are intercepting secure web connections, and you can see that by examining the security certificate for the site and seeing if it presents itself as the actual owner of that site, as an example mail.google.com

EDIT: As to, “how did they find out,” as an example where I work, select people get a weekly report on behaviors loosely marked as breaches of a few different issues: IP protection, questionable system use, waste of productivity and/or liability exposure. When all it takes is your department head or even your team lead looking at an email each week, it can very easily be spotted. They don’t even need to know how to use the technical application that does any of it, they get an, “executive report,” email with all the data they need.

Also adding to the other comments, @legowarrior , sorry to hear about what happened. Here’s hoping this opens up a better opportunity for you, man.