Yeah Valentine is over for us in Malaysia but it’s still on for our friends in America. Apparently Yahoo is not showing much love for their employees even on Valentines day. Microsoft may have offered to buy over Yahoo, but 1,000 employees are facing layoffs just one day before Valentines day.

Major bummer !! I know how getting canned feel. I have never been fired before but I’ve lost a couple of jobs after the company faced some business / financial problem.

I got laid off from 3 previous jobs before:-

  • Network Admin - company closed down after one year
  • PHP web developer - company closed down after a year.
  • Computer Lecturer - company almost closes down - all experienced lecturers (more than 1 year) laid off and replaced by new lecturers to save cost.

If my fourth employer was superstitious, the company would probably think I would jinx them and put them under. Luckily that was not so and my following jobs did not end in company foreclosures. :)

Looking back times were difficult being thrown out there and jobless. The emotional scars and damage to your self esteem takes a long time to heal. However, I’m grateful for the experience and it really  made me willing to learn things outside my comfort zone.

On the bright side
Being someone who hates to speak in public, I had to teach computer programming in a class full of rowdy teenagers. It took me a long time to get comfortable lecturing in public and even more challenging to make sure that my students understand what I was trying to teach them. Then when I was just getting comfortable teaching kids, I had to deal with adults. Giving full daycorporate training sessions to Bank Negara staff was a scary but memorable experience.

I got used to working on a desk as a programmer but things changed when as a network admin, I was forced to run around town to support customers.

So if you are getting laid off, things sucks but there are some positives too (which may not be apparent immediately). Think. Plan. Learn to adapt. I wish I could go back in time right after I lost my job and tell myself stop wasting time sulking and feeling sorry for myself.

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