A total God thing

So back in January, Tom focused on sorting out his job situation for our move. He needed to look at job opportunities in Boston and DC to figure out which place would be good for his career short and long term. He had a timeline of getting his resume done, inquiring about interviews, which companies to contact as well as other J.net offices and when to break the news to his manager.

And then his manager broke news to him: the company was cutting his product. The employees (i.e., the former startup) had a month to look for a new job. If they found something within the company, they'd just continue on as employees. If they can't or they find something outside the company, they get 2 months severance. Until then, their main responsibility was to look for a job on company time. No more development, no more customer support cases, no nothing.

On top of that, his manager (actually, director) said that he was carving out 3 job req's for Tom and the two other lead engineers to stay within the director's big group at the company. So although Tom would look for a job as a safety net or to make sure he knew what he wanted for his next job, he almost didn't need to.

News of this job change gave Tom a chance to tell his director about our intent to move out of the area and the possibility of telecommuting to this new position. The response was positive and in one meeting, Tom lost a job, got a job, and got the option to telecommute from Boston. All that planning for the job hunting timeline and God took care of it all in one fell swoop. It's a God thing to us that within a couple of weeks of wanting to tell his manager of our moving and negotiate telecommuting, God orchestrates a shake up within the company and takes care of everything for us.

Tom's never been laid off in his life and so it's a strange thing to be laid off and yet perfectly happy about it. Well, we can't say perfectly happy. It's not "happy" to have the product and team that you've worked with for the past 8 years disbanded. All that work for nothing? The decision was not without some surprise and discussion within the company. But alas, budget and company direction don't always go hand in hand. And it's not like Tom just sat back for the last month and took that position. To make sure he was still marketable as well as to make sure he could find a job wherever we move to, Tom spent two weeks interviewing and talking to people about potential positions. He wasn't stringing them along -- if something better came along, he would have seriously considered it. But in the end the original position Tom got offered with his director was the best for Tom at this point and having a job in the bag certainly makes our moving a bit easier.

As for other timing, the last two weeks that Tom still has "off" before he starts the new group has been a real gift. It lined up with a strange 3-day school break for Tobey (Chinese New Year! Gotta love a bilingual school!) which gave us the chance to go to the snow while the rest of the state is not on break. We didn't fight crowds on the slopes, we had zero traffic, we made last minute hotel reservations and walked into whatever restaurant we wanted to. This week has been all about fixing up the house and with a lot of little details to take care of, Tom's been able to devote himself to that this week.

So, good timing? No, GOD timing.