I’m going to have to be discreet and tread carefully with this post. The subject of this entry is slightly weird in that the press hasn’t been told about it, yet its common knowledge locally in the industry that I’m employed in. Notice how I didn’t actually write out the specific industry I work in. The reaches of Google know no bounds, even here in the Outer Rim. If you’re even remotely familiar with this blog, you’ll know what I do for a living.
So the news is that earlier this month, the previous company I worked for told all its current employees that the company was shutting down and everyone would be out of a job. Most people were let go almost immediately. Some were retained to finish off a project that was nearly completed. Once that was finished, those people would be let go right away.
The odd thing is, the parent organization of my former company has chosen, so far, to not publicize this matter. I guess I can understand but keep in my mind, my current employer had to close down a similar entity last year and we were very forthcoming with the news. I suppose they only want to announce good news. Like I mentioned before though, the entire local industry knows about this shuttering. It didn’t take long for other companies start sending out feelers for some out of work people.
Now I don’t want to sound like an asshole but when I heard the news, I wasn’t all that surprised. While I will always give them sincere gratitude for letting me get a foot in the door in the industry, it’s telling that I worked there barely a year before leaving for some exceptional adventures. To put it bluntly (others would agree with me), there were some serious problems with the company. It was poorly organized and the upper management made some curious decisions that sent the company astray.
I find it horrifying that I even considered staying with them when I received my first offer from my current employer. I was told that I’d work on more interesting projects if I stayed, rather than some “yearly iterations” with this “other company”. If you look at the projects now, side by side for both companies, they were essentially asking me to stay to make Pauly Shore movies while The Dark Knight crew wanted me onboard (to use one of the worst analogies I have written in recent memory).
Again, not to sound like a dick, losing their jobs might have been the best thing to happen to a few of my former co-workers. Some of them are really talented people who were just stagnating at their old jobs. Now, they’ll be forced to find new jobs where they will really have a chance to shine.
So, I hope I haven’t been too specific with the details but if you know even a little about me, everything about this post will have made sense.