Lay-offs have been coming fast and furious here at work.  Or at least they make people furious fast.  Several got the axe in October, and another group just got the pre-Christmas decruitment notices.  Now our department has been circling the wagons to stave off the next round (due in January, I hear).  I really don’t think anyone in my department is expendable, and we are advertising that loudly, but other groups have lost people that they thought were "untouchable" since many were members of the FBI* (though I think most would agree that the majority were "dead wood"  :P ).

*FBI - Friends, Brothers and In-laws

Take heart! Our leaders assure us that we’re in a recovery.  ;D

I hope you had foresight enough to invest a lot of money in [s]dot coms[/s] [s]Enron[/s] [s]mutual funds[/s] [s]old beer cans[/s] uh .... well good luck anyway. ;D

Having spent almost 18 months out there in unemployment land the best advice I can give is that you should always be looking for your next career.

DJ

I’ve always associated ‘circling the wagons’ with ‘closing in for the kill’... rather than a defensive posturing.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Jack.  Hopefully (;)) you and your department will come through unscathed.

-Tim

I’ve put everything into Beanie Babies and Star Trek collectors plates.  I was told by the guy at the flea market booth that they would return 200% guaranteed or my money ba….hey, where did he go?  :o

I have been watching the job market lately, but there isn’t much for my particular skill group (since the market is locally saturated with other engineers who’ve already been laid off).  I guess I could always apply at Home Depot or Lowes.  :-/

I looked into being a "Font of Wisdom", but all but the best are driving taxis.  ::)

When I was about 10, after I gave up hopes of being a flight attendant (I was already pushing the weight limit),  I wanted to be a philosopher.  For some reason I thought philosophers had to be old, male, and had to like wearing robes all the time.  If I had known that in reality the only job requirements were the ability to find joy in reading without ceasing, poverty, and living in the basement of some moldy college building I might have considered it further.  

~Shannon

If you want to be a font of wisdom, here’s an idea. Start a blog, post the link here, and have all the regulars visit it 10 times a day. When you get your hit count up, you can sell ad space.

DJ

There are ‘hackers’ and ‘crackers’, but I can’t remember who’s the good or the bad one…

-Tim

I prefer crackers to hackers. Preferably with a little Brie. Yum!

- PW

Too dry a cracker makes me a hacker, unless I wash it down with some drink.  A nice chianti, perhaps.

[quote author=Tim Ward link=board=idiom;num=1070289445;start=0#9 date=12/03/03 at 18:11:50]There are ‘hackers’ and ‘crackers’, but I can’t remember who’s the good or the bad one…

I believe, when the distinction is made, a "hacker" is merely someone very interested in and technically skilled in the use of computers, while a "cracker" is someone who uses those talents for purposes of evil - for instance, illegally "cracking" various security codes in order to access restricted information, or tampering with software for purposes of mischief or profit.

~Silver