I guess I ought to say something
What have I done in the fortnight I've been away from this site? Well, from the outside, life has gotten better... better... maybe I just mean more productive. I did the Vegas gig, I did the Richardson office building gig. Those were good, and let me survive for another month without dipping too much into savings. I saw on the news that TWC is cracking down on their rules (and who can blame them, after handing out that many millions of dollars over the last couple of years), so rather than taking those payments under the table and whistling, I figured it was time to man-up and not take another unemployment payment. Hell of a risk, I know.
In any case, an old manager from SigmaTel contacted me about whether I would be interested in some contract work. I jumped at the opportunity, but the timing was a bit unknown, depending on when the people at headquarters could get the paperwork through.
On Tuesday, I gave a little photography workshop to Julia and Nathan on what the settings mean on a camera, which was pretty fun. It looks like Julia is having a little too much fun with her new-found knowledge. Unbeknownst to me, aforementioned manager had sent me an email saying their meeting with Company H had gone really well, and they needed work done ASAP. So basically, if I was willing, I would be starting the contract right away, before having signed any paperwork. Sounds good to me. I know there are some people out there that absolutely would not start any type of job without 110% assurance that they would get paid x amount by y date, and wouldn't do a thing before signing agreements and all that... nah, that's not me. I have some faith in someone who needs work done now that they'll do right in the end.
So, that's where I've been for the last half week. Waist-deep in datasheets, Dremel'ing off the rust that has built up in my brain for the last year, and having a damned good time. I have an idea of what I want to do for their design, and have it semi-sketched out on paper, so now I'm just waiting on the work laptop to arrive so I can put it into the program and make it all pretty-like. In any case, I'm using my brain and my education again.
This first bit of work is very short term, but I'm hoping it will have some follow-up work in the near future. I still have my trip to Taiwan next week, so I may end up doing a little work while I'm over there. Fine by me.
More layoffs, and the slow death of SigmaTel
A bit of humor, in these dark times of economic strife we are living in. Well, humor to me, because I'm merely a spectator looking in. I was told by a former co-worker that Freescale was chopping more jobs, and moving them off to Asia, and sure enough the next day, KXAN brought the story out into the open. Funnily enough, the story was broken to them by a just-laid-off employee who requested he be kept anonymous because Freescale did not release any information about the reduction in force. I bet someone in management is pretty angry about that one, but you know, that's what you get these days.
What I do find sad about this round of layoffs is that the jobs are being moved overseas, and that some of the people that were doing the work here are being told to train their replacements via long-distance communication before being asked to leave. That's awful.
Then, today, I caught wind of a layoff at IDT, who were the PC Audio division of SigmaTel, the team whence I started my short-lived career. A lot of people I knew pretty well from way back when. The slow death of what's left of SigmaTel will die when there won't be enough support for the PC Audio products that IDT makes, and the rest of them will likely be laid off too. An end of an era. Great products, and great engineering brought down by the might of globalization, the economy, and everything it involves. Certainly, globalization and a world market have its pros, but as a worker who contributes to that market, it can be tough.
The virtual candle is lit for the fallen jobs and careers.
