Quillings

My manager called a meeting today, and this was when we already had one scheduled for Thursday. Plus, he hates meetings in general, so this was pretty strange. IBM (including Tivoli, which is the group I work in) has already had a layoff this year, and I’ve been very wary about our group being put on the chopping block. So this meeting had the hairs on my arms raised up.

We got into the call, and my boss starts talking about a long talk he had with his boss over the weekend. I was just waiting for it: the word that we were all being let go. I was already trying to figure out how I was going to pay for insurance, my mortgage, where to find a new job, etc., etc. But getting let go wasn’t the end of his story. Long story short, the small group of eight guys I work in is getting broken up and split across several different products in Tivoli’s stable. We are currently in an enablement team, and anyone who knows anything about big business knows that enablement doesn’t produce dollars, and in an economy like ours, they look very, very closely at things that don’t directly pay their own way when it comes time to make cuts.

I feel fortunate not to have been let go outright. I’ll be working with a new tool called Maximo. It’s an asset management tool meant to help medium- to large-sized businesses track their stuff, virtual or real. It’s apparently a growing segment, so hopefully I can fit in and be successful. I’m worried that it’s going to mean a lot of travel, but right now that’s only a fear. I don’t really know what the job will entail at this point.