I think you made an important 'one skill' point there JGF - when it happened to me in 03 I was a 'one trick pony' - IBM Mainframe ZOS Technical Ops Analysis - just after the big millennium bug payouts, so IT departments were cutting their costs. Now I have made sure I have diversified slightly and got my Project Management and ITIL qualifications - best thing I ever did. Oh, and I like the subliminal message
I was a CDC Mainframe Operator (latterly on IBM 3090) from 1978 until redundancy in 1995. I was then made redundant again in 2011 as a Service Delivery Manager for a large IT Outsourcing company and was in and out of work for several years at the wrong time of life and circumstances. I've been with my current employer since 2015 and hope to end my working life here, but you never know.
RODney. Sympathy is like tits on fish. It mav be tough now but a job is f**k all in the scheme of things, count your blessings, turn it on it's head. Think how lucky you are - your kids, wife and now a grandchild as well. Take a deep breath, puff out your chest and believe you will do better, because you will, I've no doubt. Next year this time you'll come back on here and say R/P was right. As always.
after redundancy I took a career change when I went into selling got to area sales training manager before the axe fell, moved on, same industry different post, it fell again, thought along the lines of a career job change, after a year the axe but got took back on same job, but yet again after 10 years axe came as they moved ops 50 miles away .. stayed in that industry self employed since 2000 and travelled all over the uk and western Europe took a pension 10 years ago but keep my hand in ..love the travelling ....
Thanks for the messages. But I knew the writing was on the wall for a few weeks/months now so got used to it. As my auntie once said best time to change career is when you've got a zero in your age. So I'm thinking about what I'm good at to look at changes. Lucky enough my wife is in a good job so less pressure on me, plus they've given me a good retention package if I stay to help sort out the switching of the two systems into one. Been made redundant twice before and came back stronger both times so here's to the third time. But thanks for the messages
IT OCCASSIONALLY HAPPENS that when "you stay on to help out" someone notes the effort and the talent that may be needed in the future! even if only as a reserve! slightly lesser salary! happened when my last FT company moved 50 miles up the road just one of us made the daily trip to assist with the transition.. 6 months later he managed part of the place!
Sounds like we have very similar backgrounds Angelic - I cut my teeth on an IBM 3090 at Gateways in Cater Road (building 5 to be exact).
My early computing career was with Sun Life Assurance at Temple Gate, then when that site closed we had 2 x datacentres at Pennywell Road and the other in St James Barton. Sun Life were one of only 2 companies with CDC mainframes in the UK. The other was the Met Office in Berkshire I believe. When it went down it was out for days and sometimes weeks. After I left I went to Lloyds/TSB on contract and then to Capgemini in 1998 and was a SDM until redundancy in 2011. Then several contracts and time out of work before 2 years with Capita from 2013 as a Regional Operations Manager, including a 15 month stint in Barnet, and now at a very large telecoms company at Aztec West where I hope to be retiring from in under 4 years. If made redundant in the meantime then that's me done work wise. I'm getting too old and have destroyed too many brain cells with booze to learn much new stuff these days !
