Chapter 11 -

For those of you who don't know, my employer is in chapter-11 procedings and our company is in the beginning stages of downsizing. It's an anxious time. I survived the first round of job cuts. Everything is put on hold to execute the C11 plan. The C11 plan involved selling off our marine division entirely, and closing about 400 camera stores.

I'm one of the IT guys, providing the backend support for the corporate database & business applications, which means essentially we have plenty of work ahead of us during C11.

I'm a builder, although the things I build are all software systems. It's difficult to resolve to the idea of dismantling my life's work for the last 12 years, but we soldier on. Meanwhile, I am left to consider options for plan b.

I'm a 49 y.o. techie who never aspired to management. I specialize on the platform of IBM i (formerly iSeries, AS/400) that is probably the most robust platform in the market. But it is expensive, and not marketed very well. Those of use who are well-versed in it are getting older, some retiring, some taking new careers.

Today's young pups are all about Windows and or Linux server farms, or virtualization on blade server racks. The up & coming MBA's and CIO's look at the i as a "legacy" system overdue for replacement that will most certainly save the company money - until that replacement system goes casters-up 6 months into production. So I have a built-in option as the go-to guy when the company returns to the IBM fold. As a consultant. Cha-Ching.

But I'm not bullish on the job prospects in the IBM i market right now. So I have to consider other options.

I have a working knowlege of linux. I haven't done any serious programming on either Lin or Win. There would be a learning curve. My skill set is probably adaptable to a mainframe envrionment, still alive & kicking for as long as the fortune 500 can hold its fortune.

Other options include:
Temp or fulltime at a VAR or consultant shop (if any are still around)
Independent contractor - kind of tough in this tight economy...contractors get fired before employees get laid off.
Employment at a temp firm may allow exposure to Windows or Linux key technologies during bench time.

Or the lowest-hanging fruit as a last resort...
tech support / call center, Geek Squad, paid blogger...uh..wait...

I haven't put myself through some of the "skill set" or other career-counseling exercises often touted to the newly unemployed, but it might be worth the effort while I'm sill employed.

Meanwhile, I need to examine where we can reduce expenses and fund the emergency fund.

So I have a few things to think about. Stay tuned.