Cast Away

I am guessing its normal when laid off to feel cast away.  I struggle a bit every time I see a job at Bose pop up in my searches.  Even if I am not a direct match for them... it hurts a little to see that job there.

Today I think I was daydreaming... I saw someone wandering around with a pair of Apple headphones, and I think it was someone who really could use some good ones - like a cop stuck directing traffic or something.  I couldn't help but think, I should give him one of the pairs I have at home... one of the "least sophisticated ones" I have from my time there might be the first pair that I got.  Its hard to believe, less than 2 years ago, I walked into Bose and within two days was sitting at my desk, and one of the Program Managers came up and handed me my first real pair of headphones... They were pretty cool looking, not Bose's standard black or grey, but Blue with some cool white spots and green/blue cord.  And I won't forget, when I put them in and popped on Pandora for the first time, it was like hearing things in music I never heard before.  I was hooked.  The head of our engineering department walked by a few days later and commented "looking pretty cool!!"

But that memory was over.

I remember going through their orientations, thinking I would be there forever.  I was going build a career there.  I went to career panels that pitched how people built their careers, how people made lateral jumps, how Bose often took a chance on people that didn't meet every single facet of the job description, simply because they believed in the person, and thought that that person could learn, they could grow, they could advance.  And Bose had certainly built a huge number of employees that experiences like that.  I thought I would be one of them.

But I guess that is how Bose was.  It's not how Bose is anymore.  Quite a number of us, with quite a lot of potential (or at least I think so), were cast away in their layoffs.  Rather than reshuffle us, or ask us to take on something different, they decided to just let us go.  And then they post even more jobs.  There are EIGHTY job postings up right now.  80... 80 people they could not find from within.  80 people that they couldn't wait for growth or adaptation.  Yet many of us who were completely bought in, knew the systems, had experience with other places, and even supported the need for change... were let go.

It hurts.

I feel Cast Away from a company that I really liked, that I believed in, that I felt so fully a part of.

Most days I'm capable of moving on & accepting it.  But some small memories definitely still feel sharp.

The only thing left I can think is Thank God the NFL season is over...