A year ago, July 13, 2007, was my last day working for someone else. My how time flies … it doesn’t seem like a year has passed since I walked out the door at AMI Semiconductor for the last time. That company doesn’t exist anymore (it was bought by On Semi). The boss who kicked me out isn’t there anymore (the new company sent her on her way). Many of the people I worked with and some who worked for me are no longer there (some voluntarily, many involuntarily). However, one good friend of mine who was thoroughly and royally screwed by the woman who laid me off, has been brought back onboard by the new company … obviously a company a whole lot smarter than the old company.

I’ve learned some things in the past year, though.

1. Not many companies are interested in talking with, let alone hiring, a 60+ year old senior manager. They already have an abundance of highly-paid senior managers who have no current technical skills and aren’t interested in taking on another, regardless of that person’s skill set.

2. The economy today favors people who are self-employed and have become responsible for their own life and career. I’m pretty sure that in ten years or so, most people will no longer be employed in today’s traditional sense, but will be their own business providing services to very lean and significantly more agile companies. The only thing standing in the way today is affordable health care. The corporations have locked up health care and individuals cannot afford to pay for health care on their own. I’m confident that roadblock will go away within the next four years.

3. I was surprised at how isolated I was from the technology community in general here in Pocatello. There really isn’t a technology community here and most everyone working in information technology in the area do not know each other at all. I have discovered, however, a very vibrant technology community a couple of hours drive south of here in the Salt Lake valley, extending from Ogden down to Provo. While it’s a long (and now expensive) drive down there and back, I’ve found getting somewhat involved with that community quite invigorating.

4. It’s almost a cliché about retired people saying they don’t know how they ever had time to work for a living. That has proven true for me. My list of things I need to do is huge. The list of things I want to do is even longer. There is not enough time to get through those two lists as it is. The must-do list this week is daunting by itself and some pretty important items will probably not get done this week.

5. People seem to think that because you’re not “working”, you’ve got plenty of time to do their agenda. That seems to be particularly true with Church voluntary service. “You’re not working, so you have time to do this cannery / temple / Deseret Industries assignment.” I’m becoming more adept at being very conservative with my time.

6. We’ve been able to do some traveling, but I really, really miss the international travel scene. I can feel my world getting smaller again and I don’t like that very much. When I was “working” I would be in Europe or Asia four or more times a year for significant periods of time plus we’d take some kind of a vacation there as well. I miss the international travel and really fear that may be gone from my life.

7. I don’t miss my old job at all. While I miss the travel and the association with the people I worked with, I don’t miss the company, the senior management (none of whom were valuable enough for the new owners to keep), nor the stupid office politics. Sometimes other people who either work there now or worked there recently ask my opinion on some person at the old job, or some decision that the old or the new company made. I find I just really don’t care. That company is like an old disease that is finally healing.

A year ago I signed an agreement that said I wouldn’t say anything bad about the company. I’ve been pretty good about keeping that agreement. While going to work for that company was a huge mistake, we’ve had some pretty important benefits. We’re much closer to my parents who are needing more and more attention. I’ve got more time to be able to devote to them and now have a schedule that I can manage (as opposed to having some company manage it for me) so I can be available as they need me. Pocatello is a nice area to live with plenty to do in the area. The Big City is almost close enough.

So, today starts the second year of this new life. On the whole, life is good. We can afford to live (although we can’t do all the playing we’d planned on being able to do). I’m happier than I was eighteen months ago now that all the frustration of a capricious, lunatic boss (who had only a random acquaintance with the truth) is out of my life (she will take a while longer to get out of my system, I think). Things are settling down and the opportunities for the future are much clearer than they were a year ago. I’m really looking forward to the coming year. Happy anniversary!