...Aaaaaaand we're back!

For me, at least, wheels are turning once again. I've been employed for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! I'm back in the automotive industry as well, working for another Tier 1 supplier on a contractual basis. This is temporary, to be sure, it's nice to reap an engineer's pay again, if just for a little while.

I have more to say, but it's good to ease into these things a little at a time.

Until then.

Hey, I have a blog?

Uh, yeah, so that whole blogging thing... I guess I'm missing the point about regular posts.

Things here have been... quiet. I've not had a single call about a job. Not ONE SINGLE CALL. My last ego boost was being turned down for a job as a bank teller. BANK TELLER. Obviously, I'm a bit down about the whole 'job' thing.

My plan is still to go back to school using No Worker Left Behind. The only problem, and I'm not saying it really is a problem, is that using NWLB means leaving engineering. This has highlighted something else that is bothering me.

The field of engineering is dying in the US.

A Careerbuilder magazine that was sent to my house stated that engineering careers in the US are flat for the foreseeable future. This is not a surprise when you think that engineering and manufacturing are inseperably linked. Engineers design things to be manufactured. Engineers moniter, maintain, and inprove manufacturing lines that produce thos same things. As manufacturing leaves the US, so too does engineering.

This is really depressing for me, not only because it does not bode well for the future of the US, but also because I really liked the concreteness of mechanical engineering.

Does anyone see this similarly? Does anyone think I'm wrong?

Anyone?

Here's to the Fallen

I finished the last post, and realized that I overlooked one of the things I really wanted to do, and that is recognize those people who I knew who lost their jobs on Wed.

So, to Greg, Rayyan, Brian, Joel, Kendra, and especially David, those special few I knew out of the approximately 300 who, like me, lost their jobs, and to Will, Sara, Helene, and Jeremy, those smart few who took the damn buyout and walked away with more money, here's to you all. Good luck in all your endeavors.

Cheers.

And so falls the axe.

In my neck.

As I'm sure all of the zero people reading this blog were wondering, yes, last Wednesday the dreaded layoffs did occur, and so, as of about 1:30, Feb 18th, I am unemployed. Yup, my number came up.

The word that kept coming up in all of this was 'bloodbath'. Many fine people were let go.

I am dreadfully depressed by this. I keep trying to remind myself that it is not personal, and that my manager probably knew nothing about this. After all, on Tues, after attending a presentation to one of our customers that I had a large part in, he asked me how I would feel about going to Japan for training. Just 24 hrs later, the point is moot.

Now I have the eminent pleasure of trying to find an Engineering job in SE Michigan, when Ford, GM, and Chrysler are laying off Engineers in droves.

I have worked there just under 9 yrs. My resume had a layer of dust on it an inch thick, and I've completely forgotten how to write my objective.

All is not lost, of course. Friends and family have all reached out to make sure I knew that I wasn't alone in this. With my wife working, a meager severance, some unemployment from the state, and a bit of luck, we might make it through this, even keeping the house.

I must admit I'm a bit scared. Too much can go wrong, and this isn't the economy to be job searching in.

More as it develops.

Ready, Aim, Misfire?

Thursday was rumored to be the day the cuts were happening. This turned out not to be true. I am getting very sick of not knowing what's going on. The company has released no new memos, no communication, no nothing. We have no idea if there are even going to be more cuts, after they extended the voluntary buyout. Instead we have rumors and paranoia. The rumor now is that there will be pay cuts.

Today was the last day for another one of my friends at work. Another one bites the dust.

In the meantime, between waiting to loose my job and saying goodbye to friends, I'm working on a project that I don't understand. In October I was transferred to a new department, as I might have previously mentioned. I'm not really up to speed in my new position. No one around me has had any time to train me in what the new department does, and some of what I'm working on hasn't been done by my company in the US yet. So, now I have to present our 'design' (and I use the term loosely) to our customer when I don't even really understand how it works. My most recent task on this front has been to start pouring over customer specs trying to figure out what applies to this part, and how we have to test it.

I really feel out of my element on this project, and there's really no one to ask for help. My manager is in California at some seminar. Before he left, he told me to handle this. That was helpful, wasn't it? I really have to choice but to blindly stumble forward, though the current uncertainty really makes this difficult.

Perhaps the hammer will drop tomorrow. Perhaps not.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

This has been a rough week for me. I've been sick with some sort of killer kold from outer space, and I've been to two different 'going away' gatherings for friends. I've just returned from one such gathering. One of my best work friends has taken the buy out, and we gathered at the bar to say goodbye. His last day is actually next week, but it was a joint party for someone else who's last day is tomorrow.

On the way home from the bar I heard "The Distance" by Cake. I haven't heard that song since college, which got me thinking about those friends I've lost touch with from "back in the day".

And now I'm depressed. Go figure.

In other gossipy news, there are some major organizational changes going on at work. Things are being shaken up pretty severely. I am fortunate that since my transfer I am out of some of the more startling changes. With the coming involuntary terminations, the company will have been reduced 50% from the last year or two. This is pretty frightening. In the meantime, I think it was GM which opened it's buyout to all hourly employees, and USgov still hasn't agreed on any sort of further aid.

And furthermore, the groundhog saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter.
I don't know about you, but I'm ready for spring.

Not that anyone's reading this...

The presentation went fairly well. I doubt we are going to get the business we are quoting on, but the customer seemed fairly impressed.

Moshi Moshi

Welcome to the inaugural post of Wheels Will Turn, full of the trials and tribulations of those unfortunate souls that live in South East Michigan, and mistakenly thought that a job in the auto industry meant job security.

Working for an auto supplier, I've been seeing more than my share of competitors filing for bankruptcy, and cuts and terminations from my own employer. More terminations have already been announced. Last round of cuts I was transferred to a new department, and now, being the newest person in the group, and not having the training required for the new position, I'm a bit afraid that my head is on the block.

Regardless of what happens, no matter who goes bankrupt, cars will be built, cars will be sold, and wheels will turn.

Zeus_tfc