GoodBye TopCoder

Today is a day of mixed feelings. I got laid off. I have never been laid off before. I don't think I know what to feel.

I wasn't near my phone and missed 2 calls from the office. I called back assuming it was Jessie, to have her instead tell me that TopCoder was doing a mass of lay-offs. I said I saw you called me twice and she said, nope, I didn't call you. So we both knew I was one to go. Not 15 minutes later my phone rang again and it was the president calling to give me the news. I think he was surprised at how well I took it, but I am not surprised. I also know it is not me and I did nothing wrong. I was one of almost 30 people. I am so sad to leave TopCoder because they were such a great company to work for. They treated their employees so well and gave me so much flexibility with Hayley, like working from home and making flexible hours. It will be almost impossible to find another company who will give me those perks. I will miss the TCO in Vegas this June. I will miss Jessie. Talking to her everyday is like free therapy. I will miss that the most.

On the other side of the coin, I wanted to stay home with Hayley anyway and had to go back for financial reasons. Now that I no longer can, I get to be home with my daughter for this very crucial time in her life. I found the silver lining. It was not too hard. I am also lucky to have an amazing husband with a great, stable job.

I am sure I will go back to work, and I will immediately start the job hunt. But I think I will be ok with collecting unemployment with the other 1.5 million Americans for a couple months.

We will make it work.