Happy New Year

[dalai-lama]

Happy New Year all.  Sorry I have been MIA for a while.  Life through a curve and I have had to spend some time getting things back in order.

A couple of months ago, my VP of engineering and product manager came to CT and let me and the other 2 yahoos that I work with know that my company (Canoga Perkins) was in pretty much a death spiral with no hope of breaking out of.   Verizon is our largest customer and in coming out with their 5G network, Canoga is not part of the plan.  Cisco and Ciena (a direct competitor) teamed up and were selected for the 5G network which also allows Verizon to lay off 10's of thousands of people (witness their recent early retirement offer to 40K employees).  So our revenue was going to drop by over 50% very shortly.

So I had to get my resume together and a LinkedIn page up and running and start to look for a new job.  The other two yahoos are 61 and possibly could retire if let go, but I am not close to that yet.  Getting back into looking for a new job for the first time in 20 years was a bit of an adjustment.

Not knowing what was going to happen and if I were to have to move for employment, I also needed to see about getting our house ready to sell in case that was necessary.  We needed to do a few things for this to happen.  So at the same time as looking for new employment I have also been doing construction work in the house, rebuilding our master bedroom primarily with hardwood floor, removing a closet, replace popcorn ceiling, installing wiring and a ceiling fan, fixing the curved sheetrock that a$$ builders decided to do, etc.

I was working through some head hunters and also directly applied to one company here in CT that piqued my interest.  www.idevicesinc.com .   During a little BBQ get together in October I mentioned to Holmes about iDevices and he said "they are a client of mine and I know the president" .  I got a phone interview with iDevices and then a second in person interview in which they kicked my a$$ with 12 interviewers over 3 hours straight.  Left retty much assured that job was not happening but a few hours after the interview they texted me to offer me a position.

I also received an offer from another company in Wilton (ASML) for 10's of thousands $$ but after thinking about the $hitty commute I would have each day (1.5 hours in smash-em up traffic each way), I decided to take the iDevices offer.

This is doing some work that I have not done in a while so I needed to bone up for the new job.  Also iDevices is chock a block full of very educated young people that I need compete against.  I am one of the older guys .  So the last 8 to 10 weeks i have been finishing up at my old company, reconstructing the house, and refreshing my skills on embedded programming and a new programming language as well. 

I started at iDevices the week before Christmas which was a bit of a strange time to start with the holidays.  I then had the past week off because iDevices shutdown for the week (but I got paid )

So tomorrow I start back in ernest.  There is quite a difference from my new company to my old, pretty much all good.   $3 breakfast (if I want) and $3 lunch with a gourmet  chef, 6 lines of beer on tap at work in their own little bar, a game room, a gym and nap room (no $hit, a nap room), unlimited PTO (will be hard to take long periods of time off but a mental health day here and there is not going to be an issue).

Still have been a little shock after 20 years and being a bit comfortable to start a new job on very new technology (Internet of Things or IoT).   Thus my MIA for which I apologize.  I do think it will all work out however.

[RonBou]

Good hearing from you Brett. I saw your resume on your website and figured you were ready to jump ship. Good luck on the new job. 

[Tony C.]

Hey Brett! Glad you found new employment and are staying in Connecticut. We'd hate to see you and Trudy move away. Good on Holmes for facilitating the networking!

I've pretty much had the same experience being downsized at 57 years old and finding myself unemployed for the first time in my career. It sucked! It's took me a while to find a good place to land, but I finally did. I hope this works out well for you and Trudy.

Best wishes!
Tony C.   

[Karen]

Wow, Brett, nice transition! I know it wasn't easy, but you managed it beautifully! It's just a new adventure; positive you will exceed all expectations. Still trying to settle some problems with the new place, will get to the trike in good time, it's all set up to begin, but first the sewer line out to the street needs to have the crap beaten out of it...

[ybnorml]

Congrats on the new job Brett....Hope it's less stressful for you and Trudy.
Happy New Year.....

[GaryC]

Damn,  I was stressing out just reading it.  Congrats on the new job.

[Ed Norton]

Congrats on the new job 

[Wall]

Damn Brett, a nap room?
Glad after the stress you can now settle in to the new job and show the youngsters a thing or two.
Remember age and treachery beats youth and inexperience everytime.
Good luck.

[DanL]

Same as what Gary said; I was stressing out just reading your last few months.   

Youngsters have all the energy but not the knowledge (even though they think they have all the answers).  Keep you head up & watch your back.   

The gym would be better than a nap in getting the blood flowing and the brain on track. (experience talking) 

Chris, thanks for helping out another good guy. 

[Ponte]

All the best to you and the family Brett......  Larry and Deb

[Oss]

It is good to have friends who can hook a brother up

Best of luck with the new job

Oss

And hopefully you can enjoy all the work you just did on your house