Updating portfolio - Layoffs etc.

2 years ago I was looking for a new job after leaving Fossil. I found coroflot.com thru a search and posted my work up there. It's a cool site because it offers exposure, community, and puts my work in a forum unrelated to straight up fashion.

I've been updating my profile in the past few weeks since our company had its second round of layoffs. If you haven't experienced layoffs yet - they are beyond stressful.

The day is just like any other - but there's a weird tension toward the end of it. You notice your colleagues to the left and one over to the right sending mails and surfing job sites that they wouldn't otherwise be surfing. People whisper to you in passing, don't worry - you are safe. Which in itself is frightening to think that others are not "safe".

Then the smoke breaks.. the chatter - the hush, hush. Then the announcement from the freshly released - a perforated explanation - the gratuitous "everything will be alright with the company, don't worry."

Then the post work unhappy hour to bury the released - the explanations and passing of contact info - the passing of networking info - the mild cursing of the parent company - the shock....

Ha! And what's worse, the next day - the scramble to rehire the retired! Yes, a layoff and a retrieval of the laid off.

Ok, so that's a layoff. The second round came even after the CEO flew down to clarify the direction of the company and reiterate that there wouldn't be any further layoffs... yet, a couple of months later there were 2 more. Conjecture has it it was personal, that there wasn't enough to justify their existence.. yet, the fact is the people remaining have too much to do now they can't achieve their original goals.

So, my portfolio - it's being updated. Who knows what will come next - but only a sucker would sit around unprepared.