I graduated in May and was laid off after being at the job for 7 months. Somehow I got really lucky and was able to find something somewhat local, even with every other bizjet OEM laying off engineers as well. I can't say my job is 100% secure, but its looking really good for at least the next 6 months. Hopefully the ecomony will somewhat rebound by then if the work drys up.

I was planning on heading out to at least one or two national tours, but I lost all my accrued vacation starting the new job, so taking a few days off to travel is out of the question. On top of that my car budget has been put on hold, the girlfriend and I decided to take advantage of the low interest rates, our excellent credit, and the soft real estate market. We're planning on moving into a new to us house at the end of the month. I can't wait to finally have a real garage again and a place to finally call home.

Mine's for sale http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-corvett...onv-m6-z51.html

I'm at the other end of the children scale, In 18 more Long months, my $1300/month child support roles off, Just in time to buy a new Z-28! What? it's cancelled? Maybe a new firebird then, what? no more pontiac? Damn the luck!

Maybe I'll suck it up and eat roma noodles and try and keep the vette...

Good luck to all of you in these trying times...

Mills

I understand how it feels to be under the Guillotine. Having your wallet decapitated is a humbling experience to say the least. The company put a freeze on the lay offs until sometime in June. So, now we wait. If it does finally happen to me - It will be the third time in my 25 years in Arizona. First was the aerospace industry in 1992, Second was the Semi Conductor industry in 2001, Now the Implantable Medical Device industry in 2009 ?!?!??

Selling Tacos and Margaritas on the beach of Cabo San Lucas sounds better all the time ! (All FRRAX members will get a 25% discount ) lol

Sean - You're probably already aware of this but, If you do become involved in a RIF, The current administrations Stimulus plan will reduce the cost of COBRA by 65% 9 months on medical costs.

This post has been edited by 2manyfbods: May 14 2009, 12:35 AM

When I married my second and present wife, we honeymooned in the Virgin Islands (partly courtesy of ff miles). We met a bartender who was a former BASF engineer. If I didn't have a wife and kid ....

There is a heckuva joke in there somewhere ... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

My strategy is diversifying my skills...well with respect to the power industry and welding. I have a certified welding inspector title, in addition to engineering degrees, and am hoping to take the national board's authorized inspector course. That and I've been working on my welding skills and researching NDE certs. I hope to be a tube welder by the end of the year...or at least qualified. Fortunately there's still plenty of demand in boiler and pressure vessel repair and fabrication.

I thought it was a requirement to have a couple of felonies to be a Boilermaker (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Not going there, but let's just say I've encountered some colorful characters. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I just intend to do inspection (QC work), but being proficient myself doesn't hurt.

not the economy, but the decision to send my daughter to a private high-school pretty much killed the idea of pursuing racing at this point. I have a CMC car, which I am now selling. It is a very cheap series to run, but even if I do half the season and it costs me $5K, that is a good chunk towards the tuition bill. And there just is not enough $$ floating around to do both without making some drastic cuts in other areas. So racing was the first thing on the chopping block. Maybe later when the kids are out of school I can revisit it.

I don't.... (and I'm an ex bartender/bar manager)

Actually, I'm signed up for a college welding course starting soon. I'm going to try to work through and get certified...just because it's a good thing to have. Then I'm going back to work on my degree. Of course I'm working on a cover letter right now for another job in another state, so this is all subject to change.

Wednesday was the day and I still have my job. I feel for the people that didn't make it and I'm totally disgusted with corporate America. When the second round of lay offs were announced earlier this year, I was presented with a opportunity by a good friend of mine that I probably would have never considered if the outlook of my employment was secure. I'm glad I did it now because the company has grown 5X in size since I joined. If it keeps growing at this rate I'll retire next year. Funny how things change.

Wow! Sounds like you made a good call (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Jun 13 2009, 06:15 AM

I work at DuPont's Spruance Plant just south of Richmond. We announced that up to 400, (I think), people would be let go. 150 from management, the rest from clerks, maint, operations. With 35 years service, I'm safe. They offered a retirement incentive to keep down the number laid off. A years pay, and you can defer your retirement for another year. The company wants maint to cross crafts to make us "leaner". I'm all for it, but I'm not sure how many jobs we'll actually save by doing it. Maint will get a five percent raise out of the deal, but I can see twenty five percent more work. I think we'll accept it, although we will vote on it. We have so many signed up for retirement now, (think angry villagers at the castle walls), that if it all goes through, we will have to bring a group of trainees to maint, and probably not lay off any hourly workers. It sucks for the management types though. Some have less than a year at the site, just moved their families here etc. The company is trying to find them jobs within DuPont, and things have started to pick up a little bit.

And yet another round begins ....

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Aug 19 2009, 10:21 AM