The Story Continues

And the saga continues! On the last day of May, 1996 I was officially "laid-off" from my job with the Capstone Group. This was done amicably, and was solely as a result of lack of enough business to keep me busy. Back in June of 1995 the company hired a second full-time programmer to work directly with Cliff in the Arizona office. This was done partially because of a perceived inflow of new business, and partially because Cliff really wanted someone to work by his side, and I wasn't willing to relocate to Arizona. The new employee, Dave Johnson, had been out of law school a year longer than me, had been working for another company doing the same sort of stuff, and was from Arizona, so it looked like a perfect match. Unfortunately, almost immediately after Dave's hire, business hit a prolonged slow period. This was not Dave's fault, of course [nor mine, for that matter] -- just poor timing. A number of promising clients fell through or simply dragged their feet before committing. For the next six months it was a struggle to find enough work to keep both Dave and me busy full-time, and there was even talk about a temporary pay-cut for everyone involved.

Things seemed to get back on track after the first of the year, however. The pay-cut never materialized, and it seemed that we were on the verge of landing our biggest account yet. Back in December, I had considered actively seeking a new job, but decided against it. Part of this was do to loyalty to the company. Another part, though was that most of my networking contacts also knew Cliff, and I didn't want word to get back to Cliff that I was looking elsewhere for employment [I was afraid it would turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy...] As things seemed to be on the upswing in February and March, I was glad that I decided not to "rock the boat", as it were.

Then came "The Call". Seems that, yes, things were looking up, and the future did indeed looked rosy, but the recent problems had convinced Cliff that the company really couldn't support two full-time programmers at this time. While I had been with the company longer, the simple fact was that I was 2 ½ thousand miles away, whereas Dave was right there in Arizona... I was shocked, to say the least. Also simultaneously numb and panicked. I had two strong urges competing with each other inside of me: (1) run around like the proverbial headless chicken and try to get out as many résumés as possible, and (2) crawl under my sheets and go to bed for a couple of weeks.

Cliff asked me to sign a "non-competition" agreement, basically saying that I would not contact any of our current or prior clients for a period of 6 months. Basically, he didn't want me calling them up and saying "Hey -- I've been doing the work for you anyway, but now I'll do it for half price if you send the $$$ directly to me instead of to Cliff". In exchange, I would be entitled to keep the various "tools of my trade" which the company had paid for over the years [including software and various hardware upgrades to my computer].

All of my friends and family members were unanimous in their opinion as to what I should tell Cliff -- "Screw him!" they said. Everyone agreed that I should refuse to sign the agreement, buy all the stuff I needed, and then start calling all of the company's current and prior clients. I decided to take the high road, however, partially because I'm just that kind of guy, and partially because I really felt that Cliff was trying to be fair and not trying to rip me off. That still left me without work, however...

My biggest fear was that I would be completely unemployable, due to the highly specialized nature of my skills. Not that my skills aren't useful, but most people don't have a clue what I do [do YOU know what a "practice systems specialist" is?] and putting it on a résumé isn't particularly enlightening.

Well, almost 2 weeks to the day after "The Call", I received an e-mail from Marc Lauritsen, my "other" boss at the Capstone Group. Earlier in the year, he had spent some time training a paralegal at a local mid-size law firm how to design practice systems using the same CAPS software platform we used at the Capstone Group. Well, it seems that the paralegal had announced that she was leaving to go to law school, and the firm was wondering whether Marc knew of anyone in the area who was already trained and might be available. I can pretty much guarantee that Marc would NOT have forwarded this info on to me if I had gone ahead and told Cliff to stuff it where the sun don't shine...

Well, I contacted the firm, Peabody & Arnold, and they pretty much hired me on the spot [first interview on Friday, second interview the following Monday, offer on Tuesday...] They asked me how much I was looking to make, so I took a deep breath and quoted a figure between 10 and 15 thousand more than what I was making over at The Capstone Group. They didn't even blink, which made me wish I asked for a heck of a lot more... Anyway, they ended up offering me 13 ½ thousand more than I was making at the Capstone Group, and I started working for them on July 1, 1996. I've been with Peabody & Arnold for four months at the time I'm writing this, and everything seems to be going swell. I like my job, the hours are good, the commute is not too bad [I DO miss telecommuting, though], and the people are, for the most part, nice. I also ended up with much better benefits than I had with The Capstone Group. My official title is "Software Training and Development Specialist," and I split my time between designing document automation systems and training attorneys on the various software applications we use in-house.

As a side benefit, I was hired to work specifically with the law firm's business law department. Although I spent most of my time with The Capstone Group designing estate planning systems, I focused on business and corporate law while in law school. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would never have a chance to work in that area of practice...

So, now I'm working at a better job, with better benefits, more stability, and a better salary. And yes, I DID call Cliff up and thank him for laying me off when he did...

Overall, I can't help thinking that the Lord has a plan for me. I do wish, however, that he would let me know a bit about it ahead of time. It would certainly save me a lot of panic and anxiety...