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Layoff Mrs Enginerd

My Life Two Years After The Layoff

When I started this blog as an unemployed nerd the future seemed bright and full of possibilities. Having gone through the grief phase where I cried and cursed the heavens for the pink slip, and for inability to find an alternate job position within the company as an engineer, I had made peace with the […]

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Adulting Layoff Mrs Enginerd

Folks, Millennials Already Are the Leaders of Today!

During the presidential and general elections, the media made a stink about the Millennials. They went from crybabies (due to not letting go of Bernie Sanders’s loss) to slackers that didn’t go out to the polls to vote. It seems the adults in the room can’t stop complaining about, and have borderline bullied, an entire […]

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Adulting Layoff Love and Marriage Mrs Enginerd

Responsibility v. Love

You are not responsible for the ones you love, except if they are children under a certain age or a pet. It may be a controversial thought but the subject is worth discussing. Many of my Millenial peers go through life feeling responsible for friends and family, carrying huge chips on their shoulders that shouldn’t […]

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Layoff Mrs Enginerd

When I First Moved to the USA…

When I was 23, a big engineering firm hired me to design their products, processes and tools in their PNW facilities. At the time I was fresh out of college and had lived all my life in one place, a city of about a million people in a tropical paradise. My US Citizen status, awarded […]

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Layoff Mrs Enginerd

“I’m in it for the challenge, not the money…”

There is not a day that goes by that I do not wonder if people have it all wrong when it comes to working. We are the only species that pays to live on Planet Earth. That’s insane. I get that we need inspirational sayings to get out of bed and justify life in general […]

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Etiquette Layoff Mrs Enginerd

I Used To Be…

I used to be strong and brave, dauntless even. Very few things in life scared me and if someone corrected me, I thanked them for the knowledge (after corroborating that in fact they were correct). I used to write long poems, ballads and odes, testaments to my teenage angst and bewilderment. I don’t know when […]

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Layoff Mrs Enginerd

Embrace The Layoff (or Furlough)

Time mends all wounds and a year and four months after being laid off I can honestly tell say that it was the best bad thing that ever happened to me. It may seem counter intuitive but it makes perfect sense. A paid vacation that turned into many adventures and opportunities both in my career […]

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Layoff Mrs Enginerd

Beyond The Layoff: 16 Weeks Update

The Layoff was the main reason I opened the blog and after 4,000 views, 52 followers and almost 100 likes on Facebook, my journey has reaped many rewards. I gained confidence, strength, resilience and a fluffy companion, my dog Zach. As I prepare for the next decade of plans and adjustments, mostly to make up […]

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Etiquette Layoff Mrs Enginerd

The Kindness of Strangers

The path is dark and winding with no refuge in sight. As much as I’d like to deny it, my strength is failing me and I don’t want to continue. For all I know I am alone in this stage of the journey. I lay my head to rest and forget that I am afraid. […]

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Layoff Mrs Enginerd

The Layoff, Revisited

On March 20th, the first anniversary of the layoff, I had just returned from an assignment in London. For a group of folks, their layoff doesn’t have such a happy ending but at some point we all get back to business. If you happen to be facing a layoff situation, the best advice I can […]