Laid Off!

**Long Sigh** Last month I was laid off. I was quite upset, seeing that I had never been laid off before, nor fired in my life. But the bad part wasn't the lay off. The bad part was the circumstances surrounding the lay off, which I get to shortly.

Here's the back story:

So I had recently relocated to Atlanta, GA after not being able to find a suitable programming/development job in the upper NY state area for a very long time. I figured my chances here would be better, and they were! I found a job within a month after having only one previous interview (I was 30 minutes late having severely under estimated Atlanta Traffic). Not bad for landing a gig on my second interview in my new city.

The phone screening went well, the interview was great. I rocked it, as I always do. The Job wasn't actually going to start until the New year however, so I had some time to chill out and enjoy the holidays with the excitement of starting my new position as a UI Engineer.

This job was uber important to me for a few of reasons:

1. My previous back-end development experience was in VB.Net. I desperately wanted to transition to C# and this position would allow me to do so.

2. Although I have over ten years industry experience, my experience in key back-end areas spanned no more than two years in any one position. So I took this front end position , in hopes of transitioning to a back-end position in C#, building some longevity from there. This company had a position tier that was ideal for my professional growth.

3. In all my experience, and due to the above, I had not yet reached Sr. status and again, the position tier gave a clear path to that goal for me.

4. Overall, I was generally in love with this company, it's mission, it's product, etc.


Given the above, I was crushed, heart broken, and felt robbed of reaching these goals. I walked away feeling as if the company hired my team for a specific project, and probably knew that when it came to end we we're gunna get the axe. Why not just hire contract? I would have felt better knowing my position wouldn't be needed after the 8 months investment of 12 - 16 hour days/nights/weekends. After 8 months of over hype about sales projections and pending million dollar contracts, the company fell short, and I got the short end of one of many sticks. But did I really?

As my luck would have it, my lay off opened the door to achieving at least on of my goals, as I am now a Sr. Web Developer. Due to my sharp and much more stable for the moment, front end development skills, I landed a gig at a great company. BUT I am a contractor and unlike before have full knowledge when the end is near and my expectations can me minimized. I for all intensive purposes don't have to get so emotionally attached this time. I know where I stand from day 1. Don't get too comfortable, period.

This whole experience has moved me to the world of contract positions and recruiters for the first time. I just may dabble here for a while. Especially since it seems like no job is permanent these days, the way the economy is going. Which leads me to ask which is better in the tech industry, contract, contract to perm, or (seemingly) permanent positions? What are the pros and cons to each?

I guess I'll find out with this new position and new experience to forge ahead with. I'll come back and answer my own questions when I figure it out.

But until then, I'm just another Black Girl in tech who considered quitting when a contract job was enough.