I might have alluded to my precarious job situation throughout the year. The company I worked for was the subsidiary of a larger company, and for a long time, I expected that the parent company would assume the subsidiary into it and probably lay off everyone. So for most of 2023, I was kind of applying for jobs.
Then, in January, it happened: My employer joined the mothership. All non-engineering people were let go (with six weeks notice plus severance, so it was pretty generous). Engineers were assimilated into the big mess that was the parent company (which was integrating three or four companies and their tech stacks at the same time).
Except: The parent company does not have QA Engineers. So they kept the two of us on and kept the whole engineering team on tenterhooks as the parent company was not very clear about the onboarding and expectations for our company’s remaining team members. Over time, it became clear that everyone on our team would have to become full stack engineers as that’s all the parent company had. The two front-end engineers were not excited. Neither was I.
So I quit.
The actual thought process was more agonizing than that. The job market is trash. I broadened my job search this year, and I’ve had only a few interviews. And the only offer I got was for a part-time contract in the evenings. And that, gentle reader, was enough for me to take the leap back to consulting.
So I’ve been a little quiet here as I deal with the fallout from it. We’re going to have to retrench a bit here at Nogglestead, which means tightening our belts even more. But don’t cry for us, Argentina. We’ve got plenty to fall before we bounce. No GoFundMes or Patreon pitches for you. But if you know someone who wants a little QA work done, you know a guy.