{"id":1754,"date":"2011-10-27T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-27T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zackgrossbart.com\/blog\/?p=1754"},"modified":"2022-01-15T05:45:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T09:45:07","slug":"the-one-minute-commute-saved-my-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zackgrossbart.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/the-one-minute-commute-saved-my-job\/","title":{"rendered":"The One Minute Commute Saved My Job"},"content":{"rendered":"
Chapter 15 – Conclusion<\/div>\n

At the end of 2007 I was laid off. I fell victim to the dotted line problem. For the previous six months I had been assigned to one manager but working for another. This is always a precarious position when downsizing happens. Your old manager is still paying you but your new manager is getting all the benefits of your work.<\/p>\n

The company gave me 60 days notice to finish my project; I was getting ready to release a new subsystem and they wanted me to finish it. I tried to focus on my work, but I was also thinking about ways to stay with the company. Could I get them to increase the budget somewhere? Was it possible to move to a different group? Could I just make them change their minds?<\/p>\n

It was tough because the downsizing was across the entire division and nobody had the resources to hire new people. As my last 60 days turned into my last 30 I became convinced I would have to leave. I worked on my resume, started a new professional blog (which I should have had already), and began looking at my professional network to see who could help me find my next job.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t realize it, but during this time my dotted line teammates were fighting for me. They were talking to anyone and everyone they could think of; up to the highest levels of the company. They spent time, effort, and political capital trying to find a place for me to stay in the company.<\/p>\n

With just two days to spare they succeeded. They convinced the company to make the dotted line solid and I joined their team. I was the only person from that round of layoffs to stay in the company. Those guys fought to make a place for me. They saved my job. And they had never met me.<\/p>\n

My new team was located in a different part of the country and I had never met any of them face-to-face. We had established a bond while working together remotely. They knew I would be good for the team because of my interactions with them and not just the code I wrote.<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t been an official part of their team before that, but I reached out to them. I joined all of their team meetings and I called them one-on-one to share ideas make connections. I made sure they could see my work and did everything I could to make it easy for them to give me an A. It saved my job.
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