jobless in Tokyo

Today I got a call from my boss. He'd missed an email from his boss indicating that my contract was not being renewed!

He wound up calling me as I was on my way to meet Mari and look at wedding dresses. The message; "Don't come into the office tomorrow". Just like that, I've been sacked.

I know why. The project I'm working on is in a terrible state of disarray, and the problems go pretty much all the way up. The CIO is fighting with the business managers and refusing to let them participate. He's also now acting in the capacities of head of software development, head of the Infrastructure department, and head of Information Risk Management because he's caused all three of the former managers to quit. That's in addition to performing the roles of COO and GM. The CIO is also, it probably goes without saying, fighting with my boss. In fact, the CIO's right-hand man told me I was up for the axe back in December. But since December the CIO had reversed that decision, and I'd been offered another three month extension.

So now I'm jobless in the most expensive city on Earth, and have a wedding reception to pay for. Apologies to my new bride.

If there's a lesson out there for anyone interested in entering a career in information technology, perhaps it's this: unplanned job changes and unplanned unemployment are a way of life.

1. the fortunes of IT projects employing forty people can rest on the whims of some very unstable people

2. even in stable environments, large projects tend to fail more often than succeed, and these things can stink up your resume

3. the more job changes you have on your resume, the harder it is to find the next job