Axed?

So, I was dragged into an empty conference room this afternoon by my reporting manager at NYSE. I already knew something was up, as it didn't seem to be one of our project meetings.

So... finally the axe will drop for me as well, as it has for all my other fellow Notes Domino developer co-workers. I am the lone survivor for the past year. Even the second in command, SVP of my Horrorscope company, was axed by NYSE over a year and a half ago. Her last words to me... "Don't let Notes die at NYSE. Whatever you do... just keep it going. Keep it alive." So I did for a year and half with one other co-worker of mine. He lasted until April and was also axed. During my one and a half year, I started and successfully launched two crucial NYSE.com applications single-handily and completed numerous feature enhancements and re-writes. I even got NYSE to hire a Russian offshore resource as my backup from my Horrorscope company.

Sigh... I knew this day was coming in a way, but, I guess I didn't think it would really happen since the applications that I support are crucial and are revenue generating for NYSE in some cases. I guess the shareholders are pressuring NYSE to be more profitable. They will see surely enough that cutting me out of the picture is a wrong move, as my applications are regulatory related. In other words, the world depends on information from the systems that I support. Of course, they can always go low tech and have a basic web developer hand code HTML for all the data that needs to be published. This is the only way to get the data out if they don't use my automated systems. But, that also potentially means they would have to hire one web developer to replace each Administrative Assistant that's currently entering data into the system from each department. Where's the savings in that?

Getting axed by NYSE is not what bothers me most. It's the fact that my Horrorscope company refuses to acknowledge the fact that I have been a major revenue generator from day one of my employment. I have been in a salary negotiation process for the past three weeks already. The HR director keeps on telling me that she still needs to speak with one of our SVP's to discuss my performance. I've spent over an hour with that SVP already, describing in great details my accomplishments. Everything just seems to be going in a circle.

For crying out loud... I used to be the northeast region SME for IBM for Lotus technologies. I was the designer, coder, and project manager for the Department of Buildings of NYC during the 9-11 disaster recovery efforts. The application that I built is the very same application they are still using today to conduct building surveys wirelessly via the Compaq Ipaq. I've worked with GE, Pitney Bowes, Chanel, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, BMCC, Chase, BankersTrust, Deutsche Bank, Fuiji, and a number of other Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies. Doesn't any of that have any merit?

The biggest problem for my Horrorscope company as they claim, is the fact that NYSE is squeezing their daily rates. NYSE had reduced my company's rates at least three times in the past six years. This rate reduction combined with several non-renewed contracts over the past two years caused my company to reduce headcount and to freeze salary increases along with mandatory unpaid leaves.

Well... it seems a bit unfair for me to ask for a salary increase when the company is facing these issues, but in reality, I've generated continuous income for the past three years even through the toughest of times during the initial cutbacks. Basically, what was left of my company's NYSE crew pulled the company through during 2007 and back into profitability... yet... the NYSE crew or most of the NYSE crew wasn't given a bonus or any type of recognition... including me. I had the toughest job since I was responsible for my SVP's duties after she got canned. I was responsible for "keeping Notes alive" at NYSE. I was even part of the discussion committee at NYSE to advise against the migration to MS Exchange.

I will see what my HR director has to say tomorrow. I'm not too worry about not finding another job, just the job I want. So far I've been working with one recruiter and he has turned up nothing for the past month and a half. I will probably be meeting him next week to discuss further. Will I be in the poor house? Not yet. Maybe I just need to step it up in finding myself a sugar daddy... LOL...!!

Sigh... now I have to repack my Coffeemate that I brought in to work this morning or use it all up before the end of the month... It's funny... as I was refilling my empty bottle... I stopped halfway and said, "No need to fill it to the top" subconsciously. Who would have known that my Coffeemate can be used to foretell my fortune. I thought that's what tea leaves are for. To think about it... that scares me even more... I had a box of Lipton tea bags in my hands last night... thinking of bringing them in to work, which I decided not too. hmmm... maybe I should change careers and do fortune telling instead.

Half Empty Bottle