chipotle | All's over that ends?

I’ve been given my walking papers by the client I’ve been at, with two weeks’ notice. My position is under the auspices of Internal Group Foo, but funded by Internal Group Bar, and as we’ve transitioned from the build-out phase to the maintenance phase, Group Bar has decided they don’t need the project manager and technical writer positions.

I’m trying not to be too disappointed by this. When I was brought on, the contract length was described as being “two to nine months,” but it’s actually in its fifteenth month now. So objectively, this has been a half-year longer than I should have expected as a best case. In theory, I should have a better resume coming out of this, too: over a year at a Big Name Company™ doing technical writing should make it easier to sell myself as a technical writer for the next job.

But, but, but. My credit card debt is still frightfully high; I was just starting to put money toward it rather than savings. If—unlikely as I should have assumed it to be—the position had run all the way through the end of the year, I’d be just about out of debt, my car would have been completely paid off, and I’d have probably been able to have had several thousand more in savings. Instead, I’m caught with my savings lower than I’d like and my debt (considerably) higher than I’d like.

This is strange, unreadable karma. I’d just been counting the months I’d been at the client yesterday evening, realizing I wasn’t too far off from the length of time I’d been at my last company in Florida—if I’d gone through the end of the quarter here (which would have been the end of April), I’d have matched it. I’ve been getting more contacts from recruiters out of the blue over the last couple of weeks but not for positions I’m actually qualified for. I have grand plans for a Ruby on Rails application in the future, but can’t put that on my résumé yet. I’ve been brushing up on PHP thanks to work on the Excursion Society’s web site, but it’s not exactly chock full of Ajax-y “Web 2.0” goodness. I’d considered applying at genebreshears’ company, but didn’t think I was really quite qualified—and, hey, I had this job and I didn’t want to leave it.

Well. I suppose it’s time to get my résumé updated with the contracting company, and back out in view of other employers, too. I have to talk to them and find out what this means with respect to my health care, unemployment benefits, etc. (Technically, I’m still an employee of the contracting agency, and I’ve worked over a year with them, so… I don’t know what that means.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

D'oh. Hope you find something new and neat, quickly.

Why are you saving money at all when you have credit card debt? Surely it would make sense to pay off all the debt you can before saving anything? Even if you have to borrow that amount back in the future, you end up better, because you're not paying interest on it for the period that you did not need it.

Because I think it's important to have some cushion that isn't immediately adding to your debt. I'm aware that I do pay more this way, but sometimes it's greatly desirable to have cash available -- and given that the cash advance interest rate is about twice that of the credit interest rate, I'd rather not get that cash from the credit card.

If it looks feasible, I'll likely throw some money from the lower-interest savings account directly onto the credit card soon, but I want to take a measure of exactly where I stand balance-wise first. (Which is currently complicated by being locked out of online banking due to the loss of my ATM card last week, but I'm hoping that'll be fixed by tomorrow night.)

Crap. That anonymous post thirty seconds ago was me.

Hugs and prayers. :(

David

I hope you end up with something even better. Two months cushion could very well be enough--and if you get something that pays more, based upon the experience you've gained working for x company--you may come out ahead.

I hope so anyway. You're in my thoughts. *hugs*

All's over that ends?

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