You know what they say, no noose is good noose

So after the uncertainties of yesterday, i discovered that i get to keep my job (or rather, i get to keep a job, quite what it will be is still uncertain - largely because no-one quite knows what the project will be). I'm not totally sure which programmers didn't make it, although i know of one guy, Phil. Like many others, i heard he hadn't got a position, and when i turned around to see how he was he just wasn't at his desk. Of course, there's no reason for him to remain, but it's sad when, like so many others, he just slips away.

I think other people are going to leave, even those who weren't in danger of losing their jobs, merely through the destructive nature of the current situation. If all of one's friends have been suddenly made redundant in one mighty fall of the proverbial restructuring axe, it would be perfectly rational to decide that there is no reason for one to remain either. It's something i have certainly considered; Most of my good friends have gone or are going, and when i spend 5 out of 7 days of the week in this place, i want to keep the best company i can. I for one, however, am staying for now.

One slightly happier, albeit poignant, situation arose today. One of the online guys, Pete, had discovered a few days ago that he would be out of a job at the end of the month. However it seems that this was decided without consulting some of the key people involved in his particular area of the online stuff - and when they put their heads together they decided that actually there was masses to do and he was most definitely required. So he got his job back, which was lovely, but it must have been an awful emotional strain to be put through the process of potentially losing your job, then actually losing it and having to come to terms with it, and then being given it back. I joked that it would have been great if he had officially accepted his redundancy, he could then have sued them for rehiring someone within the obligatory six month buffer (even though it was him). As i mentioned yesterday, people are sending out their leaving emails all the time. What was lovely about this situation was that Pete was the first person to send out an "I'm not leaving" email. The email was not condescending or derogatory to those who had been "set free" as Pete put it, but full of sympathy and pathos.

But what of the future?

Well i think the next few months will almost certainly leave a slightly bitter taste in the mouth; Anonymous Surrey Based Game Developer probably won't be the happiest place to work. We are shuffling offices soon, familiar faces who up until recently were part of the furniture are absent, morale is across the board exceedingly low - strange days indeed.

However once the new game gets up and running i think things will gradually sort themselves out in the wash. Although it may seem slightly morbid, those who remain will constitute an undeniably great team. A large number of those in my new team are people who i know from prior work on Anonymous Hollywood Based Simulation Game and i know they will be great. It looks like it will be at least another month though before the project, in whatever shape or form it takes, kicks off.

Anyway i have some lazing about to do.

Ah, Good Times

So my friend Ed berated me last night for not updating this blog enough; mainly because i think he is curious as to the machinations of the mighty Anonymous Surrey Based Game Developer.

Times are, shall we say, tense. Most of my best friends have been made redundant - Jim and Tom to name but two. Jim still has work to do so has to come in, Tom doesn't, so isn't coming in anymore. He got made redundant while i was away too, so i didn't even get to say goodbye. *sob*

The mood is weird at the moment - people are basically fading into the background and quietly disappearing. Every half an hour it seems, there is another email from somebody announcing they are leaving. It's somewhat destructive for morale, to say the least.

I had my one and only interview last night and alledgedly we (coders) shall find out today our fates. it's difficult to be optimistic or even care that much, especially when i know that even if i keep my job some of my mates won't. And even then i won't have anything to do straight off, probably for at least another month at least.

Still, i'm going snowboarding next week, so it's not all bad.

So... Bored...

Well i woke up at 5.30 this morning for absolutely no reason, which wasn't a good start.

All is not well at Anonymous Surrey Based Game Developer (ASBGD). Essentially they have discovered that they have too many people and not enough jobs. So about 100 of us have gone into a "consultation" process whereby we get to reinterview for jobs - there are, of course, less jobs than people. Ah, good times.

Given that my project got canned a good month ago, i have basically had nothing to do for a month. It seems like blessed freedom to start with - after all i am still getting paid but having to do nothing at all. However it does begin to grate after a time; it may seem backwards but i really want to come to work to work. It is hard to motivate myself to even do my own stuff now, but i think that it is quite psychological.

The rationale is this: If i am at home then i can choose to do my own projects / whatever and use my time as i see fit. Coming into work, strange as it may sound, I actually want to do work. Instead my hand is forced and the only thing i can really do to keep myself busy is my own stuff - but because in a way i lose the ability to freely determine when i work on my spare time projects, i become less motivated to do them. Make sense? Didn't think so.

The upshot of all this is that i feel like i am slowly losing my mind. I have applied for a couple of positions here but i don't, as yet, know when the interviews will be. And so i sit and stew... is it too much to ask to know my own future?!

Ok perhaps a little, and i understand the problem ASBGD is facing. However for me and my team we have already been kicking our heels for a good amount of time. There is no reason for us to be here, yet we are told that the only way we can miss days is to take it out of our holiday time. Bonkers!

oh yes i realise that the xml didn't display properly last time, but i don't care :)