Orange is such an oppressive color.

Well, we're now a few weeks into being eaten by Cingular, and in most ways you would never know it has happened. Here in Bothell we haven't seen so much as a stray orange balloon or a motivational poster with the Cingular "Jack" bouncing around on it.Walking into the building you would never know that we weren't still AT&T Wireless. This is a bit curious to most of us. Although we didn't know what to expect, we did expect something! I work in Information Technology (IT). For several years we have known that there were just too many of us for AT&T Wireless to support. With the acquisition by Cingular, the combined company now has over double the IT staff that AT&T Wireless had. That's a bad thing.

What is most telling is that in other business units in the company "the party is on!" Cingular has gone all out to welcome the AT&T Wireless fraud center and care center staff into the new company. And I'm not talking balloons and motivational posters either (although those are involved as well). In California, they rented the Staples Center and held an enormous rally. Oh, and the Staples Center is a gigantic arena where things like LA Lakers games are played. Here in Bothell you can still hear the crickets chirping.

A memo from the Cingular CEO that strayed into commoner's hands clearly sets out the Cingular staffing strategy. By the 2nd Quarter 2005 (April 1), he wants to have 62.5% as many employees as he has today. In other words, he wants to lay off 37.5% of the employees that he currently has. Now, that alone doesn't necessarily mean that I'm one of the over 1 in 3 employees who'll get the ax. As long as you are hooked to someone who knows you and is in a position to keep you, things should be OK. Well, that's where the second hammer falls. Since Jawaid (or any other manager I've ever worked for) was not chosen for a leadership position, nobody knows anyone in my group. Since Cingular is going to have to make such sweeping staff cuts, the only feasible way to do that will be to eliminate entire groups that are redundant. The third strike that will probably count me out is that Cingular is very happy with their current fraud systems and fraud support staff... guess what I've worked on for the 5 years I've been at AT&T Wireless... yup--Fraud.

So, this is not the best of news. However, a change wouldn't be all bad at this point. Working for AT&T Wireless has been a great experience.
My skills and abilities have grown tremendously, as has my professional confidence. I've been thinking for some time about what type of career I would like to move into when this gig ends. As I've talked to many about in the past, I'm again intrigued by Trader Joe's. It's such an interesting company and I miss the retail experience in many ways. If I do get laid off, it will be a good time to relax a bit and investigate some opportunities. I will be getting a substantial layoff package, so won't be panicked about finding a new job the first week. My plan is to take some time and investigate some possible career changes that would be totally different from what I'm doing today.