I was thinking about all the things that have happened in 2023. I’m not ready to share them all here…yet…but I will at some point.
Suffice it to say that 2023 has been a terrible year. H1 was fine. H2 can go suck it.
I’ve been going through training thanks to a wonderful program that President Obama put in place in 2014. It’s called the WIOA program and, basically, it’s a federally-funded job retraining program for displaced workers. If you’re unemployed or you know someone who’s unemployed, Google it. I applied for the program and was eligible for a substantial amount of scholarship money to be used at approved training providers.
So I’ve been going to training since the beginning of November. I have completed 1.75 classes so far. I’ve passed my SAFe POPM certification and I have just another week or two in my PMP class; I’ll take that test shortly thereafter. And then there will be Tableau, Business Analytics, ITIL 4, AWS, and something else that I can’t recall at this moment. All in all, I’m doing whatever I can to boost my resume JUST TO GET IT SEEN!
I’ve been out of work for 117 days now and have yet to get even one initial interview. I’ve paid a ton of money, that I don’t really have, to resume writers and that hasn’t helped either. I’m running at a deficit every month. I sure can’t do that much longer.
I’m living on a mere $2k/month from unemployment and THAT, my friends, is not sustainable. In fact, it is less than what it takes to cover mortgage, health insurance, property taxes, car insurance, electric, gas. Consider what is not in that list. I know I have. What’s not in that list comes from what little savings I have available.
And tonight, as I was going over my budget to prepare for 2024, it all hit me pretty hard. I knew how bad the situation was, but I guess I felt like I had some cushion so I didn’t worry about it too much. Plus, I had bigger things to deal with (I’ll share those at some point but not today). But today I could focus on money and, well, reality hit me like a baseball bat to the face.
I’m feeling pretty low tonight. I don’t know how much longer I can go without work. I know there are people living in their cars…or worse. I understand that even as bad as it is here, I have it better than many. I get that. This is not a competition. It’s just where I’m at tonight.
Keep good thoughts for me an for all my unemployed compatriots. Continue to speak truth to power. Don’t forget why so many of us are in this position. It’s not our fault. a
