Working at Nortel

I don’t mention work very much, do I? For those who don’t know, I work for Nortel Networks. 2001 was the year to forget; yet I fear it will stay with me far longer than the ‘years of plenty’ that preceded it. Nortel scaled back a bit… from around 100k employees down to 48k. Here in Richardson we probably laid off well over 5000 of the 10k employees in town at the beginning of the year. Due to a promotion I received at the last January, I was far more aware and involved in the proceedings than I might have been otherwise. I had many formative experiences (let’s just say I had never seen people crying in the office prior to 2001). To be honest, I was absolutely certain I would start going gray before it was all over.

After enjoying a bit over a week off, I went back on January 2nd. I hadn’t realized how helpful the time off had been until I went back. It was like a shadow drifted back over me. The environment spoils what would be a major plus: the position I took last year is the first one that has given me that “Ahhhh” feeling of doing something for which I am well suited. The chaos of Nortel imploding makes it rather challenging to enjoy.

3 Replies to “Working at Nortel”

  1. I know that feeling. Qwest whacked about 12,000 last year and have already announced more for this year. And I hear we are now for sale too…

  2. Jay, this isn’t about you & Nortel (though you know I’m very interested), rather it’s a late comment about Theologia & Greymatter. I finally got around to exploring the organization and it’s really great, very simple and straightforward. Thanks!

  3. I work for Micron Technology and they only lay off as an absolutely last resort, so no one got the axe. Several people got fired, and no one got hired, but overall, they held the line, and now things seem to be turning around finally for DRAM.

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