No worries.....

I posted a status on facebook that I need to explain. The status is a quote from "Criminal Minds" this last Wednesday that I felt hit home. The full quote is as follows:

"I am thankful for my years spent with this family, for everything we shared, every chance
we had to grow. I will take the best of them with me, and lead by their example where ever I
go. A friend once told me to be honest with you. So here it goes. This isn't what I want,
but I will take the high road. Maybe it's because I look at everything as a lesson. Or I
don't want to walk around angry. Or maybe it's because I finally understand. There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go."

If you watch the show you know the quote refers specifically to an employment situation and the team associated with that employment.

My employment with Novell for the last 12 years has been in an on site customer service role. Each January brings a contract renewal process that secures my employment for next year. Let there be no mistake, I love my work. Each challenge brings the opportunity to showcase an individual talent and/or skill possessed by an employee/team within the organization. My success is based on the success of the IT staff tasked with the deployment and maintenance of the Novell products within the organization.

This last January proved to be a most a challenging renewal. Novell chose to take a hard line stance on a contractual point with CHS that forced them to pay more maintenance money than they had budgeted for. This severely strained the relationship between Novell and CHS. In order to stay in budget, my contract was discontinued by CHS. This left me without a customer to support and potentially without a job as there were no contracts at that time that were unfilled. For six weeks I was on the bench and expecting to be let go at any time. The only reason I lasted that long was the fact that the termination of the service contract forced Novell to reassess how the renewal was handled. Novell agreed to use the extra contractual maintenance money to fund the service contract for the 2010 year.

I have continued my work at CHS, but realize that it is going to come to an end. They have no intention of renewing the service contract for 2011. The need is there, they recognize the value I bring to their IT staff, but CHS will not pay Novell any more than their required software maintenance. A seven year long win/win situation that had every chance of continuing for many more years will most likely be terminated as of December 31. This is why the quote struck me.

This isn't what I want....

Now don't worry just yet, there are opportunities on the horizon. To me, it doesn't appear as bleak as it did last year.