I learned yesterday of the death of an old friend whom I worked with several years ago. It seems that he was one of thousands of IT workers laid off in early 2002 in this area as the telecom companies "downsized" and outsourced their work to India.
IT jobs were literally impossible to find during that time and so he made a go at teaching, but with little success. Unable to find work, his unemployment benefits eventually ran out he was undoubtedly faced this year with the loss of his home and life savings.
Rather than have his wife live in poverty, he drove up north on I-75, dialed 911, and then shot himself. Shortly afterward, the Dallas Morning News ran the obituary he had written earlier for himself.
Maybe I didn't know him as well as I thought, but I was pretty shaken when I found out about his death. He was a very good developer, probably one of the best in our organization, and not the kind of guy you'd think would have trouble finding a job.
It's hard to imagine getting so down that you'd kill yourself, but then again I also understand the responsibility of being the sole income provider in the family. Not being able to fulfill that responsibility would really wear down on a lot of guys, including myself. I've had a lot of friends lose jobs in the past couple of years, and they've all had trouble finding work.
IT jobs were literally impossible to find during that time and so he made a go at teaching, but with little success. Unable to find work, his unemployment benefits eventually ran out he was undoubtedly faced this year with the loss of his home and life savings.
Rather than have his wife live in poverty, he drove up north on I-75, dialed 911, and then shot himself. Shortly afterward, the Dallas Morning News ran the obituary he had written earlier for himself.
Maybe I didn't know him as well as I thought, but I was pretty shaken when I found out about his death. He was a very good developer, probably one of the best in our organization, and not the kind of guy you'd think would have trouble finding a job.
It's hard to imagine getting so down that you'd kill yourself, but then again I also understand the responsibility of being the sole income provider in the family. Not being able to fulfill that responsibility would really wear down on a lot of guys, including myself. I've had a lot of friends lose jobs in the past couple of years, and they've all had trouble finding work.
