Through some veiled thinly veiled references on Twitter that some readers might have caught I mentioned that I was out of work. As of last Friday I was let got from where I worked as they wanted to go in another direction with the design. While this whole change of events was obviously unsettling, especially in this current job market, it does have its silver linings. Working on the same site for almost 2 years definitely was a challenge and left me spinning my wheels in a lot of regards. I’d been unhappy at the job for awhile and was at least keeping my ears open with regards to any other opportunities.

The unfortunate part about the timing of when I was let go was that Corina and I had planned to take a weeks vacation this week, our first week off since our honeymoon in 2007. So instead of being a vacation it’s been more work as I’ve been sending out resumes and getting in contact with people. Right after mentioning I was looking for work I had a former co-worker mention he had some freelance work to offer. I then mentioned to my former boss from a previous job that I was looking and she is hooking me up with some work as well, which is awesome.

While ideally I wanted to land a full time position which didn’t have the hassle of exchanging US cheques into Canadian, managing my own taxes and with health benefits, I’m now entertaining the idea of freelancing for awhile and testing the waters. 2 years ago I was at this same point, unemployed after having been let go from my job along with numerous other good people. Though I definitely feel some differences between my situation then and my situation now. 2 years ago I had just moved to Cambridge and really just felt cut adrift and alone in a new city. Now in these subsequent 2 years many of the people I worked with at my previous job have spread out all over the place, starting new companies and new jobs. Since I was the only designer at my job I kinda felt isolated and started going to monthly designer meetups in Waterloo to network and socialize with people in the same field as myself. And I also started using Twitter, which has enabled me to connect with many freelancers who work in the Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge area. I definitely feel more connected and better prepared to manage as a freelancer at this point in my life. Who knows, maybe it doesn’t work out and I want to get a regular 9 to 5, but at least I’ll have tried.

So anyone need a designer?:)