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[Paul]

Dear All,

At the start of December, and for the first time in seven years, my current role as an IT consultant will end and I will be unemployed. I have never had more than a week of consecutive days off in those seven years, so the absence of a daily routine will be a shock to say the least...

Luckily enough, I do have some personal wealth and a few things to be getting on with (driving lessons, some professional exams) and wish to devote some time to figuring out the next direction of my life (possibly away from IT), but my concern is that the lack of a routine, the laying around the house and the loss of my employment status after working almost continuously since university would put me in a deep depression.

I wish to know about how some of you coped with this sort of life change, and how you kept yourself going. Any help, stories or insight would be greatly appreciated.

[absynth aura]

My mum lost her job in the middle of last year, and in the time between finishing her old job, and getting her current job, she took an online paper on media analysis of something, but it kept her busy, and it helped her to get her new job.

Dunno if this helps you, but it could be an idea?

[Breschau]

I spent a couple years unemployed after leaving uni, and I've had a few more spells since then, usually lasting 1-3 months.

My advice would be to stay busy and active - don't let yourself lay around the house doing nothing.  Once you fall into that it becomes your routine and it's really hard to break out of it and motivate yourself to find work again (if and when that becomes necessary), or indeed do anything other than veg out to daytime tv.


Although, I should probably say it's not advice that I ever really followed myself.  So, don't be like me I guess.  Or do, and it'll probably work itself out anyway.  I dunno.

[Morpheus Laughing]

Find a course/courses to go on
Apply for a Christmas Job
Maintain/decorate home
Visit friends and relatives in far off places
Block book driving lessons for the intensive learning experience
Meditate
And most importantly, don’t watch Daytime TV.

My non-work depression followed my work depression so I’m not a case study of coping. I’m most depressed when I have a strong realisation that I should doing something and I’m not. I end up feeling guilty and more depressed for it, which is a paradox because it disables me even more. I wish I knew how to escape the loop but I think that normal-functioning people probably direct that feeling of “should” into goals that they can sustain momentum on. If you’re not already depressed you can use it to push yourself but if structure really is a worry, something pre arranged, like a course that you’ve paid for and want to do, should keep you feeling like things are moving.   

[lentower]

I wish to know about how some of you coped with this sort of life change, and how you kept yourself going. Any help, stories or insight would be greatly appreciated.

possible someone here on the sbox might know of IT openings. 
you might mention where you're willing to work.

• volunteer your skills to a non-profit (academic or not), or let them 'train' you in new skills
  
  in IT, there are many free-software, or open-source projects that can use significant contributions
  e.g. http://www.gnu.org/help/
  
  
• find a company that you like to work for,
  and offer to work as an unpaid intern in exchange for a reference
  
  they might end up hiring you
  
  
• mit was the first university to start putting their course materials on-line
  http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
  
  others exist
  
  
• learn a foreign language.
  the best way is by immersion,
  by either living in the country,
  or living with a group of people who ONLY speak and use the language
  
  it's possible these days with live audio and video chat,
  that you might be able to do it on-line
  
  being fluent in another language is a very useful skill for a professional to have these days
  
  
• get into yoga.
  it's good for body, mind, and soul health
  and let you become much more productive
  (this is one of the answers to
     "how does amanda get so much done?"
  )
  
  

[CeeGBee]

What Len said...  I've been volunteering at our local low-power FM community-radio
station (www.wrir.org) and having a lovely time.  It's lacking that one thing that a
paying job offers - pay - but it's otherwise perfect...

[lentower]

What Len said...  I've been volunteering at our local low-power FM community-radio
station (www.wrir.org) and having a lovely time.  It's lacking that one thing that a
paying job offers - pay - but it's otherwise perfect...

changing volunteer gigs is ok,
as long as you leave people happy
and don't do it too often

especially if you gain different skilss

[Paul]

Thanks for all your wonderful ideas!

Len, I'm definitely interested in doing some open source contributions, although since I come from a .NET stack, I'm not sure how many options I have, or whether employers will regard experience in open source development as being appropriate for my CV.

Also, yoga seems a very fun idea!

[The Angel Raliel]

as someone who lost their job relatively recently..its a bit of a bastard......easy to get depressed etc..but on the other hand I have had more art time and might actually be getting somewhere on becoming a "professional" haha artist

[Paul]

as someone who lost their job relatively recently..its a bit of a bastard......easy to get depressed etc..but on the other hand I have had more art time and might actually be getting somewhere on becoming a "professional" haha artist

I'm sorry to hear that you lost your job recently.. It seems an all too familiar story these days...

If you fancy London drinks one day then give me a shout

[The Angel Raliel]

Indeed! sheltering from the snow mainly at the moment though! but soon would be grand!