Prescient

It turns out I was right.  During the evening on October 1, the deal between Symyx and Elsevier was finalized, and they took ownership of MDL.  On October 2nd, they laid off 30% of MDL's workforce.  My co-workers who were affected include:  Brad Clark, John Bonifacio, Sam Gonzalez, Li Zhang, Matt Mooningham, and finally, Howard Abels.  This represents a significant portion of the mind-share in our department, especially the loss of Howard.  When they let him go, they let go the one guy with the vision to enable the company's growth in the online business space, which is where the market is growing.  Frankly, that was a poor decision.

So, where does this leave me?  As of right now, I have a job as a network admin with Symyx and am part of thier global IT team.  I was retained in my current position at my current salary.  The IT group at Symyx is is largely a good group of folks, but the environment is very different.  We'll see...

I'm thankful that I get to continue to earn a paycheck, but I also realize that if I become un-happy (er), then my recourse is to go elsewhere WITHOUT the severance package.  That makes me kind of wish that I had been part of that lay-off.

The sale is final, but all options for me are on the table.