This has been the second time that I see my peers go within a decade due o economic downturn. The first was when I was in Saudi Arabia. It was then just my second month when my company had to let go more than half of the work force due to the Asian economic crisis. In my thoughts then, since we were the new hire, we will be part of the redundancy. I was very fortunate that I lasted more than seven (7) years with the company until almost all of its projects was completed. From an almost fifty (50) electrical engineers and designers then, there were only four of us left, three were my batchmate on the hiring.
With the current world crisis, I am again seeing peers go. I just can’t imagine the tension building up in me as I heard about this news. It was a nightmare on my part as I know that how difficult it will be to find a suitable job at this time. Almost every company is resorting to manpower reduction to minimize cost and make the company afloat.
My only consulation was that, I am still sitting in my chair, working on my desk, and doing same job I use to do. I am still here. Until when, nobody really knows. The fate of anybody is truly unknown until the axe drops off.