The end of 8 great years at FICO

Last week FICO had another RIF (reduction in force), the 6th RIF in the past 2 years, and I was impacted. In spite of the initial shock (I knew there was a big reorg and RIF coming, but didn't expect to be on the list), I am feeling ok. There are always the ups and downs through this emotional process. I liked my job, but since late last year, I was feeling it was time to move on. The office in Colorado was getting smaller (only 8 to 10 people would go in at any given day) and the morale was low. They had been pushing people to move to the core office locations, which in the US would be San Diego or San Rafael. I had no desire to move back to California, and told them very clearly so. I knew that my answer would put my job at risk, but still thought I was relatively safe since I managed a lot of revenue through my products. I was no longer feeling challenged, fatigued by the many re-orgs that have happened in the past few years and a very young tenure executive management team. But I was too comfortable and too lazy to look for a new job. This is the Universe giving me a kick in my behind to move on. Message received!

I got the call early on Wednesday morning (a suspicious call my boss had setup the night before). I was shocked, but as I pinged my colleagues letting them know I was being RIF'ed, many of them responded with "me too!". 200+ positions and 9% of the workforce was cut. May of the people who also got RIFed had very long tenures with the company (one guy had over 25 years!). Looking back, I was grateful for the early morning meeting, as some people didn't hear until the late afternoon. The list of people FICO choose to let go is truly remarkable, and I am in good company.

The RIF was an effort to raise stocks, which went up by 10% to $27 the next day. Still a far cry of the early years when the stock was in the $50s. The CEO sent a message to everyone explaining that we need to do "cost reengineering", our rivals were growing faster than us as the economy rebounded, but we were still committed to innovation. I stared in the irony of letting so many long tenures go with so much of FICO's experience who are likely to land with a rival, and the talk of innovation just as the whole Research department was dismantled. But hey, they must have a reason in there somewhere... do you sense a little anger? OK, I still have a little anger left.

This is my second RIF in my career. The first was the dotcom where Bill and I met, and I knew the RIF was coming as we were running out of funds, and it was different as I was in the last rounds of lay offs. That was the event that pushed me to move to Colorado and start my life with Bill - no regrets! I am certain this will be a positive change too!

I am very well connected through all my ex-colleagues from FICO, clients, vendors, speaking engagements and papers I've published over the past 8 years. In fact, by the end of Wed, someone had already sent my name for a position. I didn't even have an updated resume yet. By Thursday, I had another connection send me a job lead (interviewing on the phone today). Truly felt the love by all my ex-colleagues, some also RIFed with me, their messages of support and kind words, and recommendations above and beyond what I had expected.

I am lucky to be in a better spot financially too. Bill works at a company that loves him, all our insurance is on his medical (better than FICOs in the past few years), and we have good savings. In addition, they gave me 3 months of severance, which isn't bad. I don't feel the time and financial pressure to find something right away, and can take some time off for R&R and to consider what I want to do next. There is a danger of me enjoying the time off too much and making permanent plans to be a couch potato, smashing Bill's dreams of an early retirement. But I am sure the Chinese side of me will kick in and make me look and take a new job soon enough (Bill sighs in relieve).

So, for the new few weeks to months, I have a list of projects I have been putting off - from cleaning out the hundreds of boxes in the basement, to getting my kids proper Brazilian citizenship papers, to daily walks with Sasha and visits to the gym! Let's see how much of it I can actually get done.

More pictures from girls' weekend

Here are some more pictures from Yvonne:

Girls' trip

I took Audrey to LA for my girl's trip. We plan to trip to spend time with Karen and meet her 9-month old son (Brandon), who none of us had met before. Diana came out from NYC, Karen Lee and Yvonne from San Francisco, and Vicki from San Diego. Since my parents aren't back yet, I didn't want to leave Bill to take care of two kids. And my girlfriends, except for Diana, hadn't met Audrey before.

I was a little anxious about travelling with her by myself. I wasn't only worried about her mood on the flights, but also the logistics of everything I needed to carry and my goal was not to check in any bags. But after being home with both kids sick, I was feeling invisible. I could deal with anything, and one kid would be easy!

We ended up with one duffel, one diaper bag, and the light stroller. No bags to check in, but lots to carry until we are on the plane. It was easy to pack light, since Karen has a baby and all the equipment, I only had to bring some diapers, clothes, and her favorite blanket/stuff animals. Going through security wasn't hard, I can fold and unfold the stroller with one hand. The lady in front of me was painfully slower, with her one bag and one computer. My arms were getting tired having to wait for her. The guy behind me took pity on the single mom with toddler and offered to help me with the stroller. Getting on and off the plane carrying 2 bags and a toddler is challenging. The bags are not heavy, but the aisles are too narrow for them to fit through without a struggle.

The flight out to LA was packed, so Audrey sat on my lap the whole time. Surprisingly, she fell asleep before the flight took off, and slept for more than half of the flight. Even after waking up, she was happy to eat some crackers and drink her milk. She didn't make a sound. After the flight was over, the person in front turned around and said "I didn't even know there was a baby there". The best complement ever!

The flight back wasn't so quiet. People around definitely heard Audrey. She had two small meltdowns precipitated by the fact she was very tired, in between she did sleep a little (30-45 minutes maybe). But she had her own seat as the flight was relatively empty, since it was right at the time of the Super Bowl. A very nice young lady sat on the aisle seat, and played with Audrey while she was awake. Overall not a bad flight at all.

Yvonne and Karen L who arrived 30 minutes earlier, rented a car with a car seat, and picked Audrey and I up. It was perfect. They also dropped us off on the way out.

The weather was awesome, in the mid 70s! We had 2 1/2 days of chatting, meeting Brandon, going to Pasadena for brunch, ice-cream, shopping, and lots and lots of eating! We love being together. We don't get to do it often enough, but hopefully we can still make time for our girl trips.

2 sick kids, 1 parent, high of 0ºF

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Since our Portland trip, Bill left for 3 days to Boston, followed by 3 days for me in San Diego, and another 3 days for Bill in LA. All work trips that ended up back to back. Bill and I got the hang of being single parents while the other travelled, with well planned mornings, bed-time routines and meals. That was easy compared to the these past few days.

An hour after Bill leaves on Sunday morning for the airport, Audrey gets a fever. Mason follows his coughing and congestion with a mild fever of his own Sunday afternoon. It soon became clear I would spend Monday at home with the kids. Two Star Wars movies, many Doras, Diegos, Yo Gabba Gabbas, dress-up, LEGO and many games later, I felt like super Mom by Monday night. They were still working through their bugs, but fed and happy and full of energy when Tylenol and ibuprofen kicked in. I even went out to clear the snow from the driveway when Ms Shauna came by for an hour (originally she was to watch the kids while I had my one client meeting I couldn't cancel, but the meeting was moved). Bill has been clever to schedule his last two trips right before the snow arrives, so I get stuck with the snow removal duty.

I wasn't looking forward to Tuesday! The high outside was going to be 0ºF. Both kids were still sick. Most schools cancelled classes on Tuesday, and I was hoping that Gateway would also close. That would free up Ms. Shauna to come and watch the kids. But, Gateway was one of the few schools/daycare that did open on Tuesday. To add to the day, Mason woke up at midnight wanting to sleep in my room. I let him, which started the long night of needing to go to the bathroom, rolling around, wanting his pillow, wanting to sleep in his own room again, coming back because he was scared to sleep alone, which ended at me putting him back in his room a final time at 4 AM! Audrey, who slept through the night was ready to start her day at 6:30AM. I wasn't!

I was so exhausted by 8 AM. As I watched Audrey and Mason dance and play, I decided to take them to school in the freezing cold weather. After all, school was open and they seem back to normal. I bundled them up and off we went into the -6ºF outdoors. There was very little snow, the roads were clear and it wasn't a difficult drive. Unfortunately, Audrey was still contagious (we are pretty sure she had Hand Foot Mouth disease) and they would only take her 24 hours after her fever breaks. But, having to take care of one kid is easier and would allow me to take a nap during her nap. Mason wasn't happy about going back to school while Audrey got to stay home, but sorry buddy, he could have stayed home if he didn't kept Mommy up most of the night. I was back at 70% after a long nap in the afternoon.

All the while, I texted Bill updates of the kids fevers, our activities, and how I was doing. My updates grew in desperation as Tuesday started. He was able to come back earlier on Tuesday, arriving at 7 PM instead of midnight, helping me get the kids through a bath and ready for bed. Thanks Bill!

Video of kids dancing on Tuesday right before Bill came home:

Bill is back, Mason is at school (we are keeping Audrey at home for one more day), I am back at work, it has warmed up to 7ºF outside, and I have Friday off. This are looking up! I'm taking Audrey to LA to see my friend Karen and her baby Brandon, and my other girlfriends will be there too.

I am so looking forward to my parents being back. They are coming back from China on Feb 14th. We appreciated their help before, but after a taste of being by ourselves, we REALLY appreciate having them around to help with the kids, specially during our work trips and when the kids are sick!