Technological Woes

Well, I heard from another company earlier this week.  They decided to go with another candidate because he had more of the supplimentary skills they were looking for (web development, networking, etc).  This is understandable, but very frustrating.

You see, when you work for a financial institution (like MetLife was), and you work in technology, you tend to be very far from the cutting edge.  Now, I know (and knew) that PowerBuilder (my forte) was dwindling in market share, but there was also a decent core of people using the product to keep a job base.  Now, however, the market for PowerBuilder programmers is open, but looking for something else (most often .NET).

So, for seven years I worked for MetLife on a product that was going out of style.  While there, no offers were made to upgrade our skills, we were just maintaining our applications with nothing new, especially nothing as “cutting edge” as .NET (please read the sarcasm in that).  So here I sit with skills that are a few years out of date watching others with more current skill sets get the jobs.

I will admit that it is difficult to not get bitter over this.  I mean after all, I honestly expected to be able to stay at MetLife until I retired.  I didn’t expect to need to find another job unless I wanted to.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  And so, the temptation to get bitter comes.  Bitter because I have to find a job.  Bitter because my skills weren’t kept current while I was at Met.  Bitter over the entire situation.

But I can’t let myself get bitter.  Bitterness is a cancer that will not only eat away at me mentally and spiritually, but physically as well.  It will be a root that sprouts discord and discontent through my life and the lives of my family.  Fortunately, despite what seems to be a bad “lot”, I have and know the cure.

God is the cure.  I know that sounds simplistic, but it is true.  Once we have a true and correct concept of who God is, there is no need for the bitterness that fights to come in.  You see, God is perfect and has a perfect plan for each and every one of us.  Because of that, I know that God is in control of these events (not MetLife).  And while I may not understand or be aware of it now, He has a perfect plan for the resolution of these issues.

Faith, that is what we are talking about.  Faith in God and His perfect plan to overcome any doubts or problems we have with our current situation.  It is a constant, daily battle to fight the bitterness, and one that we have to keep in our attention.  Faith is the key to the victory, but we must still be vigilant in fighting the battle.

CC