Alex Stone

So I lost my job, Monday. Those closest to me know that I’m taking this a lot harder than usual and no one knows why.

Let me back up a bit.

I worked for a small web-development firm in Fredericksburg and for a while it was great. Then something happened and my performance began to deteriorate. Everyone around me, including myself, attributed this to being in an office, all by myself, with no one to talk to or be office-neighborly with, for 6-8 hours a day.

And for a while, I was able to suck it up, reminding myself that their was a paycheck around the corner. But my work was still suffering. Badly, too. Tasks that were supposed to be menial and somewhat effortless took me hours and slightly larger projects took days and sometimes weeks to complete.

Knowing something had to be done, I kicked my side project, Super DVD Robot!, in to high gear knowing I’d need a good resume peice (as the work I’d been doing at my day job was under NDA wraps until it’s launch).

As most of you know, Best Buy asked me to come showcase SDR! at this year’s SXSW conference and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. It was not only a chance to get out and spend my days with other humans, but a chance to see what the rest of the people that do what I do were up to.

[I won’t recap SXSW. There’s a blog entry already, here]

Being jobless sucks. You always think you’re ready for it, but it’s hard. There’s overwhelming uncertainty to when you’ll start making income again, and it just gets more real and stressful every single day.

It’s only been 4 days and I’m already at the point where I’m debating in my mind if I should get cat supplies or let them eat dry food a little longer, wondering how long I’ll have to stretch my savings and the money I have left in my checking account (I’m not touching the credit card until I have steady income, again).

So I ask that you, my friends (and strangers) keep me in your prayers while I look for a new job and try to get my head back in the game.

Update: Vimeo and Mashery are hiring PHP application developers and I’ve decided to swing for the fences, having only SDR! on my portfolio.

Also, HUGE thanks to ProgrammableWeb and Mashery for interveiwing me at SXSW. That’s getting a mention on the updated resume :)