High Tech Recession

In retrospect, it all seems so obvious.

Once the darling of Wall Street and Sand Hill Road, the High Tech community has really hit the skids. 1998 and 1999 saw heady IPOs and venture funding doled out to companies with the most ridiculous business plans, the pendulum was bound to swing the other way.

Here in Vancouver, there have been layoffs from some top-notch Web Design firms like Stratford and Blast Radius, as well as software firms like Brainium and, most recently, from my previous employer, Multiactive.

One of those employees included in the 20% staff cut was my good friend Derek K. Miller, who had served there almost 5 years. An eternity in present times.

An endless resource for company information and an undisputed fountain of knowledge, he was called upon from all areas of the company to share the intelligence he'd gathered in his tenure.

Derek's not upset about being laid off...in fact, I think he sees it as an opportunity that he wouldn't normally have had.

I guess this recession isn't so bad.