I know I have complained a lot about Symantec lately, but now that I’m no longer an employee and now that I no longer have to worry about being laid off, downsized, right-sized, or let go, I’m no longer affected by the bad. Obviously, I wouldn’t have stayed with Symantec as long as I did if there hadn’t been a lot of good.
In July, 2001, when I started with Symantec, I was living in a 1710 square foot house. I had tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, credit card debt, and car loans.
I was given a bunch of incentive stock options when I was hired by Symantec. In the next three years, the price of the stock went up, up, and up! There were three 2:1 stock splits. My stock options became valuable. We were able to pay off student loans, credit cards, other debts, and we even paid a landscaping company to landscape our home.
I also participated in the employee stock purchase plan. For a while, I could purchase Symantec at the lowest price in the previous three years, discounted 15%. This meant another pretty good chunk of money every six months that we could use to pay off more debt and make other home improvements.
Before Symantec let me go in 2006, I was able to purchase the house we now live in, which is more than double the size of our previous home. When I was “downsized,” I used the severance package Symantec offered me to finish the basement of my home.
Financially, Symantec has been very good for me. Now, the only debt I have is my mortgage, and it’s a lot smaller than it would be had we been paying the minimum payment every month. My employment with Symantec, even up until the end, has been a financial blessing.
Symantec’s other benefits have been very good as well. I had LASIK surgery five years ago. The medical benefits have been great. The dental benefits have been good as well. The orthodontic benefits have paid for two sets of braces for my two sons.
While working for Symantec, I was able to see Castle Neuschwanstein in Germany. I was able to dive coral reefs off of Key West. I saw aircraft carriers in San Diego and I went four-wheeling on the San Andreas fault near Palm Springs.
The past nine years have been good for my career. I received my Top Secret security clearance from the Defense Security Service. I earned my CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification. I worked in large enterprise environments. I gained practical experience in Java, C++, C#/.NET, and learned to use a variety of databases.
I have worked with some very smart, very fun, and very cool people. I look forward to crossing paths with many of them through the rest of my career.
The good really has outweighed the bad. In the end, I’m very grateful for the experiences I’ve had at Symantec.