Budgets

So we are all, once again, worrying about budgets.

A few years ago, we went through all of this. We lost a few programs and a few friends, and then everything got better. Talk to enough old-timers and you will probably hear plenty of these stories, from every several years.

I wish I had the answer, but I'm not sure I completely understand the question, myself. It may be that we will skate through this with just a few stern warnings to turn out lights, or have to keep our computers for an additional year or two before we can upgrade them. It may be that entire programs will again be flushed, and some good people along with them.

In the How To Cope With Stress books, they tell you not to spend a lot of calories on things you have no control over. But it's difficult, when the lead story on the news every night is another piece about some unimaginable multiple of hundreds of people have suddenly found themselves without work. It's on the front page of every paper. It comes to us in e-mails and Web links and now here I am bringing it up, too.

There are a lot of ways this could shake out. All of the real decision-making happens several pay grades above my position. I have no control. That's not to say that I don't have any influence though. There is plenty that you or I can do to make sure we're the last name on the list to be crossed-out.

I'm not talking (only) about coming in a few minutes early, and leaving a few minutes late, and all of that nose-to-the-grindstone stuff, here. Our focus has always been on learning to build good Web pages better and faster and so that's the hook, here. If you are concerned with your future, consider doubling-up on your efforts to learn Dreamweaver, to learn HTML and CSS, or to learn some additional technologies like the content management in Adobe Contribute, or server administration or programming in JavaScript, PHP and My SQL.

Learn as much as you can about any of these—or all of these—and you will be just that much more valuable to your boss. Taken to an extreme, if you are doing the work of four or five WebFolks, then it would take four or five people to replace you, right? That makes keeping you the biggest bargain in your offices. They'll get rid of the coffee maker before they let you go.

Or, not. Maybe there just isn't the money to keep you, no matter how much your output improves. If that's the case, then you enter the population of workforce candidates with a new skillset that puts you ahead of some huge percentage of people competing for the next job. Larry, Curly and Moe all know HTML and Dreamweaver. But you know HTML, Cascading Stylesheets and the Templates. That pretty much makes it your offer to accept or decline.

We're doing all of the normal Fiscal Responsibility things at our house, like turning off lights, casting an eagle-eye on the cable-TV bill and trying not to spend so many (wonderful!) evenings in restaurants, banking savings in anticipation of maybe being able to only make minimum payments for a while. There are any number of books, magazines and Web sites with great tips on how to handle your money, when it's still coming in.

But if you're like me, and worried about the axe that may or may not be falling, this may be a great time to start learning, relearning or even just applying the things you already know, but haven't gotten around to using, yet. It's got to be much easier to learn 500 things over six months, than over six weeks.

Good luck in the weeks and months ahead. And if things don't turn out our way, maybe we can carpool to an interview?