I joined Nortel Networks UK in September 2000 after finishing my Masters in Information Technology at UCL, London. Me, together with 6 other graduates, joined the Information Services Department, and after an "orientation" week, where we were introduced to all the different projects the IS teams were working on, we were assigned to different projects. I was chosen to join a team which was working on the implementation of a major ERP system within Nortel. I was acting as the Project Office of the Management Team, working on project plans, budgets and all kind of "exciting" stuff. The good thing was that I was working very closely with the Project Manager, and he was a cool guy. A 35-year old manager, who did not have a technical background, so he was no giving me a hard time with all the technical bits of the project. On the contrary, he was more concerned about having fun, than actually doing most of the work.

Nortel was still performing well in the forth qyarter of 2000, or rather the losses were not visible yet, and the share price was still in the high $ 70s. My team were enjoying all kinds of benefits as the project was very important for the firm. We had "company-paid" lunch every day at the "Nortel pub", which was on campus, and company lunch off-campus every Friday. All drinks on Friday afternoons were also paid by the company. The most important thing was that we could use the Nortel corporate box at Fulham's stadium to watch Fulham's games, and there was 5-star service. I was surpirsed to see that no one else was using it, so my manager and I were there almost every other weekend. Everything was paid by the company.

Early into year 2001, Nortel started delivering bad financial results, and so the redundancy rounds kicked-off. Nine months into my job (June 2001), my manager heard rumours that the 7 graduates (of which I was one) were going to be put on the at-risk list by August. As soon as I heard that, I told him that I had to leave the team and possibly the IS department to save my job. So I did.

In the end of June, I joined another project team which was working on the roll-out of the UMTS network in the UK, for a major customer of Nortel, BT-Cellnet. A month and a half later, the other 6 graduates received at-risk letters and were made redundant. I was safe at the Wireless Technologies Department. By September 2001, I became a Project manager, and took more responsibilities. I enjoyed this job very much, despite having none of the benefits I had before. This was a much more serious project, as we were constantly in direct contact with the customer.

From September 2000 until June 2002 (when I resigned in order to pursue an MBA), Nortel went through 6 rounds of redundancies, and 34,000 employees were laid-off (around the globe). I made it through every one of them. I met some amazing people and that it what I will remember forever.

I spent 22 months at Nortel Networks UK. I was the highest-paid UK graduate Nortel ever employeed (or so I was told). I went through all the overspending during the Internet boom, but also experience all the insecurity felt by the employees during the lay-off period. I learned a lot about how it is to work in a mutlinational comany, as well as 4000 miles away from home.

Do I miss it? Errrrr, like a cannibal misses a vegetarian side-dish.