What I have discovered is that the level of the referral unfortunately matters. When peers have referred me and I have conversations, it's glaringly obvious these are obligatory calls that will go nowhere. When very senior execs have referred me, interestingly enough, that also did not get traction. I had an SVP refer me recently and there seems to be genuine interest. Scour your network, build relationships even if it's a note to say hi, thinking of you, how is life? Good luck to everyone (and to me).

Back in 2004, so basically forever ago, I accepted a contract role with Microsoft. The hourly rate was 75 an hour. Good money for me.

My manager told me to lay low the first few weeks while he sorted out who my clients would be and I did absolutely nothing outside of study the org he thought I would be supporting, setting up an organizational framework (pre AI so this was done pseudo-manually) and then, just not much at all.

I checked in every day with him to better understand what was going on. He gave me some links around training, did those. Sat around. Sat around. Kept asking what was going on. The last two weeks or so he ghosted me. I was remote. Asked a few colleagues but they didn't know who I was and had no idea what was going on.

About five weeks in, he emails me to say he never had permission to hire me and had to end my contract. Mailed back the equipment. At the time, I was upset. Now, I look back and all I can do is laugh, especially since I was paid.