The Story of My Life so Far - Part 98 - Preparing to Emigrate

This is the story of my life so far: 68 years and counting.
Prequel: A Brief History of my Family in France

The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 97

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In 1993 or 1993, the founders of CR2A, the software house where I was working, have sold the company. To improve the balance sheet, they had decided to suggest to several of the software engineers, including me, that they should look for another job, with the implied threat that we would be fired if we did not leave the company.
Fortunately, my boss went to explain to the founders that they should not get rid of me, so I did not leave the company then.

Because of this, and the situation at home, where Geneviève is living but not really living with us, and my desire that my children learn another language and be exposed to another culture, I had decided to emigrate to North America. I had good memories of my stay in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1979-1982.

During the meetings for the standardization of Ada 95, I met several times Philippe Kruchten, a French software architect who was then working in British Columbia. I asked him if he could find me a job in Canada, and he replied by asking me to send my curriculum vitae.

Philippe's employer was then Rational Software. His job was software architect for the Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS) that was developed in Richmond, British Columbia by Hughes Aircraft of Canada, a company that no longer exists.

Philippe gave my CV to Rational and Hughes Aircraft, and I was interviewed over the phone by various people. The conversations with Rational did not go very far, but Hughes Aircraft was interested in me. I am sure that Philippe's recommendation was a big part of it.

To be sure that I was a good fit for working for CAATS, CR2A, my employer, and Hughes Aircraft made a deal: I would be sent for 4 months to Canada to work for Hughes Aircraft. During this four months, I would be able to decide if I really wanted to work for CAATS and Hughes Aircraft would be able to decide if they wanted to hire me.

I had told CR2A that my goal was to be hired by Hughes Aircraft, so that they would be no surprise for them.

And in February 1994, I flew to British Columbia to start my four month stint for CAATS.

Continue to Part 99

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Summary
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8
Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16
Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24
Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28 - Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 - Part 32
Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35 - Part 36 - Part 37 - Part 38 - Part 39 - Part 40
Part 41 - Part 42 - Part 43 - Part 44 - Part 45 - Part 46 - Part 47 - Part 48
Part 49 - Part 50 - Part 51 - Part 52 - Part 53 - Part 54 - Part 55 - Part 56
Part 57 - Part 58 - Part 59 - Part 60 - Part 61 - Part 62 - Part 63 - Part 64
Part 65 - Part 66 - Part 67 - Part 68 - Part 69 - Part 70 - Part 71 - Part 72
Part 73 - Part 74 - Part 75 - Part 76 - Part 77 - Part 78 - Part 79 - Part 80
Part 81 - Part 82 - Part 83 - Part 84 - Part 85 - Part 86 - Part 87 - Part 88
Part 89 - Part 90 - Part 91 - Part 92 - Part 93 - Part 94 - Part 95 - Part 96
Part 97