I had a friend who committed suicide in his early sixties after three years of not being able to land a decent position. He was amazingly qualified to do a ton of things. Age discrimination was at play here.
He actually went back to school and kept a positive attitude through all of it. He'd come over to my office and we'd have long chats. I'd get him involved in what I was doing and did my best to keep him motivated. I even paid for a two week Solidworks course hoping to help open new doors for him. I would give him access to my machine shop and shoved him into the world of modern mechanical design and manufacturing.
In the end he could not cope with no longer being "useful" and took his own life before finishing the course. I had no idea and saw no sign of what was going on in his mind.
It sucks because he was my mentor as I grew as an engineer. Everywhere I look I find examples of what he taught me. Some of my thinking was molded by him. I have little engineering sayings and rules of thumb I got from him. Another friend of mine is the same. When we get together we invariably go into examples of how last week or last month we did X and it reminded us of him. I guess in a small way that makes him live on in our minds through what we do professionally every day.
He actually went back to school and kept a positive attitude through all of it. He'd come over to my office and we'd have long chats. I'd get him involved in what I was doing and did my best to keep him motivated. I even paid for a two week Solidworks course hoping to help open new doors for him. I would give him access to my machine shop and shoved him into the world of modern mechanical design and manufacturing.
In the end he could not cope with no longer being "useful" and took his own life before finishing the course. I had no idea and saw no sign of what was going on in his mind.
I still can't believe the loss.