Systems engineer likes life after IBM. (Jon Batman; International Business Machines Corp.)

Downsizing. Restructuring. These are the buzzwords of the 1990s. But like most euphemisms, they mask a sea of human faces: those who have ben downsized or restructured right out of their jobs.

However, at least one former IBM systems engineer has discovered that life after Big Blue doesn't have to be blue. In fact, it can be quite green.

"There is life after IBM if people would only take advantage of the opportunities IBM has provided them," says Jon Batman, senior consultant for Creative Information Technology in Altamonte Springs, a systems integration company he founded in January 1992 with his wife, Linda Batman, a former elementary school teacher.

"Everyone I run into, I say, look at taking early retirement and start your own business - it's a great way to live." …