The first two times IBM laid off Courtney Johnson, he survived by applying for a different position within the company's branch at Research Triangle Park.

The third time, there was no job to apply for.

After learning in March that his position was being cut -- the third such notice he'd received in two years -- Johnson could have applied to remain at the computer and information technology giant as a network specialist. But if he got the job, he would have had to move wherever the company had an opening, whether it was in New York or India.

"I said to myself, 'Nah. I've got too much going here,'" said Johnson, 49, of Durham.

So he took the six months of severance pay he got for 26 years with IBM and decided to launch his own business in air-conditioning repair. He figures he can earn more fixing AC units on his own than he ever did fixing servers for IBM.

An IBM spokesman did not return several messages. But Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the company's labor union, Alliance@IBM, estimates the company has shed about 10,000 jobs in North America. At RTP, at least 334 jobs have been eliminated.

Johnson says the severe economic recession is forcing him and many others to start their own business.

"It's not just me; the industry can't handle the load of the people," Johnson said. "But we have a talent we have to exercise. We've got to make our own widget."

Unsatisfied with contractors, Johnson had been repairing the air conditioners at several apartment units he had bought decades ago. Johnson had grown to love fixing things; his day job was to repair servers and networks for businesses. After his first layoff two years ago, he began taking classes part-time in Durham Technical Community College's industrial maintenance technologies program.

Many others are joining him. Durham Tech's enrollment for the fall semester is up 7 percent over last year.

Not only are more students enrolling at the community college, but they're also older in the last few semesters than they've been in recent years, said Pamela Senegal, the school's dean for technical and career programs.

"It's another indicator that our students are coming to us trying to change careers," she said. "The ripples of this (recession) seem to be deeper than they have before. People are having a harder time getting back in the workforce with their skills."

Since his last day in May, Johnson has been working freelance on units for family, friends and their acquaintances. He's now taking classes full time.

Those earlier close calls with unemployment forced Johnson to prepare for the worst.

"I think the first time I lost my job going into IT, I realized that I need to make sure that I'm not going to have a problem when I really get laid off," Johnson said. "I made sure I cut off a few things. I paid for my car. I refinanced the house, refinanced the (rental) properties, paid off my bills. ... I made sure that I was ready when the time came."

Even so, it hasn't been easy.

Johnson says he has had to use his car sparingly, going on multiple errands in one trip. Beans-and-rice dinners are common, and he sometimes even skips meals. The interest on his mortgage will soon double from 4.4 percent to 9 percent, but he plans on putting down a lump sum to keep his payments down.

Still, the hardship could be worse. His tenants' rent helps, though in a sign of the recession's pervasiveness, he has had to extend payments after several of his tenants lost their own jobs.

Divorced, Johnson says he's lucky he doesn't have a young family to look after. He continues to pay property taxes on his 81-year-old mother's home in Portsmouth, Va.

He worries that his 20-year-old son, an engineering student at N.C. A&T, will face a barren job market when he graduates in two years.

Johnson anticipates that by this time next year he'll be working full time on his next -- and, he hopes, his last -- job. He says completing a degree in industrial systems will help him master his trade and establish business contacts.

He hopes to expand his repair business, which he's calling North East Solutions. The name comes from Johnson's church, North East Baptist in Durham, where he once taught Sunday school. ("They seem to be able to solve a lot of problems," he said -- hence, the connection.)

He says he has little time to dwell on the loss of job. In his last months at IBM, he realized he had to let go on a trip to IBM's microprocessor division in Fishkill, N.Y. It was the only place IBM was hiring for his position.

"I looked around Fishkill, and I said, 'This is OK, but I don't think I want to make this home for the next ten years,'" Johnson recalled.

He decided that if he stayed at IBM, it would have to be at RTP. But there were no jobs there.

"It was kind of sad: 'I'm really gonna get laid off this time,'" Johnson said ."There were moments that I felt kind of left out; you know, why me? Then I realized that maybe it's good ... heating and AC people make 95 dollars an hour. That's more than IBM (paid). I could build my client base. Maybe it's a good thing I got laid off."