Well folks, seeing as things are feeling much better around here (other than the fact that I have a cold), I thought I would post a new rant about something that I can?t help but notice. In life, things happen, and sometimes you might think that you only have one chance and then you lose it. However, recent events have made me really think about whether or not that is actually true. So, with that in mind, here?s a little story about second chances.
With having recently been hired on to Whitehill, I have had a lot of things go through my mind, but the most prominent one has been that I have this overwhelming sense that this job could be a career level job. The one that will turn into a full blown career that I can stay with for a considerable amount of time. I?m not sure where it comes from but I can say that I do feel like this is meant to happen. So, I?m very anxious to start the new job and see how things go, but oddly enough, there are some things about this whole scenario that are very familiar. Let?s take a walk back in time to January 1999.
In early January of 1999, I was working for school district 2. I had been hired on there right out of school and originally was quite happy about it. But ultimately the job ended up being all about Y2K and desk babysitting. It was not the job for me and being younger at the time, I didn?t see the logic behind putting much effort into the job. So, unfortunately, at that time, my attitude towards my boss, and the company at all, wasn?t that great. I did the job but really did not want to be there but needed the money, blah blah blah. Ultimately, in the first week of January in 1999, I was let go by District 2. Surprised? Yes. Sad? No. In fact, I was so relieved to be out of there but didn?t know how I was going to do because I had bills and other things to consider.
Several weeks later, I was contacted by Analysts International, and after a few phone interviews and conversations, I was hired and had to pack up and move to Poughkeepsie (pronounced puh-kip-see) New York. As I recall it was somewhere around the 22nd or 23rd that I crossed the border into the states, and made my way down to NY where I would spend the next year working at one of the largest IBM plants around.
IBM. There was no question about going for that job. Even though I had graduated with a network engineering diploma, the chance to work for IBM as a programmer was one that I was not going to give up. So, I packed up and went.
Now, living down there wasn?t all that great but the job itself was awesome. I really enjoyed it and had a great time working there. I also knew that I was very good at the job and had been rewarded by my boss with a huge raise before 6 months had come. It really looked like I could have a serious career with IBM. Well, we know the end of that story. I didn?t. There were multiple reasons for me leaving but ultimately I would question that decision over and over again for several years. Always wondering, ?what if I had stayed??.
IBM was a career launching/level job. That would have definitely led me somewhere, but everything happens for a reason right? Well, since then, I?ve had a few jobs, the most noticeable being the Norampac sysadmin job. Nothing ever seemed to fit or feel right. Even Compucollege. It?s a great place to work, with a great environment, but there were still things that I had issues with.
So, here comes the part that seems a little odd or neat to me, depending on your perspective.
This January, things are going fine at the school, but due to circumstances, I ended up unemployed. Scared to death about the responsibilities I have now, I started looking for work.
Now, I get hired on, to commence my job on February 20th.
There are some serious similarities between this situation and the one at IBM. Both instances had me losing my job. Both instances had me unemployed for a period of time. Both instances result in me starting a new job near the end of February. Plus, by all accounts, this job looks exactly like what I have wanted to do for a long time.
Now, some might say the whole thing is coincidence. Some would say there?s no correlation between the two events. But for me, I can?t help wonder if Whitehill is my second chance.
I did not get a chance to launch a full blown career out of IBM because of my life situation at the time. Things now are very different and much better. So, I keep asking myself if this is my second chance to really launch my life into the direction I want it to go.
So despite the oddities of everything, I do see this a little bit differently than perhaps some of you do. As I get older, I?ve found myself more and more open to possibilities about things like fate, and things that are ?meant to be?. Tamara and I for example. Despite everything that we have both gone through, we ended up together. To me, that means it was meant to be.
So, for me, it will be interesting to see how the next few months go. I suspect that by the time all of the cold weather and snow are gone, I?ll know for sure if this is my second chance. But as far as I am concerned, this is it.
So there! I?ve had my say!
