Sometime just before the excitement that was 2004, I found that I could no longer secure adequate employment for myself (to support my family). $nbsp;It would appear that there were enough applicants - even when there weren't any - that HR departments wouldn't even give your resume/application a glance unless you had a college degree. (You can already guess what I didn't have, can't you?) That's right, I was "just a hacker" since high school, and thanks to yellow journalism most prospective employers didn't know what to think, hence I was ignored as far as the job market was concerned.
I enrolled in a wonderful little college (Guilford College to be sure) where I totally disappeared for three years. Oh, yeah, I would come back here, lurk a little, maybe even post from time to time - but I had infinitesimal time in which to do it - no time at all, really. But I would drop in for the odd visit. I was studying for a Computer Science degree (yeah, really rough, right?) and a Business Management degree (where I met - and defeated - my antithesis: "Accounting" and "Financial Projections". But hey, if I was going to spend the time, I should get some use out of it, right? Stretch myself, get a little outside of my comfort zone...
--- Fast Forward: 3 Years ---
In July, 2007 I managed to achieve both degrees (but almost didn't graduate due to a bounced eMail in an automated application system), but found that as time continued marching - it was supposed to stop while I was in college, right - and employment continued its downturn, becoming harder and harder to obtain. Even with a degree (or two), it was beginning to look pretty bleak.
Then, miraculously on the morning of April 7th, 2008 - I started work here at Electronic Data Magnetics as the Systems Guru, Computer Scientist, IT Director, "Head IT Guy", "Top Geek", or whatever else you would like to call it, and have been happily engrossed in what most people like to refer to as "real life". My job description varies with what it requires on a daily basis; you may find me figuring out a networking issue one day, and writing Ajax code the next - I kinda' get around, and I'm allowed to! Boredom just ceased to be a problem, ya'll!
(Here in the south, ya'll is a word, a contraction of the words "you all" and can be referenced as singular or plural. If you really want it to be plural, you can add the predescriptor "all", as in "all ya'll" to remove all doubt.)
And so, I am back, and happy to see things are pretty much the same. Different, very different, but in the overall view, pretty much the same. And, as time allows, I'll return to getting in some high-quality lurking, don't'ya'know... XD
...and surprisingly enough, it has taken a little while to get here... Several interim jobs didn't pan out, I ran out of money (not suggested if you have dependents - as I do...), managed to drop into debt, get out of debt, and have been climbing up that slippery slope ever since. But without these challenges, my life might have seemed pretty dull... ...and I hate boredom! ;) |
