This is going to be a long post so sorry in advance and congratulations if you make it all the way through!
So, my birthday was last Monday March 31 and I had a horrible day at work. The day was long and I came home dirty and late. I ended up missing my birthday dinner the love of my life had all planned out. I was supposed to have an early day off work but things changed.
I had spent the whole day at work thinking wow I am 28 years old now and what am I doing with my life? I am not doing the job I want to do and I feel very under appreciated for the hard work that I have done. I have worked many jobs, especially in construction where dealing with people with personality differences was the norm, but for the most part if you give respect you get it in return. This job I felt worse at and more under appreciated than any job I have ever had. This was the straw that broke the camels back. No more working hard with nothing to show for it.
I can't expect to change things around by doing the same thing that I have been doing for years. That would just be crazy! I am sick of always being broke, living pay check to pay check in jobs that really have no growth potential or job security. I am digging in and ready to do what ever it takes to be successful.
I started off out of high school going to Community College to become a firefighter. I went through a part time fire academy, took some other classes and tried getting a wildland fire job with the forest service and BLM. I had no success year after year. Every year in January I would start the process all over again. I would start training hard by getting in shape for fire season. I would make phone calls all over the country trying to call crew supervisors, showing up to meet local Engine Captains and Crew Supervisors, any one I could talk to just to get my foot in the door.
I realized after a few summers of this that it was going to be a lot harder than I thought. No one would hire without experience and how do you get experience with out getting a job? School was not going to be enough. A few of my friends that had fire science degrees and the fire academy were unable to get jobs as well. I kinda gave up after 7 years of non success all while still taking classes at local colleges and working odd jobs from pizza delivery to boat inspections. My main job was as a security guard for the ski resort Northstar at Tahoe working the graveyard shift. It was a good job but no real opportunity for advancement.
I decided that I would go to truck school and try truck driving as a career. I went to Desert Truck School and got my Class A drivers license. I started working for a local company along with my girlfriend and lasted about 3 weeks before they decided to "let us both go" from the training program. So I moved on to work for Pride Transport out of Salt Lake City, UT driving over the road lower 48 states. In only 1 month I saw over 30 states and ate at Denny's in most of those states. I saw a lot of bad accidents and was never home for more than 1 or 2 days at a time. This was so hard on family, my daughter and girlfriend both missed me and I realized the money which wasn't much wouldn't be worth never seeing my family or watching my daughter grow up.
I was lucky to find a local job in my home town of Truckee, CA working for TNT Materials driving a concrete mixer. I loved this job and all the guys I got to work with. We got to work on some really high end projects building houses for many celebrities and at least one billionaire that I am not able to mention due to confidentiality agreements. I was able to do helicopter pours at ski resorts and go places must people would never be allowed to go but this job is dangerous. A few guys have rolled their trucks and some on steep ski hills. My old neighbor/ co worker almost died in a bad wreck this way but it comes with the territory with jobs like this. It was fun, good money but due to being in the mountains was only a summer job.
This last January we moved to Colorado Springs for a new start and to be closer to family. I have been trying to think of where I want to take my future career after so many years of struggling. As my dad has told me before, "
Even the blind squirrel runs into an acorn eventually." I now have a new found sense of urgency to find a job doing what I want to do and working for someone who appreciates the hard work and time I put in for them.
I have decided on Web Development. I know that this might come to some as a bit of a shock, I have no experience with computers at all besides the use of Microsoft Word and searching the web. I have already started learning with the use of Code School and their Ruby program. I have a few good books that I am starting out with such as Learning Web Design by Jennifer Robbins, Learn to Program by Chris Pine and Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional by Peter Cooper. For now this should be a good start and has already kept me busy thus far.
I will try and update a few times a week on my progress with this new and exciting journey that I have decided to embark on.
My goal is to have a job as a junior web developer before January 1, 2015.
