4 ms·
In 2009 @ 24, I quit my job in Louisiana to move to San Diego and live with a girl I sort of knew. Had no other contacts or job prospects in SD. Ended up knock
by colecut 9y ago
In 2009 @ 24, I quit my job in Louisiana to move to San Diego and live with a girl I sort of knew. Had no other contacts or job prospects in SD. Ended up knocking her up my first month in town. (This was quite the wreckless time for me =p)
Spend 4 months looking for EE or Web Dev work (I had a Bachelors in EE but no experience), finally settled on a job at Radioshack just to have SOME income. I got to experience working Black Friday in my first two weeks.
Kept applying for less crap jobs and within another month got a position with a Xerox sales company as IT Helpdesk, starting at 36K salary. Did that the best I could, also started automating several of the company reports and ended up shifting myself to the only development position in the company. Pay rose quickly.
Stayed there for years, did well, and by 2012, somehow, I was able to mortgage a house in San Diego.
The house has surged in value, I now have a 6 figure job, and an amazing 7 year old son. I wake up super grateful for everything I have now and the experiences that developed my appreciation.
I hope to never relive the shame / guilt / fear that consumed me in 2009.
- garagemc2 9y agoA strangely inspiring story. Well done.
- flachsechs 9y agomost people don't talk about how they made peanuts in an entry-level tech job for years, but it's more common than you may think. that first few years of experience is a brutal battle every single day. this is basically one of the best possible outcomes involving life in california, so congrats.
- RUG3Y 9y agoI started by manually QA testing pos systems and mobile apps for a company at $11 an hour. I did that for a few years while teaching myself to code. Now I'm doing ok somewhere else, but it took a layoff to push me there.