A story of success...

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Apr 28

2011

by Alina

When I completed my degree for IT, I had a very particular image of what my job would look like. I would finish school, easily find a job, program at a desk, get promoted, and have a fancy office of my own. Most importantly, I would love doing it. Unfortunately, like a lot of careers, it didn't work out how I expected. It took me nearly a year to secure a job, and when I did, I absolutely hated it. I felt trapped. Don't get me wrong, I programming, but when you are forced to tear up and clean up ugly twenty year old code for hours on end, it really sucks. I won't name names, but I left after two years to pursue other opportunities.

I got hired as a receptionist to make rent while I searched for a better job. The majority of the normal positions I was fit for seemed to be identical. Did I pick the right degree? Did I really want to write code for the rest of my life?

My brother advised that I should consider web design. I was wary in the beginning, but he convinced me to look into it. So I decided to start asking people about it. It looked as if a large majority of people in the line of work ADORED their jobs. The workspace atmospheres are a lot more enjoyable, and since there are a lot of upstart websites and web design companies, programmers have more freedom to create their own programs and interact with the people that actually programmed the code they are modifying.

A former classmate offered me a shot at Edigitalstudios. It was a start up chicago web design company with not very many co-workers. I was happy with the personal work conditions and enthusiastic attitudes. To state my former coding positions were torture would be understating. Here, I was open to voice my feelings, contribute new ideas into code. eDigitalStudios has since become a Chicago SEO company. I still work there to this day, three years later. It's amazing.

So I suppose the lesson of the story is: Don't be overwhelmed or upset if your work path does not pan out how you wanted. In many cases, if you give it time, things can end up way better than you dreamed. I suppose a second lesson of the story is: You shouldn't be unwilling to change things up if you are not having fun. If you are not happy in your job, MIX IT UP!!!