Is this the Pinnacle?

“Burned, Burnt Out and On Fire” is an anthology series containing short stories, essays, and journal entries of working, surviving and thriving in a technology career. Stories and accounts can come from anywhere — either from my childhood, education, points in my career, or things that have inspired me or taught me something. Enjoy the ride, pardon the cursing, and thanks for reading.

#onfire #2016

I think I’m at the top.

I’m not all that sure, but when I look around me I can clearly see where I have come from, and I can clearly see where I am headed towards.

It is a fucking surreal feeling, but also a confident one, but definitely not one that I expected to happen to me. Not for someone that was raised to expect the worst and hope or the best.

The thing that clued me in was the timing of certain events. The last few years have been interesting, to say the least. After leaving one job at Adobe (*cough* laid off *cough), starting another one at lynda.com that frankly, at the time, I thought was going to be temporary — has turned out to be a great challenge, a lot of fun, and an amazing opportunity.

Then we got bought by LinkedIn. But the opportunity got even bigger.
Now we are getting bought again by Microsoft. And the opportunity can get larger still.

During this time, I hit the tech startup “dream.” I had equity in my company that was actually worth something. Now, we aren’t talking buckets of cash. I’m not going off to buy a private island or a professional hockey team but in the course of a single month I was able to:

• Pay off all of my remaining student loans
• Put a down payment on the house that my husband and I plan to retire at

Just thinking about it amazes me — that’s why I think I’m at the top.
I am able to fully “make good” with what I invested in myself early in life to get my degree and get my career started, and now I am able to use the success I have had and invest in my future when the main part of my career will be behind me.

It is a bit scary though.

I thought that I hit “my peak” a few years ago when I worked at Adobe and was let go. I thought I’d never be able to get to the same point in my career. But I was wrong. But I don’t want to just assume that it will happen again, so I guess I’m just not really assuming anything right now. Being happy with where I am, proud of what I have been able to do to get me here, and confident that I have a place for me after my career is over is pretty amazing and I’m happy I have been lucky enough to have this.

Part of why I wanted to start this series was to reflect on all of the good, bad and ugly events that help build to where I am. Some of them played a big role in my career — others were red herrings. But I am convinced that sharing the events of my life, as far back as when I was a kid and saw my first computer has value.

So I hope that the stories, as I write them, make you laugh and make you think. If they don’t, then there’s the comments section below. Just remember Wil Wheaton’s rule, “Don’t be a dick.”

Hi ya! I’m Doug. I’m currently Principal Staff Author and Technology Education Evangelist at LinkedIn and Lynda.com. I’m also an Adobe Community Professional and an overall code/tech/gadget geek. I also tweet @sfdesigner, update my face at Facebook, and insta pics at @sfdesignerdw. Follow me and say hello :)

#first #success #midlife #lookingback #lookingforward