Title…
In 2005 I received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Marine Corps. The previous 5 years were spent all over the Middle East and Western Pacific regions of our rock, before that were 18 years of being a child/son/student in an lower class family. When you leave the military, you’re now a Veteran. In the unique case of the Marines, a title is something earned, not given. It is with a literal crucible that young men and women are forged into warriors, and granted the title of Marine. And, like many of the precious things in our lives, once you have earned this title, it is yours forever.
Don’t get me wrong, I cherish, respect, and love my time with the Marines. My experiences there cemented the man I have become with a solid foundation of work ethic, integrity, and leadership qualities. However, after EAS (end of active service), the world is new and scary. There are legitimately hundreds of resources currently available for “transitioning Veterans”. I’m not going into detail on that topic right now, but the sheer number should convey the challenge facing service members re-integrating with the civilian workforce.
The next 2 or so years of my life were pretty rough. I went from low-income job to lower-income job, focused on the 2 inches in front of my nose and making it to the next bar on the weekend. Throughout this timeline, my only active titles were Husband, and Marine. Somehow, I managed to eek out an A.A. in General Studies from an online community college that was popular in the Veteran community. At this point, my only drive was to achieve what really pushed me into the Marines to begin with, a Bachelor’s Degree. So, I cemented the title of Student, and went to the University of New Mexico. Throughout my collegiate career, I chased several titles (degrees), ultimately deciding on a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. My focus was split between classes, and building/running a student Veterans group to advocate for those hundreds of transitioning programs that didn’t exist in 2008. So really, what I did was claim a new title of Advocate to add to my hectic collection.
In 2010, I graduated and had no idea what to do next. I had pushed the pause button on responsibility while I took random classes covering everything from PTSD to User Experience Research to The Sociological Impacts of George Romero films (seriously, 2 week, 300-level course where we watched zombie movies). At the end of it all, I was right back where I started, but I had a powerful little slip of paper that opened up interview opportunities. Floating around, I ended up working in a T-Mobile call center doing tech support for Blackberry and Android phones. This lasted for about as long as my empathy for strangers screaming at me about cell service allowed. I moved into an 18 month contract with the FAA where I went from deskside support to Systems and Network administration. As the contract ran out, I felt the changing winds and left for a Monitoring Engineer position running SolarWinds NPM for about 50 datacenters with Verizon Terremark. (all of the SysAdmin/NetAdmin roles in the contract were laid off less than 10 days after I left) At this point, I had hit the big leagues and could safely add IT Professional to my collection.
Unfortunately, I still had a wandering soul and the intrinsic desire to be better. The tenure at Verizon was short (about 9 months), and I had to move my career in a different direction because of a greater opportunity for my family in the long-term, and a new impending title of Father. I transitioned into a consultant/engineer/training role with the most successful professional services company specializing in SolarWinds in the United States. To be perfectly honest, I showed up as a green “kid” who was in way over his head. My experience with SolarWinds at that was about 24 months with only 2 of their products (their portfolio at the time measured around 20 or so). I was working alongside engineers who were titans in the emerging monitoring space, many of whom are leading teams across the world doing some really amazing things now. #ChallengeAccepted
12 months, and hundreds of evening/night hours worth of studying later, I was awarded the coveted title of THWACK MVP. I had earned industry-recognition through dedication and hard work, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled. In the battle of Id/Ego/Super-Ego, this title is the best (in the battle of life, Father takes that trophy). I spent the next several years moving through other titles and positions within the company, expanding my skillset until I was a de facto Expert in every single product offering from SolarWinds, a very capable accidental-DBA (with the new title of MCSA to go with it), and quite the dangerous little PowerShell aficionado. Ultimately, my tenure with the company ended about 2 months ago (that’s a story for a different time).
In my current role, I am teamed up with the venerable Joshua Biggley (THWACK’s only Canadian MVP) at a Fortune 25 company which just won an award for the most geographically diverse/scaled SolarWinds environment at THWACKcamp last week. I’m once against surrounded by elite engineers in our chosen fields, and work for a manager who has SEVERAL reviews by trusted peers as the “best manager they have ever had”. Suffice to say that I am blessed and honored to be with such a team. I was hired with the intended title of Monitoring Engineer (there’s actually an “Engineer-Software Engineering” title in the org chart, for whatever that’s worth). Today I was looking at a report of the time I have spent since I came on board, using my personal favorite Toggl, and it dawned on me that I could easily add Data Professional and Automation Engineer to that signature block as well.
What’s funny about the last two titles is that I wasn’t actively chasing them. I’ve always looked at those professions as an end goal. The final form from all of the late nights, early morning, 40+ weeks of travel annually while my children were but babies, even the poor choices along the way. All of it would someday lead to a role that would allow me to feed my analytical mind, engineering heart, and push me to be the best. What I didn’t realize is that it was in front of me right now.
I am 35, have an AMAZING wife, 2 gorgeous children, and I am in love with my job. This is something I try to tell myself every day because it centers my focus and puts things in perspective for me. I challenge you to find the love in your journey and do the same. And, if I might be so bold as to offer advice, try not to focus on the Titles, focus on the journey.
Or, as a man I respect (SQLRockstar) has told me time and again, feed your soul first.
Side Note: I am an extremely competitive person, but only with myself. I try my hardest to respect everyone’s journey and I hope this doesn’t come across as judgmental. It’s a reflection of my personal journey that focuses on the positives so as not to get mired in the (plentiful) negatives. I promise to not be so melodramatic every time. ❤
