My career change in the time of a pandemic PART I
My story is one of many in the last year about career change. Next month marks my one-year anniversary since I decided to quit my job and dive into the fabulous and exciting world of web development.
Every story, blog and article that I have read or any person that I have discussed this subject with, explains a very different take on how easy, or difficult, it is to uproot the comforts of one’s life and career to “renew” oneself, professionally speaking.
Over the course of a few stories, I would like to take my turn at describing my experience with the phenomenon that is career transitioning and hopefully encourage any readers that identify with my story to do the same: if you are unhappy with the way your career is going, it is possible to do something about it.
First, a little bit about me. I’m 26 years old. I speak three languages fluently (French, English and German) thanks to my British mother and German father. I have lived in France my whole life but have travelled in many parts of the world. I currently live in Paris, a buzzing metropolis full of opportunity and French people.
Readers might find this last addition redundant but it is a remarkable challenge of its own.
For you to get the full scope of my story, I need to take you back in time to…
LIFE BEFORE COVID
2020 etched my eighth year in my Food and Beverage career.
When I was younger, I struggled to find my passion, something to study for and make a living out of it.
Although it was a fair assumption that my three languages would make me a good translator, I was not not good at it.
After the end of my first year of translating school, I quit and knew I needed to do something while I figured out what to do next. I decided to work in hospitality, thinking to myself it would only be temporary.
My first few months working in a bar proved very exciting and my managers thought I was doing an excellent job. Thus, my career and evolution in Food and Beverage began.
In my 8 years, I have worked in bars, rooftop bars, hostel bars and clubs. I occasionally worked at hotel and hostel receptions.
My work ethic and professionalism took me from bar staff to bar supervisor in a matter of months at age 19. Along the way to higher positions, I have been a shift manager, an assistant manager, and finally, a Food & Beverage Manager.
It took me through the ranks, many different locations and to meet different types of people, but with ultimately always the same issues: exhaustion, stress, pain and, overall health and lifestyle instabilities (ie: long hours, physical fatigue).
I could have gone further, but I just was not truly passionate about hospitality; and especially at what personal cost?
Plus, my jobs never really fulfilled me. It never made me entirely happy.
Food and Beverage is still seen as one of the toughest sectors with physical and mental strain. A sector often thought to be easier than it sounds, but, trust me, it really isn’t.
However, I will never regret my time and experience in hospitality. After all, it brought me a steady income, experience in management, friends and my partner of now five years.
It also taught me a wide set of soft skills that I will take with me wherever I go; such as leadership, determinism, resourcefulness and problem solving skills.
Hospitality was never going to be my end goal, but then what was?
Suddenly, the world was hit by a pandemic.
A WORLD IN TURMOIL & A CAREER CRISIS
In March/April 2020, due to Covid, my entire industry of hospitality had to shut down (literally overnight), leaving a lot of my fellow comrades and myself at home, waiting. Waiting for the world to reopen, whenever that would be.
Side note: France was a very lucky country to live in during the pandemic, as the French government helped all businesses financially to keep their employees on payroll for the duration of the lockdown which still continues on in certain conditions to this day.
This meant everyone got a little less salary per month but, to put it bluntly, you got paid to be safe at home. Whereas neighbouring countries had the highest unemployment rates in a while.
I used this time mostly to rest and then to start thinking about what could be the new chapter in the life of Max Gruber.
If you recall how I felt about my current career choice, you can imagine it was going to be my change of professional career that would be my turning point to finding professional satisfaction.
I explored business development for a very short while before realising that it was too similar to what I was already doing.
Then I came across:
I became hooked.
Web development fulfilled my need for something new, exciting, and it especially seemed like an inexhaustible well of infinite possibilities.
