What Losing 3 Jobs in 16 Months Taught Me About My Career and My Life
It turns out that all I needed was an eye-opening experience to learn that I had been looking at my career all wrong.
Since graduating from Georgia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in May of 2020, I have held three different positions and I have lost all three of them. Of course, losing a job sucks, and at times it felt like everything was over and I would not be able to pay my bills.
But with time I learned that there is a reason for everything, and when people say that “everything happens for a reason”, as cliche as that sounds, it is true. So I’ll give you the rundown.
The Graduate
Before graduating, on February 26 of 2020, I got a job in Miami at a construction company as a Field Engineer. It was a cool position: I was going to be able to work in Manufacturing, which is what I was interested in at the time, and I was going to get exposure to Project Management which would open a lot of doors for me in the future.
I was excited to move to Miami and have a completely different life than I had in Atlanta. But then, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and within a couple of weeks, I had lost my first job because of it.
That was on April 7th, 2021. For the next 6 months, all I did was apply for jobs. I spent all summer calling everyone I knew, applying to 20–30 jobs a day, harassing people on LinkedIn, just trying to be able to get in somewhere.
I did have a volunteer position then, but it wasn’t the job I wanted.
“All I need is a foot in the door”, I told myself, “once I get a job, the opportunities will be endless!”.
I became obsessed with LinkedIn: took a new picture, revamped my profile summary, did research on how to make my profile perfect, etc. I did the whole thing, lots of applying and lots of research.
Then, out of nowhere, a friend of mine who I had talked to months before, texted me and said that there was a new opportunity at his company. They just happened to be looking for someone who could start right away.
I contacted the hiring manager on Friday, October 2nd, 2020. By the end of the day on Monday, October 5th, 2020, I had a new job.
Quality Time
I was going to work in Quality Engineering at a large medical device manufacturing company in Johns Creek, in the Atlanta metro. So that’s what I did. And I came to love that job.
It was like nothing I had ever heard about before. I didn’t get to use much of my Mechanical Engineering knowledge, but I still loved it.
There was so much critical thinking, so much attention to detail, every little thing mattered. I had to look at things (reports, papers, numbers, software, etc.) and understand and make sure that everything was right and made sense. It may sound boring and mid-key geeky, but it really excited me.
Things were going really well, I had 3 or 4 projects going on on top of my job, and I was succeeding. To be honest, I was thriving. I felt accomplished, and I felt like I made a difference in the company.
But then, on April 28th, 2021, they terminated my employment.
I asked my managers why, and some of them never responded or picked up the phone.
It was nothing that I did wrong, absolutely no fault of my own. I spent the next several days (and nights) wondering if I had messed anything up or done anything that would lead to this. But nothing. I asked my best friend there, and she also had no idea.
The Beginning of the New Life
So, here we are. It’s now May 2021 and I’m looking for a job, again. I took a week off and then found it in myself to do the same thing I had done before.
Only this time, I focused more on building my network. I focused on contacting people I knew. Something had to pan out.
The first person I contacted worked for a large technology consulting company. I met her through some of my ME classes at Tech, and as she explained the program to me, I remember thinking 2 things:
- This is not what I went to school for
- This also sounds really cool and I might actually be good at it
So I was a little confused, and honestly kind of lost with what to do with my life. I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore, and I wasn’t sure what field and what kind of company I wanted to work for.
This consulting game seemed different, but the companies seemed cooler and the culture seemed exponentially better.
By then, I had known firsthand two engineering companies so far, and just believe me when I say there was a huge difference.
I decided to just go for it and see where it led me. At the same time, I was trying to reach companies in engineering, consulting, and technology. At that point, I would take anything. Just whatever came first.
The companies seemed cooler and the culture seemed exponentially better.
However, something was different this time. I had just been exposed to a whole new field. This whole technology thing might actually be something I want to do, something I could excel at.
I got a lot of interviews with companies in all three of those areas. But I was still waiting, still hoping something would happen.
Then, on July 7th, 2021, I got an offer from that first technology consulting company. I was so happy I screamed in the middle of the street while walking my dog Zola.
But then, within a week after that, I got 3 other offers. That’s 4 offers total! And one of them was with the Miami company from my 1st offer ever. Gasp!
So then, I did what any reasonable person would do in this situation: a pros and cons list
In the end I decided to go with the initial technology consulting company. It made more sense to me with where I was at in my life both professionally and personally.
The Technologist
I started working on August 16th, 2021. On August 30th, 2021, I got terminated.
There had been confusion with my onboarding documents, and they had to let me go at the end of training. Again, through no fault of my own.
And it sucked.
But the thing is, by then, I had already gotten my first AWS certification. I was looking into software such as SAP and Google Cloud Platform.
So it just got me thinking, what choice do I make now?
I found myself looking into technologies such as the ones I mentioned above. I even looked at courses on Coursera, edX, Codecademy, LinkedIn Learning, you name it. I even thought about what it would take for me to get a Master’s degree at some point.
What I am trying to say is, it took me going through the job searching process 3 times for me to find myself in the world of technology.
Most importantly, as I was looking into all those boot camps and online courses, I was excited. Like, full-on-at-the-edge-of-my-seat-scrolling-and-jumping-from-tab-to-tab and trying to understand more and more about this new field.
Had I found what I had been looking for? Is this what I’m meant to do for the rest of my life? I have absolutely no idea. Honestly, it might not even work out.
This is a start. It’s a new beginning. It’s something that gets me excited. More than I had ever been before about my professional life.
For the Jane the Virgin fans out there, you know when Jane is writing her novels and her heart starts to literally and visibly glow? Well.
Final Thoughts
For anyone reading this, I want you to know that you can always find your way to where you need to be from wherever you are.
Even if you didn’t lose your job as I did (hopefully that never happens!), you can absolutely always find your “thing”.
My advice: listen to yourself. Pay attention to your feelings, always. How you feel about your life tells you exactly what you need. There is a reason behind your uncertainties, and it’s up to you to just choose yourself.
