How I Got Started In My Civil Tech Career
As a mentioned in an earlier post, I've just had my fifth year as a civil tech. It took a lot of things going right for me to get started in this career.
It took an outstanding teaching in college who looked out for my future in so many ways. He was the one who set me up with a two-week internship at my current employment, in fact. He, along with several other teachers, also backed me up during my negotiations with the administration when I was in danger of having to repeat my final year. If you are reading, thank you Mr. Morrison. A big thank you to Mrs. Coleman and Mr. Nelson as well.
At the risk of sounding immodest, it also took an insane level of determination. The two years I spent learning at my community college in preparation for civil technology was absolute hell. The workload was high. Sure, I could have coasted and scraped by. But as with most things you get what you put into it and I really wanted to go beyond what was necessary. What really made it difficult was that I also had to work 50 hours a week. My credit could not support any more loans, the government could not help unless I stopped working, and my wife was too ill to regular work. It was gruelling physical work hand loading boxes into two to three 53' trailers per night. I taped study sheets on the trailer walls at work to study, I slept two hours a night and woke up with arthritic hands. The repetitive motion swelled my joints so much that I couldn't take my wedding band off for two years.
That kind of determination doesn't come from nowhere of course. It builds up from working in call centers where workers get chewed out for return from break 30 seconds late and it's common to get yelled by an angry caller for an hour straight. It gets honed from having to deliver flyers at 0.1 cent per piece for Canada Post in meter deep snow and a dim flashlight. It comes from selling your most prized possessions at dismal prices to get medications and food. Don't get me wrong; I am not throwing shade at these jobs at all. They were my lifeline and I don't know where I would have been without them.
To sum, it took hard experiences, determination, and help from very supportive people. But in retrospect, the most important element of all was an appetite to try something new and not back down even when it's incomprehensible. I will cover that in my next post.
How about you? Was there anything that stands out that was critical in building your career? What helped you the most when things turned desperate?
Please feel free to comment and thank you for visiting.
It took an outstanding teaching in college who looked out for my future in so many ways. He was the one who set me up with a two-week internship at my current employment, in fact. He, along with several other teachers, also backed me up during my negotiations with the administration when I was in danger of having to repeat my final year. If you are reading, thank you Mr. Morrison. A big thank you to Mrs. Coleman and Mr. Nelson as well.
At the risk of sounding immodest, it also took an insane level of determination. The two years I spent learning at my community college in preparation for civil technology was absolute hell. The workload was high. Sure, I could have coasted and scraped by. But as with most things you get what you put into it and I really wanted to go beyond what was necessary. What really made it difficult was that I also had to work 50 hours a week. My credit could not support any more loans, the government could not help unless I stopped working, and my wife was too ill to regular work. It was gruelling physical work hand loading boxes into two to three 53' trailers per night. I taped study sheets on the trailer walls at work to study, I slept two hours a night and woke up with arthritic hands. The repetitive motion swelled my joints so much that I couldn't take my wedding band off for two years.
That kind of determination doesn't come from nowhere of course. It builds up from working in call centers where workers get chewed out for return from break 30 seconds late and it's common to get yelled by an angry caller for an hour straight. It gets honed from having to deliver flyers at 0.1 cent per piece for Canada Post in meter deep snow and a dim flashlight. It comes from selling your most prized possessions at dismal prices to get medications and food. Don't get me wrong; I am not throwing shade at these jobs at all. They were my lifeline and I don't know where I would have been without them.
To sum, it took hard experiences, determination, and help from very supportive people. But in retrospect, the most important element of all was an appetite to try something new and not back down even when it's incomprehensible. I will cover that in my next post.
How about you? Was there anything that stands out that was critical in building your career? What helped you the most when things turned desperate?
Please feel free to comment and thank you for visiting.
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