Thread by @MarsNeptune

Alright so story time.

For the past 6 months your boy has been on a tough road and I would like to share my struggles (and triumph)

In September I was unexpectedly let go from my previous employer #theV which came with much shock and a bit of resentment. However the game is the game so I can’t be mad at that. Side note: these companies aren’t loyal to you remember that.

Now I wasn’t really upset because I planned on leaving anyway as I was going to become #GuatemalaJota and needed a remote gig. So this actually was a blessing in disguise because SEVERANCE. I also had interviews lined up so I was chillin (I shouldn’t have been).

In my mind I’m thinking “1 month max” and I am gainfully employed so I can collect double checks and boss up. So now I’m on vacation and living life from the 9 to 6 grind. I had just moved to Pentagon City and could explore. This was the first week

Then I started to go crazy not having things I needed to do during the day and started to really analyze what had happen. It never feels good when the rug is pulled from under you and you now have to change gears immediately.

I went through a few stages of grief. first Anger, how could they let a young talented person like me go. Especially when they still had systems I was an expert on. This then turned into sadness, why me? Was I not worth the effort? Did I not help make their software better?

The final and worst stage was self-blame, Was I not good enough, could I have done more? All of these emotions made me insufferable to be around in the house. Just ask @junetheowl.

Want to take this moment to thank @junetheowl for holding me down and not leaving me because I was terrible. Support is huge and if you have someone who supports you unconditionally, keep them around and do the same for them.

Back to the story, I am about 2 weeks into the no employment life and I have interviews for remote companies, they all start well but end up not panning out. Now my 1 month hopes are getting a reality check.

I gather myself and think “ok 3 months and definitely before I leave the country” and I have to let news out to my family and my closest friends.

When you are the oldest child and have the most going for them in the family telling your parents you are no longer employed is hard because all of their worries add onto yours. And because I was leaving the US my mom was on 1000.

I of course had to put on a brave face and tell her everything would be fine and that I was having interviews and things would change soon.

Also in talking with friends it was weird because I felt like a failure (even though it wasn’t me fault) so most people I didn’t even tell. They would ask how are things at #theV and I would just reply “cool” I couldn’t bring myself to let them know that I was funemployed

SEVERANCE is holding me down and I am able to spend most of my day looking for jobs. @junetheowl is on my tail making sure I use every resource and I am honestly in a panic because my skillset does not match the opportunities that are out there.

I'd get discouraged, close my laptop, take a walk, come back and repeat. It has now been 2 months with no prospects. I have started a list of all the companies I applied to and didn’t get invited to interview at and the list is getting LONG.

At rock bottom I started to think that maybe I was in the wrong business and I should pick up another skill to have stability and move forward.

If you ever have this feeling do me a favor and stop what you are doing immediately and take a deep breath

After rock bottom come the rebuild where I had the most level of confidence in myself. I had no idea what was next but I know something was coming and I would leverage my current situation to make a better one for myself.

Since I had a “salary” I could spend time learning things I had a grasp of but didn’t fully understand as well as new things that were cool. I joined @pluralsight (if you have the money to purchases an account do it) and started to learn.

Thanksgiving came and went and we moved to Guatemala. Still no job or prospects but I felt good because I was making sure I use my time in the manner I wanted to. and I continued to look for jobs and learn new things.

Then I thought about the hoops I had to go through in applications and getting employers attention. All this to be another person on their payroll who is expendable. This is when I started thinking about Freelancing and Consulting.

After talking it through with Alena and thinking about it heavily, I made the jump and would focus on trying to become a freelancer. And this opened a whole new set of things this keep in mind. I made a bunch of online accounts for freelancer sites like Fiverr and PeopleperHour.

I needed to make a portfolio so I started to think of things to create to showcase my skills. I decided the first thing would be marsneptune.com (coming soon) and a few other site for friends and family. So I would spend hours working on my website, learning basically

Severance had been holding me DOWN. But was coming to an end and the pressure was getting to me. But after hitting the bottom of doubting yourself and understanding that you have to trust the process I didn’t lose hope that something was coming.

I had a system that I would apply for freelance gigs and if there was a full-time one I couldn’t pass up I would apply to that as well. Cover all bases.

The rejection list was getting longer but I kept thinking that it would be a nice list to remind me how for I had come and to keep resilience when going for goals. I had applied to this opportunity and they contacted me via email to clarify something on my resume.

I responded and thought nothing of it. This had happened so many times before with no positive result. I was a bit numb to it.

I was headed back to the US a month and a half after leaving for Jury Duty 😑 and was excited to see family and a few friends and that one company had reached out for an interview. I thought cool I will set it up for when I get back and enjoy my time at home.

When I get back I am super nervous because SEVERANCE is about to end and I kinda need this opportunity.

I interview and it goes well and its because of all the work I have done on my personal website which helps be validate what I was doing. It seems like things are gonna go my way then radio silence. I don’t hear from them.

It’s Tuesday and my last severance payment has hit my account and I miss a call. I call the number back and its a rep from the company congratulating me and extending an offer. I couldn’t breathe. I had been 6 months and 40+ rejections since I had started this.

A few things I learned from this portion of my life are:
Patience because it won’t happen as fast as you would like.
Self-belief, because it’s your talent that they want and you have to hone your craft.
Resilience because no is said a lot more than yes but yes will come.

Lastly Appreciation, because those around you who are pulling for you really are the strength you need.

fin