Ctrl + Alt + Del the Whole Career

/* DISCLAIMER: I have been told I speak in memes & admittedly, I do use some GenZ slang ironically so please bear with me.*/

✨Rise & Rage, Friends ✨

My story starts on a humid Monday morning at the height of South Florida summer about 32 years ago… when I was born.

Be so for real rn. I would NEVER subject you to my entire life story. That’s a special form of torture (unless you’re into that, in which case, send me a DM and I’ll yap for hourssss).

Not So Selling Sunset

My “sales” career started in the service industry back in college. I’ve always loved connecting with people, learning about them, hearing their stories.
After I dropped out of college Sophomore year (College dropouts unite!) I decided to take on the world of real estate head-first. 21 years old with a hope and a dream!

Spoiler: NOT for me. I stuck with it for about 5 years, but eventually, I was so miserable I was willing to do literally anything else as job. And if you ask me, that’s when the fun part begins.

/* It’s worth noting that what was going on in my personal life at this time was even more chaotic than this blog post. */

The P I V O T!!

People often ask how I knew that tech staffing was my thing. The truth? I didn’t. (second spoiler: still don’t! They don’t make a tech staffing barbie, you know.) What I did know was way more valuable: what I didn’t want to do.

I got my foot in the door as a tech recruiter and I pivoted hard. Since then, I’ve never looked back. I knew nothing about tech. I knew nothing about staffing. But one thing about me is I am going to figure it out.

I’m a sponge for knowledge (both useful and useless), and this was the perfect oportunity for that. That was 5.5 years ago… Since then, I’ve:

• Learned an insane amount about the ever-changing tech world
• Learned even MORE about the job market
• Met inspiring, brilliant people

What this really did for me though? It allowed me to pursue my true passion: Networking. Seriously.

Personal Branding: She Doesn’t Even Go Here

I used LinkedIn moderately until about a year ago when I decided to the bit and try my hand at personal branding. I wanted to be loud, vibrant, a cheerleader for others. So I started nervously posting shit on LinkedIn. I would literally ask ChatGPT to write my posts because it HAD to sound perfect. Anything less would be detrimental to the brand. (More on this later.)

Y'all, this opened up a world of possibility for me. I started meeting people and linkedin started evolving and my god has it EVOLVED in ways I cannot explain, but again, I'll save that for another post. This posting and networking led to me to not only becoming more comfortable with creating my own content but it also led to me meeting a few different people who I have to thank for the inspiration into my true tech journey.

Doing it for the Plot Twist

Hear me out... it takes ONE person to change the trajectory of your career. Your life. You meet someone on linkedin, they intro you to someone else & the next thing you know you're sitting in the middle of a talk at a Software Development conference in Dallas, TX (shoutout Commit Your Code!) living in the plot twist you never saw coming.

I never wanted to be a developer, again, I don’t think there‘s a Barbie for that. I actually don't know if I want to be one now. But remember what I said before? "sponge for knowledge". I was so amazed and inspired by the people I met, the things I was learning, and this entire new world that I was exposed to. I can't explain what stepping into that community did for my soul but what I can tell you is that it happened at a pivotal time for me. I needed it. Months later I started my programming journey (shoutout to FreeCodeCamp.org - amazing stuff!) & here I sit still learning.

Three Cheers for Five Years

As I’m writing this, I’m realizing something: I have this almost-cyclical tendency to take on some new quest every 5-ish years. Real estate → tech staffing → software dev? The jury’s still out on where this goes, your honor, but the timing? Impeccable.

Get to the Point Already

Honestly… I don’t know what I’m doing... But that’s kind of the point.

Where I started is not where I am now. Where I am now may not be where I end up. And that’s okay. I’m learning to embrace the unsure.. to be okay with not knowing. Because when you say those three magic words: “I don’t know”, you open yourself up to everything you could learn next. Even the greatest developer in the world didn’t get there by knowing it all on day one of their learning journey.

So if you take nothing else from this chaotic, me-coded monologue, take this:

It takes one post, one person, one risk to change the trajectory of your career. Your life. Lean into that, fear or no fear. Either way works.

Did Any of This Make Sense?

If it did: thanks for sticking with me. If it didn’t… honestly? Still thanks. You’re a real one.

PS: Whoever has my voodoo doll, can you please teach it Python? Thx.