My best job wasn’t my best job because it was fun, fun, fun all the time. It was my best job because I enjoyed the work 80% of the time, and I love what I do as an IT Consultant.
Learned how to pack light & be organized
Kind of a life skill. I will never, ever check anything in, unless I am flying with my 3 suitcases and 2 carryons (my whole life!!!) to move to a different city or country.
With so many airplane and train trips, I am really happy this lesson sunk in early, and deep.
I also learned how to organize expenses into categories, track everything, be accurate and cause as little stress on me as possible just by doing a little work each night to sort everything out.
Learned how to drive
Kind of odd to attribute it to my favourite/best job, but I finally learned how to drive a car.
Got my full license within a couple of months of doing the test, and now I have no fear of going to rent a car to drive.
I now take a small pleasure in being able to drive to some place far, far away that I normally would be stuck taking the train for 4 hours to. Each day.
Learned not to trust anyone
And get everything promised in writing.
Kind of a no brainer, but when you’re a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed graduate, you trust that the corporation or the manager you signed under is a good one.
And you have this illusion that it’s some sort of super large, benevolent family that will take care of you.
Not so much.
I don’t trust companies, I will never pay back anything they already approved to pay out to me, and I will never, ever let anyone more senior there, put me or my background down.
Companies are also not there for every employee. How can they be? They’re a company, made up of MANY employees with differing views and needs.
The small fierce flame of pride is that now that I’m working for myself, those senior losers that thought they were bigwigs are still slaving away earning a quarter of what I could make in a month while I am chilling out, footloose and fancy free.
Take THAT!!
Found what I’m best at, skill-wise
I found what I’m best at and what I love to do, right off the bat, and that there IS a possibility that people can really find what they love, and enjoy going to work in the morning 90% of the time rather than hating Mondays and loving Fridays.
Being really active and involved in your job (that you spend a good 40 hours a week doing), is essential to your mental health and happiness.
(I also met BF on a project!)
I’ve learned that I am happier working in a team rather than by myself, I hate coding, I naturally take the lead on many things, and I love a challenge that makes me use my rationale and logic to work out the solution.
These are all skills I can take to any job and re-purpose them.
Forced myself to grow
In addition to learning what I’m best at, I was taken out of my comfort zone and forced to do a lot more public speaking (I still get a bit nervous, I won’t lie).
I’ve also learned a lot about keeping my mouth shut and letting people dig themselves into a hole.
Now that I work for myself, I have no corporation or manager to hide behind.
I’ve attacked my weak points and exposed them so that I could be stronger as a professional, rather than trying to hide them in the back hoping no one would notice.
I’ve learned a lot more about contracts, getting things in writing, negotiating for contracts, and managing expectations.
These are all things I would not have learned until 5 or 10 years into my career, because I would not have been given the chance being as junior as I was.
Being forced out of your comfort zone is a good thing.
So what have you learned on your best job?
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