Add another voice to the chorus. I'm pushing forty and have been university instructor, part time librarian, inventory specialist, front line at a mortgage company, accounting clerk (eek), Sales analyst (twice!), Executive assistant (more fun than you would think) and am now unquantifiable. 8-) Okay, I specialize in the regulations governing munitions shipment worldwide. No, seriously.
No one graduates from high school and says, "I want to change the world. I'm going to spend my days with the US government's regulations concerning acquistion, the GAO online version of 22CFR Parts 120-130, and a listing of hazardous chemicals all open in windows at the same time." And livejournal open in another window.
And yet, here I am. I'm touching (in a very small way, with one millionth of a fingerprint, but still...) the Hubble, the ISS, I'm part of the building of a protective net for places like London's metro, I'm supplying firefighters with cameras that see through smoke, to keep them alive, to let them save others. Lookee here, I'm making the world a better place. Which was always my plan. I just didn't know that this would be how.
I fell into this job. I was working as an admin in sales to get away from being the receptionist, and I saw a need. Filling that need helped my boss, so he was willing to let me do it and that gave me the flexibility to leave sales when he did and move departments while still doing the same job that needed to be done. Four years later, I've got pieces of paper with shiny seals, I've mastered the Washington DC metro system, I've led meetings in the Department of Commerce for Dept of State representatives, the local FBI field office has my business card and thinks I'm cheerful and helpful and friendly and knows me by name and face.
And if you'd told me all that when I was twenty and teaching ENG 201 to bored freshmen at 8 am on MWF, I'd have laughed at you and said something cutting. If you'd told me that I would have a kid and a mortgage in the suburbs, I'd have sneered. *shrug* And yet, here I am. Hindsight's a heck of a lot clearer than foresight.
But I can tell you this: I won't retire from this company. And as much as I like my job (okay, it can be tedious, but it can also be fun in odd ways), I might not be doing this in five years, let alone twenty. After all, five years ago, I'd been laid off and was sitting at home, playing with color flashcards with my then-two year old, and interviewing with anyone who'd give me the time of day, for any job, at any pay.
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No one graduates from high school and says, "I want to change the world. I'm going to spend my days with the US government's regulations concerning acquistion, the GAO online version of 22CFR Parts 120-130, and a listing of hazardous chemicals all open in windows at the same time." And livejournal open in another window.
And yet, here I am. I'm touching (in a very small way, with one millionth of a fingerprint, but still...) the Hubble, the ISS, I'm part of the building of a protective net for places like London's metro, I'm supplying firefighters with cameras that see through smoke, to keep them alive, to let them save others. Lookee here, I'm making the world a better place. Which was always my plan. I just didn't know that this would be how.
I fell into this job. I was working as an admin in sales to get away from being the receptionist, and I saw a need. Filling that need helped my boss, so he was willing to let me do it and that gave me the flexibility to leave sales when he did and move departments while still doing the same job that needed to be done. Four years later, I've got pieces of paper with shiny seals, I've mastered the Washington DC metro system, I've led meetings in the Department of Commerce for Dept of State representatives, the local FBI field office has my business card and thinks I'm cheerful and helpful and friendly and knows me by name and face.
And if you'd told me all that when I was twenty and teaching ENG 201 to bored freshmen at 8 am on MWF, I'd have laughed at you and said something cutting. If you'd told me that I would have a kid and a mortgage in the suburbs, I'd have sneered. *shrug* And yet, here I am. Hindsight's a heck of a lot clearer than foresight.
But I can tell you this: I won't retire from this company. And as much as I like my job (okay, it can be tedious, but it can also be fun in odd ways), I might not be doing this in five years, let alone twenty. After all, five years ago, I'd been laid off and was sitting at home, playing with color flashcards with my then-two year old, and interviewing with anyone who'd give me the time of day, for any job, at any pay.