Everyone has to start somewhere correct? I started a new job, in a new place, knowing a few people I graduated from college with. So what, you ask, sounds appealing about that? Some would say why leave home so soon, get a job, stay at home and save your money (my parents pushed hard for this option). For me it was leaving my comfort zone and doing something that I know if I didn't do it I would regret for a very long time. I am an only child so of course my family is most important to me but that shouldn't be what holds you back. Your family loves you no matter what, if your down the hall or states away. The choice YOU make is exactly that, it's YOUR choice and no one can take that from you.
So now that I live in New Hampshire and my family is in Pittsburgh, PA (Go Steelers!) what is here? I work for a technology company that sells and implements accounting software called SAP Business One (move out of the way Oracle) along with a Warehouse Management software (I know who ever is reading this is probably like what the heck is that). Our goal is to make businesses lives easier.
I was lucky enough to be one of the very few college graduates (Saint Vincent College in Latrobe PA, GO BEARCATS!) that landed a job before graduation, and even luckier to have been offered multiple job opportunities at the same time (patting myself on the back). MOST anxiety inducing experience of my life. Being asked to make a decision about where you want to work and what you want to do and where you want to go in a short period of time is hard work. I lost sleep over it, cried a bit too (I apologize now to my poor mom and dad and my boyfriend for having to put up with my blubbering) and mapped out my options over and over again. I asked for advice from multiple educated and experience professors and those in my colleges the career center (special shout outs to Professor Markley , Dr. Edmiston and Courtney Baum who helped put me at ease when I thought my head was going to explode). I did come to a decision obviously,because I am now a New Hapshirite.
I am grateful to be where I am today, it came with hard work (spending a summer in San Francisco, CA working with one of the top B1 resellers) and communication skills that have been my most valuable asset. You cannot put a price on good communication skills, they will take you far in life and the opportunities are endless when you can address people, when you know how to make connections and when you can make others feel like you have known them for years. Always look for new ways to come out of your comfort zone, meet new people and make new connections. Even I struggle with this sometimes, there are days when I would rather climb in a hole rather than meet new people but I do it any ways. PUSH boundaries as much as possible you will thank yourself in the end.
(This paragraph is one of those moments where you realize I am all over the place and get off topic) A realization that I have come to while partaking in my short stint in the information technology field is that I am out numbered. Out numbered meaning I am one of very few (and I mean very few) women to do Implementation Consulting (which I am proud of and can rock the nerd angle). I am proud to be a woman who is standing with the big dogs. I won't let anyone tell me that I can't do something. I may be a little girl but I have a big personality and a willingness to succeed. I really am a little girl (all of '5"3) in a big world but I plan on making my mark. In the wise words of Sheryl Sandberg (if you haven't read her book yet I suggest you do, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead) I fully intend to lean into my career and sit at the table, I refuse to count myself out before an opportunity finds its way onto my path.
I hope this blog post is entertaining and lets you in on a little bit about myself and how I ended up where I am today. There will hopefully be many more posts to come, and they will not always be the same (which again I am extremely eclectic, and often all over the place so it happens). God Bless.
P.S. Here is a prayer I am particularly fond of when I feel like my world is coming apart at the seams. May you find peace in it on those rough days: Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
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