When I was little, I was often asked about my dream career. I always hated the idea that you’re supposed to have everything planned by the time you’re 10 years old. Everyone told me I’d stay poor if I didn’t go to college. However, the school culture felt detached from reality, and my heart hardened toward things I’d enjoyed, like reading and music. I joined a crew, sealcoating and striping blacktop, as well as driving in car stops and road signs. This was refreshing, and I looked forward to any job that needed another hand. I worked to complete high school as early as possible and was ready to start living ‘my real life’.
Career Falling
Living in rural Kentucky with no connections and a poor family meant college was not an option. Although I dreamed of being a musician, an instrument alone would have cost me thousands. I had just aged out of the youth rental program for Viola, so I couldn’t audition anyway. We play the cards we’re dealt.
Through my teens, I tried many things, including research panels and a brief stint in the military (thanks COVID-19). I was too young for factory work and went back to the crew. I enjoyed hard labor and learning practical skills. However, the middle-aged workers were weathered and complained of aching joints. One day, a coworker reached out to me and said “Ain’t you good at computers? Why don’t you just do that?” I’d never considered it, not having home internet or a computer myself.
The owner retired, and on the very day he sold the company, I was hired remotely by an MSP. I did not receive a sign-on bonus. However, I received a significant raise and had virtually no health hazards aside from the potential to grow pear-shaped. It was amazing. I made double what I did in construction resetting passwords and rebooting machines. No more breaking, boiling, and baking myself in the heat, or accidentally inhaling industrial chemicals! I quickly read up on IT enterprise and computers and contributed to the internal knowledge base. I eventually worked my way up the ranks, and things were going fine. But something was wrong.
Finding Meaning
Again, work was work, and I began to feel jaded. I was rented an hourly to hundreds of businesses, and the interactions with office workers felt so detached from reality. I was pushing a rock up a hill only for it to tumble down the next day. Maybe the rock got smaller moving from one field to another, but you couldn’t accuse me of being happy. If others were from a prestigious school, had the right uncle, they could do exactly what they wanted. Everything seems to effortlessly fall in line for those types.
Growing tired of the tedium, I looked for more permanent solutions to recurring problems. I learned automation systems and developed a broad understanding of technology and business operations. I learned that I enjoyed documenting processes, identifying repeatable steps, and chaining these steps together to reduce toil. Work became tolerable enough when it was a method of learning.
I bought a laptop and re-visited the projects I’d worked on in school. Specifically, I enjoyed tinkering with automation day and night. Coding was just like writing music, there are repeatable blocks, commands, and comments, and different languages for different purposes. If I could write it down, I could conduct computers to do whatever I wanted.
Career Taking Off
Out of the blue, a tech recruiter reached out to me. I’d cut my teeth at an MSP, which provided the experience needed, but wasn’t sure what company need I’d fit. During the interviews, everyone seemed agreeable and happy. I spoke with the hiring manager and went off on a tangent about automation. I showed him a custom frontend I coded for a game. After it booted up, my wizard character went off to collect ingredients for potions. We watched as he would map where he went, and if he saw a creature on the list, collect it. He would skip rooms already visited and quickly completed his list. The next thing I knew, I was working to automate everything I could in a massive cloud enterprise.
This was a job where I felt at home. Digital work can be automated, and automated work can be improved, so there’s always something new to work on. In the cloud, time is money, infrastructure is code, and technologies constantly cycle in and out of production. I can honestly say I’m happy with a career in automation. They pay me to empower the business to achieve objectives in record time. I work to play with my toys in the sandbox that is Azure. The sensation automating a workload brings is comparable to the smell in your house when just vacuumed. I may not work in music, but there’s no fun like to making the machines sing my tune.
Setting Things Straight
“You get depressed because you know that you’re not what you should be.”
Marilyn Manson
Many of us have had rough seasons in life that make us contemplate why we’re in the situation. Why did I study music for 10 years if it wasn’t a realistic possibility in adulthood? What good was schooling if I wanted to pursue a skilled trade? For others, what was the point of that hobby cut short by injury or misfortune? For some, why does it feel like we’re just floating through space waiting our time out?
I believe in God’s sovereign will, and what we encounter He permits to happen, whether blessing or ordeal. Hardships are meant to deepen our faith, and blessings are meant to be opportunities to glorify Him. God put me where I am, and if the rug gets pulled, I’ll still be grateful I had the experience.
Adjacent Opportunities
While I can’t give you a 1:1 mapping of your dream career, consider you don’t want to do exactly what you’d like. How quickly would I burn out if I did music all day, then practiced new material 10+ hours a week? IT is something I enjoy and am passionate about, with a clear off-switch when the workday ends.
If you enjoy gardening and a flower shop is out of reach, maybe look into hydroponics for AgriTech to pay bills. If you like art, drop shipping or figure painting are viable options when aristocrats don’t need to launder money. The car enthusiast may enjoy digital vehicle tuning, which is hot in towns that have a strong racing culture. I’ve even seen guys make DIY dialysis machines to automatically mix coffee or hard beverages!
The Takeaway
While I don’t think everyone should compromise their goals, technology gives opportunity that wasn’t available even 5 years ago. FinTech, AgriTech, Construction Tech, and other fields are booming as of late. Putting technological agility as the driving power alongside a niche market, we’re at an age where we can create our own dream career.
If I were to advise someone how to get into IT, I’d give them the usual spiel. “Get certs, spray the resume, cut your teeth, then go to college if it lines up with your goals. After 1-2 years you’re ready for IT.” However, if I were to advise someone to get into automation, I’d just say “automate your life.” I only started doing what I liked as a career after I started doing it as a hobby. Credentials are nice, but the passion someone sees in your eyes can land you a job.
Pursue what interests you. It might not be easy, but it’s not impossible. You might not end up exactly where you thought, but you’ll have had valuable experiences and room to grow.
In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.
Proverbs 14:23