As I look back over the last 7 years since I left NextGen in 2013, I have seen so many ups and downs. I worked at Sports Authority part-time to bring in some money while I was going to Penn State. I completed my degree in two years. I struggled to find a job in CyberSecurity despite the acquisition of my degree. I tended to find that employers preferred experience over eduction and education is all I had. Even though I was trying to find a job with my new degree, I knew that Sports Authority was in trouble, yet I didn’t try to just get out before it all came crashing down. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave until it had all came crashing down leaving me out of a job in 2016. I kept looking for jobs in my field and continued to be unsuccessful. That’s how I ended up at Kohl’s. I needed to find something to at least replace Sports Authority and that’s what I got. But I knew, as we both did, that Kohl’s wasn’t going to ever be enough. I kept looking for work. I did get the occasional interview. I, obviously, did not get any of those opportunities.
So, in comes Fry’s. I decided that I needed some sort of IT experience that I felt I could get at Fry’s. I thought I might need to start at the bottom and work my way to the level I wanted to achieve. I started getting that experience and I learned so much about troubleshooting PCs and Macs (to a certain extent). I learned how to build a PC: some were workstations and some were gaming machines. I learned about the parts that made up the machine and what parts are needed for each purpose. A skill that will aid me in my new position.
Throughout all of these years, I never stopped looking for work. I found jobs (Sports Authority, Kohl’s, Fry’s) but these weren’t careers nor were they well-paying positions. Let’s be real, no retail position pays well until you get into store management and higher. But I didn’t let that phase me because I never lost my work ethic. I worked hard and I knew that one day it would pay off.
That brings me to 2020. A year that has been really bad in many aspects, but in the midst of being furloughed from both jobs from March until I went back to Kohl’s in August. I was able to finally get rid of my Dart that had some kind of bad juju surrounding it and got a Jeep Renegade. But to put the cherry on top of the year, I finally found and got that elusive job that has been evading me since 2016.
Through it all, Dana has been by my side. She encouraged me and shared my highs and lows, my celebrations and my disappointments. I have no doubts that I wouldn’t have persevered the way I did without her support.
But God has been there as well. My faith did waiver during those years as I tried and failed to get that elusive job. I think that it was Dana’s revelation that I should read about Job in the Old Testament that really helped me put things into perspective and since then, I had several interviews and ultimately, I got this job. Once I stopped asking “why” and “why me” and putting my trust in God, things started happening for me. God really did not put anything on me that I could not handle. He has a plan and all I had to do was trust in him and his plan. Sometimes, when things are at their roughest, it is hard to not lose trust and faith in God. I did. But once I found and put my faith and trust back in God, good things did happen. I will never forget the lesson I learned here and I will tell anyone who asks exactly how I got here: God.
I will end this a prayer I said at every interview:
“Prayer to St. Joseph for Employment
Dear Saint Joseph, you were yourself once faced with the responsibility of providing the necessities of life for Jesus and Mary. Look down with fatherly compassion upon me in my anxiety over my present inability to support my family. Please help me to find gainful employment very soon, so that this heavy burden of concern will be lifted from my heart and that I am soon able to provide for those whom God has entrusted to my care. Help us to guard against bitterness and discouragement, so that we may emerge from this trial spiritually enriched and with even greater blessings from God. Amen. “