It has been more than 3 years since I started working as a software engineer (aka programmer). Looking back, it was a job I refused to accept after I graduated college. I thought I was not made to be one.
I graduated college with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. After graduation, my preparation for my board exam and the exam itself, took me almost a year. Halfway through my preparation, I was offered by an IT company a position as junior software engineer, despite the fact that I am not an IT graduate. The compensation package was so attractive that I would like to say yes. But second thoughts came as I consulted my parents about my pending decision. I can't accept the offer because I was scheduled to take my 3-day board exam in a couple of months., which would fall on a weekday. By that time, I would still be in probationary period, and won't be allowed to take any vacation leave yet. So I had to say pass on this offer for the mean time.
After successfully passing the board exam and acquiring my license, I worked as an environmental engineer for a couple of months. I accepted the job though the pay was minimum. Like many first timers, I bit the bullet because I am after the experience I will be able to add in CV. Ironically, days after I was hired, I was contacted by the same IT company and offers me the same position, just in case I am still interested. Too bad they came a couple of days late. I find it unethical for my current employer for me to leave them. So I missed the same opportunity for the second time.
Later that year, I quit my first job and landed on a another job in a plant somewhere in Laguna. The compensation was definitely higher but didn't make me a bit happy. The work is so demanding that I have to stay somewhere near my work to board. I felt sad to be away from my home and family.
I never saw myself working in a plant laboratory not longer than a month, really, that quick. I took the bit between my teeth, before they forcely give more reason to stay. I contacted the IT company who previously offered me a job, and inquired if they still have opening slot. I would admit that I just want to find a way out of a job I find myself miserable with. The recruiter told me she would contact me as soon as she found my records. It was a shot in the dark.
The following day, I received a call from the recruiter, asking me to report to their office to sign the job offer. I was so relieved that I don't have to spend what seems to be lifetime for me in the plant. That was my 4th day in my job in the plant. I resigned the next day.
That was the start of life in the IT bandwagon. Armed with a very minimal programming background, I turn up trumps on the bootcamp I attended, landed on a project that I am still with for 3 years now, and, honestly and surprisingly, loving it.
I thought that once you finished a degree in college, somehow, you have drafted at least 70 to 80 percent of what you would become in the near future. It didn't happened to me. I guess it wasn't true all the time. Even we reach that point, we could all be clueless.
Though I missed working on laboratories, the scent of the chemicals, and my lab gown, I would still prefer working on a corporate environment, because honestly, this is where I found my worth, and my happiness. Something I had never predicted all along.
I graduated college with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. After graduation, my preparation for my board exam and the exam itself, took me almost a year. Halfway through my preparation, I was offered by an IT company a position as junior software engineer, despite the fact that I am not an IT graduate. The compensation package was so attractive that I would like to say yes. But second thoughts came as I consulted my parents about my pending decision. I can't accept the offer because I was scheduled to take my 3-day board exam in a couple of months., which would fall on a weekday. By that time, I would still be in probationary period, and won't be allowed to take any vacation leave yet. So I had to say pass on this offer for the mean time.
After successfully passing the board exam and acquiring my license, I worked as an environmental engineer for a couple of months. I accepted the job though the pay was minimum. Like many first timers, I bit the bullet because I am after the experience I will be able to add in CV. Ironically, days after I was hired, I was contacted by the same IT company and offers me the same position, just in case I am still interested. Too bad they came a couple of days late. I find it unethical for my current employer for me to leave them. So I missed the same opportunity for the second time.
Later that year, I quit my first job and landed on a another job in a plant somewhere in Laguna. The compensation was definitely higher but didn't make me a bit happy. The work is so demanding that I have to stay somewhere near my work to board. I felt sad to be away from my home and family.
I never saw myself working in a plant laboratory not longer than a month, really, that quick. I took the bit between my teeth, before they forcely give more reason to stay. I contacted the IT company who previously offered me a job, and inquired if they still have opening slot. I would admit that I just want to find a way out of a job I find myself miserable with. The recruiter told me she would contact me as soon as she found my records. It was a shot in the dark.
The following day, I received a call from the recruiter, asking me to report to their office to sign the job offer. I was so relieved that I don't have to spend what seems to be lifetime for me in the plant. That was my 4th day in my job in the plant. I resigned the next day.
That was the start of life in the IT bandwagon. Armed with a very minimal programming background, I turn up trumps on the bootcamp I attended, landed on a project that I am still with for 3 years now, and, honestly and surprisingly, loving it.
I thought that once you finished a degree in college, somehow, you have drafted at least 70 to 80 percent of what you would become in the near future. It didn't happened to me. I guess it wasn't true all the time. Even we reach that point, we could all be clueless.
Though I missed working on laboratories, the scent of the chemicals, and my lab gown, I would still prefer working on a corporate environment, because honestly, this is where I found my worth, and my happiness. Something I had never predicted all along.
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