Congratulations to me

I mused in my last post—way back in October—that I needed self discipline. My days needed a routine so that I didn't idle away the time. And I succeeded. Maybe a day or two after I wrote that post I decided to become a technical writer. I heard about the profession through a new friend and after a hellish 9 months at Harpoon I did not want another directionless, in-between job. I wanted a career. I wanted to write. I wanted to make money. Choosing unemployment was a luxury and I wasn't about to waste it.

Over the past three months I've taught myself a lot of new stuff (coding, authoring tools, general tech writing lingo and culture) and while I may have decided to become a tech writer out of practical reasons, it's evolved into something I really really want to do. And I want to do it well. I want to be an amazing tech writer. I want learn as much as I can, write as much as I can, read as much as I can. I want to excel.

I have an interview this Thursday for a three-month contract position at a healthcare company in Watertown. It's a second round interview—the first was over the phone—and I'm proud of myself. I networked and found out about the job. I wrote a kick-ass cover letter and got an interview. In the interview I was prepared, confident, and I know I made a good impression.

Sad to say but I'm not sure the last time I've felt this proud of myself. My relative successes at school, past jobs, etc always felt like something I fell into, something I never really earned. Maybe I had other people's expectations breathing down my neck and driving me away from failure; it never felt mine. But not now. This little success is all mine.

Even if I don't get the job, it's a confidence boost. I can apply for jobs and know that my hard work impresses (some of) the people who read it. They might just give me a chance.