Starting Work

My first full time position was a pretty cool graduate position at IBM. Yes. That IBM. I managed to land this plum position partly because I studied a computer degree and so I qualified for it, and partly because of the interview. I quite confidently assured the executive director (or whatever important title he had), that yes I do have weaknesses, and one being that I am an alcoholic. (What I really meant to say is I am a workaholic). 

He was shocked, and so was I. It was awkward. I blushed like a tomato, and above all of this it was funny. No, I am definitely not an alcoholic. No, not me. 

And so I got the job. And I started. And I hated it. I did not fit in. I was placed into a business strategy team (or something), and not a technical team. There didn’t seem to be any technical teams, only sales and marketing and business-related stuff. I needed technical.

My mother died suddenly, and so without having anyone to disappoint, I left. I did so without having another job lined up. I didn’t care. I left at the end of July, and on 1 September I started a new job. A job I loved.

For the time it lasted.

The Daily Prompt Alternative – First Job

What impact did your first job have on you?
I started my first job on the 2 January 1996. I was placed in a business team, which was not the correct team for my skills. I had completed a technical degree, and would have been better placed in a technical position. My mother passed away suddenly in the April of that year. I decided to leave at the end of July, and joined a small software team as a developer coding in C.

What made the best job you’ve ever had better than the others?

Having a four-day job is wonderful. Apart from that, the team I joined after leaving IBM was really great. Good friends and work. It wasn’t to last though, the division was closed a year and a half later and we were all made redundant.

Did you have a job fall short of your expectations (or, how did you fall short of your employer’s expectations?)
Between March 2000 and September 2000 I joined a startup with colleagues from the company mentioned above. It was a disaster. Very stressful and working around the clock. I eventually left and went back to my job I left before joining the startup. Thank you to my manager who offered my role back to me. As an aside, I currently work for the same company now except in different countries. My husband (whom I hadn’t met as yet) had replaced me in the six months I was away, and I met him on my return 🙂

Thank you for reading!

Daily Prompt Alternative