Man, 2017, that year was a total head-scratcher for me career-wise. I was kinda stuck, felt like I was spinning my wheels in the mud at my old place. Every day felt the same, just dragging my feet to work, doing the same old stuff. I mean, I was okay, paycheck was coming in, but deep down, I knew I wanted more. I wanted to build something new, do something that actually fired me up, you know? It wasn’t just boredom; it was this dull ache, like my potential was just sitting there, gathering dust.
Then I remember seeing these random articles, you know, horoscope stuff. I’m not really into that deep spiritual mumbo-jumbo, but these ones kept popping up, talking about Pisces and career for 2017, even mentioning Ganesha helping out to “find success.” Now, I’m a Pisces, and something about that “find success” just clicked with me. It wasn’t like I instantly believed it, but it kinda felt like a permission slip, a little nudge to actually do something instead of just wishing. It put a weird thought in my head: “Hey, maybe it is my time.”
The Grind Started
I figured, what the heck, maybe it was a sign to actually do something instead of just wishing. So, I started digging around. First thing was realizing my skills were getting a bit rusty. I mean, the tech world moves fast, right? You blink, and a whole new framework or language pops up. My current gig wasn’t pushing me to learn new stuff, so I was falling behind.
- I decided to dive back into learning. I spent evenings after work, sometimes staying up super late, watching tutorials, trying to understand new frameworks. My eyes were burning, but I kept pushing through. I’d watch those online courses, pause them, try to code along, fail, restart, and just keep at it.
- I started tinkering with personal projects on the side. Just small stuff, building little apps or scripts for fun, but it kept my brain active and helped me grasp new concepts. I remember one little project, a simple data parser, that took me weeks to get right. My code was probably a mess, but it worked, and that felt like a huge win every time.
- I also read a ton of blogs and articles about where the industry was headed. Tried to see what skills were in demand, what companies were looking for. It felt overwhelming at times, like there was just too much to catch up on.
The whole process was grueling. I was tired all the time. My social life took a hit. Friends would ask me out, and half the time I’d just say no because I had to finish a chapter or fix a bug in my side project. There were plenty of nights I felt like just giving up, throwing my laptop across the room and accepting my fate at the old job. But that “Ganesha success” thing kept nagging at the back of my mind – like, “Don’t quit, it’s coming.” It was a weird, almost subconscious motivator.
The Job Hunt Blitz
Next big step was updating my resume. Man, that was a chore. Trying to make it sound good without sounding like I was overselling myself. I reworked it probably a dozen times, sent it to friends for feedback, even paid for a quick review service. It felt like I was crafting a whole new identity. And then sending it out. That first batch of applications, I just hit ‘send’ and closed my laptop, my heart pounding. It felt like stepping off a cliff.
The rejections started rolling in. Form emails, no explanations, just a polite “we’ve decided to move forward with other candidates.” Each one felt like a little jab. I almost threw in the towel a couple of times. Thought, “Maybe I’m just not cut out for it. Maybe I should just stick to what I know.” That feeling of self-doubt was real, hitting me hard after every ‘no’.
But something kept nagging at me. That “find success” line. So I kept applying. Kept tweaking my resume. Kept practicing those coding challenges that seem to be part of every tech interview now. I even started doing mock interviews with a friend, which was super awkward but seriously helpful. He’d grill me, and I’d just stumble through, but each time I got a little better, a little more confident.
The Breakthrough Moment
Then came an interview. It was for a company I really wanted to get into, a place doing some genuinely innovative stuff, but it felt way out of my league. I remember sweating bullets during the technical round. They asked some tough questions, and I felt like I totally messed up a crucial part, completely bumbled it when they asked me to whiteboard a solution. I could almost hear my brain rebooting mid-sentence. Left that interview feeling totally dejected. Walked out thinking, “Well, that’s that then.” Prepared myself for another rejection email.
A week later, my phone rang. It was them. They offered me the job. I swear, I almost dropped the phone. My heart did this weird flip. It wasn’t just a job; it was a real opportunity. A significant pay bump, a chance to work on some genuinely cool stuff, and a team that seemed vibrant and forward-thinking. It was everything I had been pushing for.
That’s when it hit me. All that late-night studying, the nervous applications, the rejections – it all led to this. It wasn’t magic or some cosmic alignment directly making things happen, but that initial little nudge from a random horoscope article just made me start moving. It made me believe that success was possible if I just put in the work. It wasn’t a sudden flash, but a slow grind that eventually paid off. I pushed myself, learned new things, faced my fears of failing, and eventually, I got there. Looking back, that period was tough, but it taught me a lot about myself. You gotta chase it, even if you need a weird little nudge from a Ganesha career prediction to get off your butt.
