Man, oh man, 2020, what a year that turned out to be. I remember seeing all those horoscopes, folks chatting about Pisces and big job moves. Honestly, I always took that stuff with a grain of salt, you know? But then, things started to unfold, and I had to wonder if there was something to it after all. It was a crazy ride, I tell ya, from thinking I was stuck to actually making some massive shifts.
I started 2020 feeling pretty restless. I’d been at my old gig for a good few years, pushing pixels, designing stuff. It was fine, steady pay, decent people, but that spark? Long gone. I’d wake up, drag myself through the motions, and then just count down the hours. You ever feel that? Like you’re just spinning your wheels, doing the same old thing day in, day out, and deep down, you know you’re capable of more, or at least, something different?
Then, the world kinda went sideways, didn’t it? Everything got weird. And for me, that weirdness actually kinda kicked me in the pants. Being stuck at home, suddenly having all this time to think, without the usual office distractions, it really made me confront that restlessness head-on. I started digging around online, just looking at what else was out there. Not even seriously at first, just browsing, you know, window shopping for a career.
I remember one evening, I was just scrolling through job boards, and something caught my eye. It wasn’t even in my usual field, not directly anyway. It was in something more about telling stories with data, rather than just making things look pretty. My gut just sort of lurched. Like, “Hey, this could be interesting.” So, I started doing some light reading, watching a few tutorials, just to see if it clicked.
It was slow going at first. I felt like a total rookie again. All those years I’d spent honing my craft, suddenly I was back at square one, fumbling with new tools, new ways of thinking. It was humbling, for sure. But here’s the thing: it also felt exciting. That feeling of learning something new, of chipping away at a challenge, that had been missing for ages.
I spent evenings, weekends, even my lunch breaks trying to wrap my head around this new stuff. I bought a few online courses, watched endless YouTube videos. My partner would see me hunched over the laptop, mumbling to myself, and just shake her head, laughing. But I was committed. I built a few small projects, just to prove to myself I could actually do it. Nothing fancy, just quick little things to get a feel for the whole process.
After a couple of months of this, a real job opening popped up. It wasn’t the exact perfect fit, but it was close enough, and it felt like a real leap into this new direction. My stomach did flip-flops just thinking about applying. I’d been at my old place so long, the idea of interviewing again, putting myself out there… it was terrifying. But then I remembered all those horoscope predictions, and heck, if 2020 was gonna be a year for big moves, I figured, why not me?
I polished up my resume, highlighting the few new skills I’d picked up, and focused on how my past experience could still connect. The interview process was grueling. Lots of technical questions I wasn’t super confident about, behavioral stuff that made me really think on my feet. I walked out of a couple of those interviews thinking, “Well, that’s that, I totally bombed.”
But then, one day, the phone rang. And they offered me the job. I remember just sitting there, staring at the wall, trying to process it. It was a huge pay cut initially, a step down in seniority, but a massive step forward in terms of what I wanted to be doing. It was a gamble, for sure. Leaving the comfort of what I knew for something completely unknown, in a year where everything felt uncertain. My family thought I was crazy, naturally.
I took it. I walked into my old manager’s office, gave my notice, and just felt this massive weight lift off my shoulders. It was scary, exhilarating, and just… right. That first day at the new place, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Everything was new, challenging, and I was soaking it all up. I had to really hustle to catch up, learning on the fly, making mistakes, but I was engaged again. That spark I’d been missing? It was back, roaring like a bonfire.
Looking back, 2020 really was the year of big job moves for me. It wasn’t some magical horoscope telling me what to do, but it certainly felt like the universe conspired to push me out of my comfort zone. It was a year of fear, hard work, and ultimately, a huge payoff. Sometimes you just gotta take that leap, even when everything around you feels chaotic. It turned out to be the best career decision I ever made.
My Takeaways From This Whole Mess:
- Listen to that gut feeling: If something feels off, it probably is.
- Don’t be afraid to be a beginner again: It’s how you grow, honestly.
- Challenges are opportunities: When everything gets weird, sometimes that’s your chance to pivot.
- Hard work pays off: Seriously, all those late nights studying actually got me somewhere.
- Take the risk: Sometimes the biggest scares lead to the biggest wins.
So yeah, 2020 was a wild ride. But for my career, it was exactly what I needed. It totally shook things up, in the best possible way.
