Man, 2015. You know, when folks talk about “career predictions” or whatever for a certain sign, like Pisces for 2015, you usually just shrug it off, right? Like, “yeah, right, whatever.” But looking back? That year hit me like a ton of bricks, and honestly, it was a massive pivot for my entire work life. I truly had to “get ready” whether I knew it or not, and I’m telling you, the universe didn’t ask politely.
Before 2015 really kicked in, I was plugging away, just grinding it out. Had a gig, felt pretty secure, but also… stagnant. Like walking through treacle. Every single day was just a repeat. I opened the same files, I attended the same meetings, I replied to the same kind of emails, day in, day out. Felt like I was just punching a clock, not actually building anything for myself, you know? There was this dull ache, a feeling that something had to give, but I just ignored it. I kept pushing that feeling down, telling myself, “It’s fine, it’s stable.” Big mistake.
Then, boom. Middle of 2015, it all came crashing down. My company, the one I’d poured years into, completely pulled the rug out. A big restructuring, they called it. Next thing I knew, my entire department, wiped out. Just like that. I remember sitting there, staring at that email, watching my stomach drop to my shoes. Felt like the floor just disappeared from under me. I walked out of that office building that day, carrying a cardboard box, not knowing what the hell I was gonna do next. Everything I thought I had, gone in an instant.
Panic mode, obviously. The immediate aftermath was rough, really rough. I started scouring job boards like a madman, sending out resumes into the void, probably hundreds. I went to every networking event, talked to anyone who would listen. Days just blended into weeks, then months. My savings started to dwindle, faster than I thought possible. I felt the pressure mounting, felt like I was failing with every passing day. Every “no” or, worse, just silence, just stung harder than the last. I spent countless hours just staring at the ceiling at night, wondering where I went wrong, what I could have done differently. I even considered just taking any job, just to pay the bills, something completely unrelated to what I’d done before. It was a dark place, seriously.
But then, something shifted, slowly. I realized that just applying for the same kind of role wasn’t going to cut it. The market had changed, I had to change. I had to rethink everything. I started thinking about all those little side projects I used to mess with, the things I actually enjoyed doing, even if they weren’t ‘career’ stuff. I decided to learn something new, something completely different from my old path. I bought some online courses, downloaded a bunch of free tutorials, and just spent my nights and weekends digging into new tech, new skills. I practiced coding, I built small apps that mostly broke, I failed a lot, but I kept going. I pushed myself to understand things I thought were too complicated before. I drank a ton of coffee.
It wasn’t an overnight thing, not at all. It took months of grinding, of feeling like an imposter, of wondering if I was just wasting my time. I pitched a small, almost free project to a friend’s startup, just to get some real-world experience under my belt in this new area. I worked for peanuts, just to get my foot in the door and prove I could do it. Gradually, I built up a small portfolio, made new connections with people in this new field. By the very end of 2015, I landed a totally different kind of job, a role I wouldn’t have even considered six months earlier. It was a huge pay cut initially, sure, but I was doing something I actually felt passionate about, building things with my own hands, learning every single day. The energy was completely different.
So yeah, “Your 2015 Career Predictions for Pisces: Get Ready!” – that title, man, it hits different now. I was forced to get ready. I was thrown into the deep end without a life vest, and I had to swim or sink. That year broke me down in ways I didn’t think were possible, but it also built me back up, totally different, totally stronger. It forced me to stop just doing what I was told and start carving my own path. It was a harsh lesson, a tough school, but looking back, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to my career, honestly. Didn’t feel like it at the time, not one bit. But now? Yeah, I was definitely getting ready.
