Thoughts on the Future

For the past six months, I have been pursuing a dream of trying to start my own business.  While I have found how difficult it is to create a successful business from scratch, I was fortunate to discover that I really enjoy creating software.

Currently, I am at a crossroads.  I have had some interviews with tech companies where I would be managing software development, and while I feel that I would be an excellent fit for these roles, I have not heard anything back.  While I understand that I don’t have years of experience in this realm, I do feel that I have proven my moxie and mettle the past year in creating usable and successful software on an enterprise, smaller scale, and mobile perspective.

This is contrasted by me beginning to apply for roles that are more directly related to my education, training, and experience.  As I mentioned before, my background is in Industrial Engineering, so I have recently begun applying for these types of jobs.  I have had tremendous success in this arena, and will begin to pursue this avenue more aggressively if I am unable to land a software product development type of role.  I am fortunate to have a good network in this industry, and I am hoping that they will be able to help a brother out!

At six months with little to no income, I definitely have to speed up the process of rejoining the professional ranks.  Tomorrow, I plan on following up with the tech/start up companies who have interviewed me to see if there is an opportunity for me to join their team.  Pending the results of those conversations, I will then begin to visit with my contacts to find out more about the traditional IE/Process Improvement roles that I have more direct experience and qualifications for.

I felt like writing tonight, because I think it is rare to kind of see where two divergent paths can take you for the immediate future.  Getting a role where I would manage software development would springboard me in an entirely new career, I would create and refine a new skillset, I would make new industry connections, and I would relocate to a new city where I would have to establish new friends.  An Industrial Engineering role would keep me in a similar career, allow me to further develop my experience and hone the skillset I currently possess, deepen my industry connections, and (most likely) allow me to remain in my current city with my close friends.

As you an see, either path has a tremendous amount of upside, and I will be excited to go down whichever one that presents itself.

Furthermore, I know that in either opportunity I will continue to create on my own.  I have had a passion for bringing ideas to light and already have a backlog of about 7-10 really solid pieces of software that would be interesting to make and use.  By continuously creating, I hope to deepen the nascent relationships in the dev community that I have begun to develop in addition to learning from all the new friends I have made.  This is also very exciting to me.

Regardless of where I go, I am thankful for the experience I have received these past six months.  Wherever I go, I am looking forward to applying all the knowledge that I have gained in addition to constantly learning more and improving myself.  And I’m not gonna lie, it’ll be great to finally get paid for it again