Job Direction Revision 71

I couldn’t sleep last night even though I was kind of sleepy and turned out the lights at 11. I guess I can attribute it to the glass of wine I had, or possibly the high amount of sugar I consumed yesterday (cherry pie + ice cream + wine + some candy after lunch). I had some good thoughts in the meantime, although I had most of them before midnight so it would have been nice if I could have rested after having them.

First, I’ve been saying that I’m looking for a job in software development. I looked for jobs again yesterday and after reflecting, I’ve decided that it would take an extreme case for me to feel confident enough to apply, and even more to confidently interview, for a position in computers. Instead, I think I need to have some kind of personal connection. How can I do this? I can go through my contacts and acquaintances and try sending a few messages. The other idea I came up with was to go to a career fair. I think I had planned to do this when I was actually in school before, and I really should have. I’m hoping that the chance to talk with recruiters in a lower-pressure environment will allay some of my doubts in addition to possibly opening some doors.

If, at the end of my student teaching, I want to stay in the US and don’t want to be in education, I’ll do Revature or an equivalent. The disadvantages of this are that I have to go somewhere random in the US, I probably won’t be paid as much as if I went straight to the job market, and I have to stick with it for two years. The first shouldn’t be a significant problem, the second makes up for itself, and while two years is a bit long, it should give me a definitive idea of whether I can handle the job.

Outside of these avenues, I think I will stop looking for a computer job, as it is just a time sink that makes me feel incompetent and forces me to back down from my fears. I do think I need to work though, but I’d rather not work full-time, and I will have to severely cut back on my hours in January. I’d rather not start the job in July either, while I’m doing three classes and trying to work out the two tests that I need to take. That just gives me five months. While I’d rather learn something new, five months of part-time work is not much of an investment to develop a real skill. I was thinking that I might as well just go back to Food Lion, but now that I’m writing this out, I think there are plenty of other places that I can do some decent work for five months. I’ve considered being a bank teller before, and I don’t think I should rule it out just yet. There’s also a loading job with UPS, which could help me with physical activity better than working at Food Lion, and there shouldn’t be a problem with it being short-term or part-time. I’ll keep looking through jobs for a few more weeks, but I need to start applying around the 20^th.

In terms of free time, I have a new principle—if I feel like playing video games, just make something. Programming, music, language flashcards, a woodworking project, even watch a video on sewing or some other interesting skill. In fact, one thing I’d like to do today is to make a list of all the things I’m interested in which might be on youtube or reddit. The important thing is that I want something to show for all this time that I have free. School is important, but I’ve spent enough time just in school.