Work/Life/Channel Balance Part 1: Work!

Okay, so this week’s post will be a little different! As I’ve gone through the summer and ping ponged a bit between marathon vacations, marathon workweeks, marathon content creation, and.. well.. marathon everything else, it’s interesting to pause a minute and look at how everything comes together, and what is unique and enriching about our lives.

As such, I thought I’d take some time to reflect on what each of these topics mean to me. This week, we’ll start with work! Next week will be life. And from there, we’ll dive into the channel piece! After that, I’ll talk about how it all comes together.

So… work! Some people say: “I have to go to work.” As for me? “I get to go to work!” For those who watch my videos, they will see that I like to try out new experiments and bring things together: at work, I integrate software! I also like to interact with people and share what I know. This all extends to the workplace! My career started with software development and moved into hands-on consulting, and that is what I continue to do today. I departed from the norm of working for big companies a few years back, and at smaller companies, as a consultant/contractor, you get to do a variety of things, including being a service provider for your client, as well as helping with the mechanics of running the small company (I call the latter portion my “evening job,” but the way we are organized, it is not a significant time commitment, but does fulfill a lifelong dream of mine to not only be a technical person, but also someone who can help support a team of people and make sure they are getting what they need!)

I’ve been very fortunate in my career to learn new skills on the job, as well as to return to grad school mid way and pick up some new skills that have helped me with the management and people side of my work.

At the end of each workweek, I take time to reflect. Since taking my current position two years ago, I tell myself, “wow, I still cannot believe I ended up in this position!” I feel like this current job was created just for me to be honest.

Now, don’t get me wrong, not EVERYTHING is always 100%… systems do go bump in the night, and sometimes we encounter unsolvable problems. Fortunately, this is more of the exception than the norm, and most of what I encounter has a resolution of some sort… which, for an engineer, seeking and providing that resolution is a very exciting part of the job!

In closing, I’ll highlight two additional decisions I have made that have made all of the difference:

  • Day 1 Career Decision – Work Hard Every Day: I made this career decision once and only once. I’d by lying if I said that I gave 100% to every test and assignment in grade school and college (I still did well, but that’s beside the point!). This decision has made all of the difference. Now, working hard doesn’t mean “working long hours” or not “playing hard.” But when I’m working, I’m going to be working hard.
  • Later Career Decision – Have Fun at Work: Once I get comfortable in a position, I open up and have a lot of fun. Okay, sometimes borderline irreverent fun! I figure that if I am going to be spending 8 to 10 hours a day at a job, I am going to make it fun! So far this has worked out, and my graduate studies do indicate: making the workplace a fun place has nothing but positive impact!

So, there you have it. Do you enjoy what you do? If not, what changes can you make to make it more enjoyable?

See you next week where we’ll talk about life!

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