Something else that I’ve been thinking about since yesterday night…
“I’ve been here before…”
What I meant by that was during the early years of my journey (following my passions), I had encountered TWO prior moments where I encountered an opportunity that seemed too good to be true. I still remember each of those moments like it was yesterday. I remember those moments clearly because they were the ones that enabled me to become the professional and individual that I am today (well, the better parts of me anyways…lol).
Without going too much into the details of what happened previously, I’ll just say that they have since become two of my biggest milestones in my entire career. I mean seriously, I can’t think of any other moment in my career [journey] than those two.
You must be scratching your head now and wondering what I’m referring to…
Okay…
Freelance Gig with UNEP in 2015
In 2015 Feb, I received the opportunity to pitch for a freelance consulting gig with United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). At first, I honestly thought that the opportunity was too good to be true. In fact, I thought it was a scam, and I had to verify that the person who approached me then was indeed who they say they were.
In fact, right after being awarded the contract, I still had a few quick moments where I wondered if I was actually up to the job. I mean, that was a huge opportunity, and the biggest one I’ve ever been given. Even though I shouldn’t be surprised by it, I was surprised by the fact that they didn’t try to negotiate or bargain their way through the contract. For most of the freelance gigs I’ve taken on prior to that experience, those clients seemed to always seek out some kind of compromise. But no, not that time. UNEP didn’t seek to negotiate the project fee that I was quoting them. They respected it and gave me the contract in the end.
To this day, that freelance gig in 2015 is still by far, the best outcome/result I’ve ever achieved. And ever since then, I’ve had a few minor successes (if you could call it that), but none of those successes actually felt as good, or came as close to the success that I had experienced in April/May 2015 with UNEP. I mean, that sense of fulfillment after completing the UNEP (COP 2015) project has just been unmatched ever since.
Dream Job as Senior Pre-sales Engineer & Telerik Evangelist in Oct 2015
Another opportunity that took place that very same year was when Stephen McNulty (the then VP of Sales and Marketing) from the APJ office of Progress, approached me via LinkedIn to offer me an opportunity to work at Progress, representing Telerik. It was a dream come true moment for me because I have been wanting to work for Telerik for most of my career up unto that point.
Ofcourse, when he first reached out to me via LinkedIn, and like the previous opportunity I just described, I actually wondered if it was for real. Turns out it was and I landed that job and I didn’t have to sit through the usual, standard job interview process. Better yet, for the very first time in my tech career, I have been offered a salary that was nearly 3x of my previous full-time job in 2014.
I remembered my first two months on the job. I will always remember the feeling of, “What if I’m not good enough?”. I mean, even the then Director of Sales (my direct boss) was very straight and open with me on Day One that I started. He didn’t think I was the right pick and he had doubts about my capabilities. I mean, I didn’t go through the usual selection process, and job interviews (something he was more comfortable with at that point).
But as it turns out, a few months into the job, one day during our usual Thursday drinking session after work, he openly admitted that he doubted my capabilities but later realized that I was truly the right person for the job. He felt that I was the best decision and hire that could’ve been made for the team at that time.
From that moment forward, I no longer doubted my own capabilities. That’s when I really started to shine.
It’s time for another one of those moments…
Yeap, I’m glad that I’ve managed to not reveal what was going on so far. This has taken every single cell in my body to restrain myself from talking about what is happening right this very moment in my life. But hey, nothing is confirmed at this point, so there’s really nothing for me to say right now. I just prefer to learn from my past mistakes and also to refrain from talking about something that hasn’t been confirmed yet.
All I can say guys….is that I’m in one of those moments again…wondering if this next opportunity in my life is “too good to be true”. And hoping to God, that maybe, just maybe, I actually deserve this opportunity. Especially after everything I had sacrificed over the last 8 years as a result of my decision to pursue my passions. And like how those two previous experiences have managed to turn out well and become the key milestones in my career (frankly, in my life), maybe, just maybe, there’s a possibility I could have found my third milestone. I mean, I did initially wonder if I deserved the freelance contract from UNEP. This was after I submitted the pitch/proposal to UNEP team. I didn’t think too highly of my chances. All I knew then was, that I had to give this my best shot! I knew inside my heart that if the opportunity panned out, it would be a dream come true moment for me. In hindsight though, I believe that through my work on the project, I eventually earned my recognition.
That said, I think wisdom is telling me that I can’t just put all of my hope on this one single opportunity. Sure, if it does work out, it would be a bonus. So, what I should do now, is to carry on with my job hunting efforts. Basically, don’t sit on this one alone. Don’t just wait for it to come true.
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