Following the hardship of 2020, is another hardship..
The year is about to end and the lessons it brought me are very valuable that I thought of sharing my personal experiences in the hope that it'll empower those who are fighting their hardest battles in life. I'm doing this to inspire people to talk about what they've been through and never be afraid to be seen as someone who is struggling — more so failing. Be the last beacon of hope to your peers, no matter how hard life gets. Happy holidays. Cheers to 2021!
THE WIN
The year 2021 started slow. After my exit in Onerent, I was unemployed for about three months. During that time, I had to sharpen my blade for the craft that I am known for; an engineer. I had to revisit my arsenal to see which aspect of engineering I should polish, rework, and relearn. I remember talking to myself about me being an engineer again and what could I improve; questions like should I stick to being a devops engineer, and work on the tools I already know, and work on systems I already have dealt with? Or should I try something else, which could or might be useful as the technological landscape evolves? And for you who knew me, I took the path of least resistance (sarcasm). Of course, I studied backend engineering; working on Nodejs and Python framework.
Fast forward. I applied for a job as a backend engineer in a startup company. During this time, I have to accept a pay-cut. But it was a win-situation for me as the position is serving its purpose. It gives me the environment to apply what I have been studying and at the same time, it gives me the room to build that character of "hunger-in-learning" which has been always one of my mantra — testing myself if I can be motivated with the work alone without the cash and most especially that for a while, I was well decorated in my previous job. Within my six months stay with Edamama, I was able to work on the critical infrastructure; like re-working the database to address scalability, Algolia integration via Graphql, and the Product-Discount pricing engine. Add some miscellaneous tasks; like providing mentorship to co-engineers, providing insights to the architectural design, and interviewing talents. Within this short period, I was able to do a lot, being able to impart work as a backend and devops engineer. A self-fulfilling experience.
Last quarters. I applied for a job as a devops engineer in a blockchain company. This realm is totally new to me, but I was eager to learn more about managing and setting up distributed systems. And so with luck, I was accepted and offered a contract. The work I'm doing here is totally new for me — which makes it really exciting. The moral-courage of wanting to learn new things has led me to the uncharted water of blockchain(s) and I couldn't be more grateful!
THE LOST
While I was unemployed for three months, I used up my savings to survive the day-to-day. The hard earned money I put into the stock-market has been affected by the market crash. I've maxed out my credit limit to sustain other necessities. Out of desperation, thinking to be at least be cashflow positive for the end of the year (and with the interest of becoming a poker player), I joined and lost in online betting.
Overall, I am at break-even for this year. And most lost, lean towards the monetary aspect. With some factors of bad-decision making.
THE LESSON
Discipline and patience is essential in dealing with hardships. Be disciplined enough to not add more to what is lost, and be patient enough to re-accumulate. Don't be so hasten for things to materialize, wait until you see yourself deserving of what is to be gained.
What's lost is lost. One has to make better decisions next time.
Sacrifice something of value, to gain value. I may have lost a good portion of what I've acquired during the past years, but in return, I have the knowledge that I need to prosper in the years ahead. The transformation out from these short-comings is more valuable than what I've lost.
Always have vigor to push through the day. There's always tomorrow, you'll see.
