Where openmindedness will take you!
Published: 2020-08-02 21:11:09

Holy Cannoli! I had an interview today!!

#This is Nuts.

Although this might seem like nothing, it was huge. Being nervous and working through it was awesome. The interviewer herself was awesome! And if you couldn't tell already I am pretty excited! Now, what's the position, well the position is a financial consultant. In school, I studied Full Stack software engineering and I loved it. The problem solving and figuring out bugs in my code was really great. Now before all of this, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. After finding my passion for software engineering (really coding and problem solving), I thought that I had to lock myself into one career field. It was a software engineer or nothing! Those qualms were quelled when I saw another cohort mate of mine get a job in a different field. Still really technical but it was something he always wanted to do. So then it got the wheels turning "what if I started elsewhere, what if I could apply my technical skills to other places?" so instead of narrowing my search I widened it. Here is how the interview went.

#Rolling with the punches

The morning of the interview I was a bit nervous. This is ok, I think it means I am just a person, so that's good. A lot less nervous than normal thinking well "at least it's not the dentist,"
I chuckled. That morning I reviewed my notes over and over and over. Realizing that I studied and prepared properly, I worked on a project for a bit, but that wasn't really scratching the itch. So I called a friend, we talked for a bit, he reassured me that "it's gonna be great and to take a deep breath!"  So I did. 

I put on a button-down shirt and was ready to roll. The clock struck three and I was hanging out in the Skype call waiting for my interviewer. When she arrived she said something to the tune of "the job you applied for is closed." A crushing blow. Immediately my brain jumped to "ok what are the next steps?" Feeling glum, I heard my interviewer say "tell me more about you in case something comes up." If you have ever seen the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and noticed how a Miniature Pinscher's ears go up when they hear the word 'turkey,' then it's safe to say you have a sense of how I was feeling. I sprung into action, my heart beating again. I described my previous work experience from burger flipping to medical debt collection at a financial company. Clear as the sky above, I heard my interviewer say "would you be interested in financial consultant position?" Emphatically I said yes. I thought this would be incredible using my technical skills to work on financial models, feasibility analysis, or capital programming. This might seem drab or boring but for a career, I thought it would be awesome. I remember how much I loved learning about credit and how the proverbial sausage is made. This is all to say that the wind was back in my sails. 

# What does this have to to with tech?

Good question. I didn't think that this role was very technical and one of the requirements for the job was Excel. Now, the dreaded Excel has been talked about a ton in the "getting the job" sphere. I was honest with my interviewer and told her that my only experience with Excel was putting things in cells. So she advised that I look at Excel and take a skills assessment test on Linkedin. So I began looking into this strange new world. To my surprise, I found Excel to be just programming with a funny looking skin over it. Each "thing" in the program was just a function. I thought there had to be more to it. No secret sauce, no magic powers? No, just classic programming technique and some database stuff, it was a breeze! So I studied for a little bit and crushed the exam!  

# What is next!

My Dad and I were having a conversation a week or so prior to this interview and he told an incredible quote that I read every morning. It says "If it is to be, it's up to me." Now I'm not sure what the future holds but I will keep working for my goals and one day get there; it might not be or tomorrow but the more I work the better the odds get -- so we shall see.

-Thanks, Mike