workin' it in seattle

Sales be dammed. I just spent the last two days in Seattle at a seminar focused on winning my company more work. During which, I asked myself "how did I get here?" How did I get to this point in my career, where I'm running down a path that I had not originally planned?

I started out my teenage years with a desire to be a translator for the UN. With English, Spanish and French as my base languages, I set out to learn Japanase and German. Learning languages was easy for me and I loved it. But after meeting a translator who came to one of my high school "career day" events, it didn't seem as much fun as I had originally thought. She basically told me she makes hardly any money and had to work a second job. But I had high hopes. The UN. So I met with the school guidance counsellor and we attempted to develop a strategy. She was clueless and made me even more so. We didn't even know where to begin. Translator school? huh? what? where? We found one in Alberta but good ol' AB did not appeal to me. So I said, "screw this". I'll just take languages at UBC. I took French and Spanish and wasn't entirely sure, but thought I would get my BA in one or the other.

Then I regained my political self (I was that kid that staged walk outs when World Vision attempted to reel teenagers into the 24 hour famine). Political Science was my new direction. Even though my political passion had died (after realizing that no one really cared), I still had it in me. It fascinated me that I could sit in a class and learn about what was going on in the world politically. So I got my degree and thought, hmmm now what? My new goal: international development. That didn't work out. Then it changed to international law. Got an LSAT score good enough to get into U of Saskatchewan. Nix. Then non-profits.

Working for a non-profit in social development was an achievable goal. I got a job working at Immigrant Services Society of BC and loved it. I felt like I was really doing something to effect change. But after awhile it got stale and I wasn't moving up. My boss even told me this job was just a stepping stone for me. It lasted two years.

I needed to earn more money, so I went to work for a quasi-government agency that paid well but was in no relation to my skills or career path. That lasted for almost 2 years...yikes. And now, after another two years, I find myself in a position that I love but I'm at a place that I never expected to be. Funny how this happens. And interestingly enough, my work life seems to work in two year increments. And if I multiply those two years by ten increments, 20 years will have already passed. So how do I re-focus? And where do I go from here?

I really love what I do at work and love the people I work with. But the problem is I really lack a "specialization" in one thing. I'm a generalist. This could be a result of jumping from one thing to the next...this seems to be a trend in my life. I never stuck with anything long enough to specialize -- piano, organ, guitar, tennis, modern dance, kung-fu, samba, immigration consulting...wow, the list could go on.

So back to the course in Seattle. I was lucky enough to sit beside Maria Jackola from Jackola Engineering in Montana. This girl was a glowing soul. She was lively and warm -- so full of life. She was so real. In those two days, she and I had some really key conversations that related to my career path. Maria was studying graphic design because it was her passion. When she talked about it, her eyes lit up. And she really felt that I should take one or two intro courses in design because based on our discussions, she saw a designer in me.

Now here we go, another complete diversion from my original high-school and then post-university goals, but in a way, I think that if I can incorporate all my skills: languages, writing/editing and design -- I can get myself to that perfect place. Career satisfaction.

And maybe specialization takes years but I'd like to stick to one thing for the next few years. And that one thing is what I'm currently doing. I just don't want to ask myself in the next 20 years - why this? So that's why I'm going through a re-evaluation now. I'm going to take a course in design and see if I like it. And if I do like it, my goal is to go out on my own in the next two years. And I can call myself a specialist - take that HR!