I recently threw my grandmother a 90th birthday party celebration. By the end, it was a great party and I think everyone, especially Grandmother, had a great time. But getting there was quite the ordeal. After reserving 6-foot round tables, I was taxed with finding someone to help me haul them. My friend offered an old pick-up truck, but the truck died on the way to the rental place. So we used her minivan and rented rectangular tables instead.
Feeling good about my ability to change plans at the last minute, we arrived at the clubhouse where I proceeded to lock the clubhouse keys, our purses, and cell phones inside while we looked for something to prop the door open. The look of panic on both of our faces was immediate as I unsuccessfully tried to open the door. It was a Saturday and the management office for the clubhouse was surely closed. Luckily I lived close by. Luckily I had a spare key. Luckily I was able to reach someone at the management office. And after about 45 minutes of agonizing uncertainty, the maintenance guy came and unlocked the door for us.
While I was on the phone, my friend was scoping out the building to see if there were any windows ajar and I was trying to think of a convincing argument to tell the police to get me in the building – thankfully it didn’t come to that. I was so glad that when I’d planned the party and preparation time that I’d thought to invite several family members to help and also doubled my estimated setup time. So the setback from my annoying mistake was ultimately only a bump in the road.
Really, it never occurred to me that we would never get in. Somehow I knew we would not only get in the building but there would be enough time to set up and change from my rain-soaked sweat pants into a dress. I knew that even if the day didn’t come off completely as planned that the most important thing was to have a good time with family and friends. And that’s exactly how it came off in the end. My only regret was wasting the time of friends and family as we waited for a key.
What’s my point? My point is persistence. So often I hear people saying they can’t get coding jobs and I’ve heard of many people saying their education was a waste of time and money and they are going to stop applying for coding jobs. If this is you and you’re about to give up, I encourage you to stick it out and try another way of getting into the proverbial building. Whether it means networking with people you’ve never met before or looking for non-traditional coding jobs that still allow you to use the skills you acquired in school, you need to maintain faith that you will get in. If you allow yourself to feel defeated, you will lose the drive to keep going and possibly find your niche.
