Thanks

I've received hearty congratulations from everyone for my new job. A common comment is that "it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person".

I learned a long time ago that when someone pays you a compliment, never try to deflect it. Don't try to talk them out of it. All that you have to say is "thank you". An English teacher in high school sternly shared this with me when I tried to downplay a compliment from her. She shook her finger in my face as she berated me. It's something that I've remembered.

So when my friends say this to me, I simply thank them. But I know that it's far from the truth. There are indeed more deserving folks out there. People who have more skill, more motivation. People who would be a better choice but who didn't have the luck.

Psychologists discuss something called the Impostor Syndrome, where a person is unable to take credit for their accomplishments. They attribute success to luck, or timing. They feel like frauds.

I don't feel like a fraud or an impostor. I can accept my own accomplishments, but this new job is something that just dropped out of the sky and landed at my feet. I didn't plan for it. I didn't work for it. I don't think that I deserved it, really.

What I do feel is that I'll have to hustle to make sure their confidence in me has not been misplaced. I'll make sure that I do deserve this job. This is quite simply the highest compliment that anyone has ever paid me — literally!

The only thing to say is "thank you".

Job Destiny

I applied for my first job in Jacksonville at a 1-hour photo processing store. It was my first job search, where I scoured the classified advertisements and applied for the jobs.

That job expired, although I can't recall under what circumstances. What I do know is that the store owner arranged a job for me at a car dealership where his wife worked, so the circumstances of my termination couldn't have been that bad.

I left that job for another that I found on the job board at college. I wasn't engaging in an actual job search, but the position seemed interesting, so I applied. I stayed at that company until I left Jacksonville to move to Baltimore in 1990.

Upon arriving in Baltimore, I signed up with a temp agency, which was somewhat like applying for a job, I suppose. My first assignment was three days with a non-profit company. My second assignment was three months with a general contractor's office (the most boring job I've ever held).

Then I got a call from the non-profit company, offering me a job out of the blue. I worked there for thirteen years, until the new Chief Operating Officer made life horrible for everyone. I stuck around for two years, then tendered my resignation when it became apparent that he wasn't leaving anytime soon.

I had been attending a monthly FileMaker Pro developer's meeting and had made a couple of presentations there. When the organizer found out that I had resigned, he offered me a job on the spot.

When he sold the company about a year later and the new owner fired me, Robyn offered me a job the very next day, even though I had no experience with the programming tools he used.

Looking back, the way I was offered this new job isn't unusual for me. It seems that when one job is over, a new one presents itself.