{"id":2106,"date":"2022-02-24T09:39:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T17:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2022-04-12T08:12:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:12:33","slug":"how-did-you-get-your-first-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lewczyk.net\/tomswritings\/?p=2106","title":{"rendered":"How Did You Get Your First Job?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

from Storyworth<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll give this as a two-part answer \u2013 with the first part being part-time jobs during school, and the second part being my first full-time job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PART 1 – During School<\/strong>
I didn\u2019t work in high school \u2013 in part, because I changed cities\/states mid high school \u2013 so I never got any jobs in motion. In college, I mainly worked for my dad during the summers (I had one summer where I wrote software for an actuary). I did not work during the school year when in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting a summer job with my dad was easy \u2013 he hired me. I was a fully-grown man, and was able to do a manual labor job at the FMC Corporation chemical distribution center that he ran. I wrote in another posting how I needed to double my calorie intake for those summers because of how physically demanding the job was \u2013 and how, when I worked for the actuary, I got (relatively) fat \u2013 because I naturally ate more, but burned fewer calories. Also, when I worked for my dad, part of my job was sweeping up the floor at the end of the day \u2013 so I joke to my wife that I used to be (in part) a \u2018professional sweeper\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PART 2 – Post School<\/strong>
Getting a job out of college should be easy, but for me it wasn\u2019t. There were a couple of factors: 1) it was pre-internet, so it wasn\u2019t as easy then to find suitable open positions, and 2) I screwed up a bit in college: I took huge class loads, but failed to take all the classes needed to graduate \u2013 so I needed to go an additional semester \u2013 to take one additional class<\/em>. (Overall in college, I ended up taking the equivalent of 6 years of classes in 4 1\/2 years \u2013 sometimes needing dean approval for large class loads. Plus I took extracurricular classes like Ameslan and Esperanto.) Graduating mid-year got me out of sync with any on-campus recruiting, and with company hiring cycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So after college graduation, I ended coming home to live with my parents in the Chicago suburbs for a couple of months, and applied for scores of jobs from there (with some help from my mom). I still have the written notebook tracking all the jobs that I applied for. It\u2019s interesting that the resume I used to apply for jobs had a photo of me in the corner (since it was pre-internet, I mailed in my applications). I don\u2019t know how common a photo on a resume was at the time, but I still have copies of that resume, with moppy-haired Tom in the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I applied for a job with FMC Corporation in Minneapolis MN, but ended up with an interview with FMC in San Jose CA. (It\u2019s amazing for me to think that I could have started my career working in Minnesota.) FMC flew me to San Jose, interviewed me, and subsequently made me a job offer. (Remember, I had already worked for FMC when I worked for my dad.) At the time, Ronald Reagan was president, and defense spending was a priority. FMC in San Jose was a defense contractor that built \u2018armored personnel carriers\u2019 \u2013 sort of scaled-down tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hired in along with a dozen other engineers \u2013 and we worked hard, and played hard. We all socialized together, and had a great time. FMC moved me out to California, with all my belongings, including my ten-year-old Ford Mustang II \u2013 a slightly sporty car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I hired in (mid 1980s) software technology was just getting going. One of our early tasks was to replace a bunch of analog electronic circuity with a microprocessor running software. I had to learn a new (DoD-approved) software language, but we made it happen. I worked at FMC for four years, then moved on to work for an airline. Part of my motivation for leaving FMC was that I eventually felt guilty contributing to the \u2018war effort\u2019 \u2013 that killed people 😒<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So in summary: I worked for my dad most summers in college (plus one summer for an actuary), but my first real job was for a defense contractor in San Jose, which I landed a few months after (late) college graduation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from Storyworth I\u2019ll give this as a two-part answer \u2013 with the first part being part-time jobs during school, and the second part being my first full-time job. PART 1 – During SchoolI didn\u2019t work in high school \u2013 in part, because I changed cities\/states mid high school \u2013 so I never got any jobs … <\/p>\n

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