In September, the Society of Technical Communication invited me to attend a free, full-day class at Google.

Three weeks ago I applied for a position as a technical writer at a location in NYC.

Two weeks ago I was asked to come in for an interview.

And finally, this past Friday at exactly 9:30 PM, I received a very special phone call.

Yep. I got a job!

And what’s more amazing is that the first person who interviewed me, the person who will now be my manager, also happened to be an alumni of Farmingdale! She was a PCM major just like me! She gave me a few hints at first, but over our conversation I finally wised up and asked her to be sure.

The best thing about the entire process was how accommodating and responsive the job recruiter was. From the first moment we made contact, Pam D’Aleo was super helpful. She made herself available at all hours of the day and night to answer my questions and shoot me emails. She saved me the anxiety of having to wonder over the weekend if I got the job by calling me on her off time to let me know.

When I was a teenager, I remember being so amazed by the tall buildings and lively residents I saw while getting lost in Manhattan with my friends. I used to imagine finally living there on my own, without my parents telling me what to do all the time (it was my teen rebellious phase).

After I moved two hours north to Hudson Valley, I vowed to come back as an adult and do New York City my way. I didn’t know when this day would come, and I wasn’t even sure if I would still care about my silly childhood promise when I got older. Like a nice dream that you forget when you wake up in the morning. However, it’s satisfying to discover that after ten years it finally happened.

Since I got the news last week, I noticed that I’ve been telling people how lucky I am to get this position. But thinking deeper, I remembered that my luck is the sum of the opportunities I chose to pursue and the effort that I put into them once I got them.

Every freelance writing project.

Every networking event.

Every extra minute I willingly poured into polishing my English teacher training manual, and helping out the admissions office at my previous college with their call center manual, has led me to this moment.

When a serendipitous event occurs, like getting your dream job, it’s the result of every past decisions you made which now allows you to be in the right place at the right time.

Getting this job is proof of that.

My first day is Monday. Looking forward to it.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
-Benjamin Franklin