Through the experiences I've had in life, I've realized that sometimes it's better to withhold information or thoughts from people for a certain amount of time. Sometimes a first impression can lead someone astray, and I think mine would've caused me to share some things that are no longer true. I finally feel comfortable sharing my experiences and thoughts about my new position and what's currently happening in my life! I'm excited about what God is doing and I'm glad I get to share it with all of you.
I've been working for three and a half weeks now, which is about half of the time I was hired for on my contract. I think you were probably able to sense from my last blog that I was a little hesitant about this position and how much I would enjoy it. It took a couple weeks to transition from the freedom of having my own schedule every day to working 10 hours on someone else's schedule every day, but it's been great! The hours get to be a little much at times, but I'm really enjoying the company. It feels good to work hard at something, knowing that it's going to serve a purpose. I've been mainly doing design work. An architect will send us a model that they've created of a building, then we'll size equipment and place the equipment in the building. Equipment includes ductwork, pipes, plumbing fixtures, air handling units, electrical sockets, and various other necessary instruments for a building. It's cool to know that I get to choose where something goes. I get to choose what happens in a project. I get to play a part in the design of buildings all over the US. Most that I haven't been in, and some that maybe you have been in!
The people I work with are really cool too. We just had a company Christmas party this last Friday where I got to know everyone a little better. It was fun joking around with the principals of the company and meeting everyone's families. Meeting wives and children really helps turn fellow employees into potential friends. I also got asked to be on a basketball team composed of members of the office. The team starts playing in mid-January, but we decided to get together and play a few games last week. I ended up dislocating my pinky toe, so I sat out the final game of 3. As I was sitting there, I realized how awesome it is to be in an office of young people. I never expected, in an engineering career, to be surrounded by a majority of people who were close to my age. Almost everyone in the office is between 25-35. They're all either freshly married, having a first child, or building their first house. It's also a huge blessing to be able to hang out with the people I'm working with, and even being able to play basketball with them!!
Originally they told me that if things went well, there may be an opportunity for a full-time position after my contract expires. Every day I feel more and more confident that I'm someone that the company could benefit by hiring on full-time. They seem to enjoy my presence in the office. I have surprised multiple employees with the background that I already had when I entered the office. One even looked at me in awe when I told him that I was fresh out of college. The office is also really busy, and I know that I'm offering a lot of help getting jobs done! As I was thinking about my potential future at this company, I questioned how I would treat an employee if they were temporary. I decided I would continually give them the same type of work, so that they would get really good at it, in order to help complete jobs as efficiently as possible. That's not what is happening with me though. I am continually learning new things and completing a variety of different tasks for my team. I'm very hopeful that this contract is going to turn into something full-time.
One of the biggest things that I continually see people getting held back by is the idea that "it's not a good time." I hear it so often. "It's not a good time for us to have a baby". "It's not a good time for me to change jobs". "It's not a good time to get married". I completely disagree in almost every circumstance. That's why, even though I'm not sure if I'm going to get a permanent engineering position, I'm still planning on things as if I'm going to be in Charleston permanently. I've been working on starting a company called A Helping Hand. My friends and family in Wisconsin have probably heard of it, because it's a company I started a couple summers ago. Well, I'm bringing it to South Carolina with the intent of hiring college students to do the labor. My hope is that I will be the one to market the company, communicate with customers, and bid on jobs either at night or on weekends, then I'll put together crews to complete the jobs and send them out during the week. I fully intend on being an engineer for at least 4 years, so I won't be doing very much labor, unless it's on Friday afternoons or Saturdays. I hope to get my PE license, but I have to work under another PE for four years before I can take the exam. I'm hoping that running A Helping Hand this way will allow me to make a little extra income while providing jobs to students in need. I hope to be receiving refrigerator magnets and flyers sometime this week that I will be able to have friends distribute around various neighborhoods in Charleston.
I looked at the last 6 months of my life from an outside perspective and my eyes were opened to how awesome and faithful God has been!
In my living situations- I moved to Charleston and lived in my car for 4 days, then upgraded to an apartment in historic downtown Charleston, and now I live in a beach house, on an island, a block away from the ocean!
In my job situation- I spent my summer on the beach, then started picking up some random jobs, then got a job doing some carpentry, and now I have an engineering contract while I'm working on starting a company that I believe will do very well in this area of the country.
In 6 months, I've fully established myself and I've seen God take me from absolutely nothing to having more than I ever thought was possible. One step of faith... to move where God directed me to move... and everything has come together in His timing, for my good!
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for both jobs. I really enjoy the company I'm working at and would love a full-time position there. I work with some Christian guys too, which is a huge blessing!
Also, pray for A Helping Hand. I want God to be the Boss. I want all the decisions to be Christ-centered, all the employees to represent a loving God, and all of our work to be done in a way that honors the Lord. Please also pray that I can provide jobs for a lot of people (I'm thinking like 10-15, but if God brings the work, He'll provide me with the means to figure it out!) and that I'll have the wisdom to lead them in an effective and servant-like way.
Love y'all!
(Ohhhh man, He's gon' Southern!)
