5 years

Today marks 5 years that I have been with my company. When I started, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. I had zero experience in the technical writing field. The only reason I even applied was because the man we had purchased Jersey from worked at HP and said that technical writers have potential to make as much money as their engineering counterparts. (Ha! I'm not sure he knew what he was talking about in that regard...) I thought, hey why not? Try it, and if you don't like it, no big deal. I did not think at the time that I was choosing a career. Merely a job.

5 years later, and I know this is the path for me. I'm incredibly OCD and way too organized for my own good. I like systems and order and a reason for things to work the way they do. Technical writing has been a good outlet for me to get all my crazy obsessive, must-be-perfect desires out. I can write and re-write and edit and consolidate and at the end of the day, I'll probably still do it again. I get to use statements that are short and to the point. Bulleted lists. An organized sequence of steps. Nice neat tables. No clutter on the page.

And to top of my day, I received an email from our CEO recognizing my 5-year anniversary with the company.
It is nice to finally find a niche. Something I can do and feel good about. A place to belong. A job where I know I contribute something of worth. My pay check may not always properly demonstrate my value, but I know I'm valued. I have grown a lot over the years and learned more than I could have imagined. I can only guess what I'll know five years from now!

At five years, employees used to get to take part of what our company called Veteran Day. The CEO would rent a limo (or a party bus as the numbers grew), fly in employees from out of town who had hit 5 years, and everyone would load up, go to some fancy lunch, and then receive $200 cash to go shopping at the Woodlands Mall. And you HAD to spend it on yourself! She would sit and check your receipts to make sure you spent every last penny.

Bummer is that since this downward turn of the economy and growing number of "veterans" in our company, this day no longer exists. I'll be honest, I was sad! I had been looking forward to it. However, I did gain an extra week of vacation time, so I'll take it!

These days I'm just thankful to have a job; much less one that I like, working with people I like, working from home and not missing out on my babies' lives, and still getting a paycheck. I certainly cannot complain.

So, here's to five more years!