Nick Armstrong’s Story

Because maybe that career as a “Daytime TV Expert” isn’t as profitable as you thought…

Connect with Nick:
Email: nickmarmstrong@gmail.com
LinkedIn: Nick Armstrong on LinkedIn
Twitter: @ImNickArmstrong
Blog: IAmNickArmstrong.com

Everyone has been there.

You look at your resume and your cover letter one last time, cross your fingers, and hit “Send”.

Maybe it was a job that you didn’t really care for.  Maybe it was a job that you really needed.  Maybe it was your dream job.  But two weeks later, nothing.  No call, no e-mail, no hope.  And your experience section for “couch potato” keeps on growing.

I know how it is.  Because I used to be that guy.

Maybe you got laid off, maybe you got fired, or maybe you had a shiny new job locked in, only to find out your employer was a complete tool.  The fact that you’re here either means that you saw unemployment in your future or that you are there right now.  Or you’re a millennial (born between 1980 and 2000, also called Gen-Y) like me and wanting to get off to the right start.  Or maybe you’re managing millennials and want to know the right way to do it.

Good for you – sit up, brush off those potato chip crumbs and read up.

I don’t claim to be an expert, but I am good at what I do (according to everyone I’ve been able to help) – and I want to help you.  I don’t charge any money for this advice.  I don’t make any promises, but I know what has worked for me and I am happy to share it with you.  I hope you use the information I provide to make better, stronger, more informed decisions. I hope you use it to treat your employers, co-workers or employees with the respect they deserve and get yourself a better, more fulfilling job.  But ultimately, it’s up to you what you do with this info.

Luckily, I was laid-off…

I graduated from college with a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration, Marketing and Computer Information Systems.  I also had a minor in Media Studies.

What exactly do you tell an employer when they ask you “What sort of career were you going for?” with a degree like that?  My degree was a symbiosis of my programmer father’s plans for my life, who I was obligated to please because he was footing the bill, and my own plans for my life after realizing that I loved working at the college radio station as the production (on-air marketing) director.

As you can imagine, I had a really hard time explaining to employers exactly what it was that I learned while I was in college.  You can’t exactly mention drunken debauchery or a familial career clash during a job interview, so I had to come up with something.

I did, and I managed to land a plushy job at a major technology company, programming for a ridiculously high salary for a new kid out of college.  I was miserable there, and luckily, I was laid-off along with many others – many of whom had many more gray hairs than I did.

It really is true that you become your own worst enemy…

It took me a while to find another job – as it usually does when you are demoralized.

Honestly, who could look at someone as awesome as me and think, “lets lay this guy off.”  What’s worse, I was a good programmer and a quick learner – with no mentors available to me because they were all way too busy.  How could I get punished for something that was outside of my control?  Obviously, I had to have done something wrong.

In this case, it really is true that you become your own worst enemy.  I wasn’t thinking about what I wanted or what would be good for me.

As my new job search kicked off, that was the mentality I had.  When I found a position I liked, I only saw a very lucrative salary, a way to end my unemployment, and a way to redeem my self worth and hey, if it was going to be more of the same old crap from the last company, so what, right?  This time, I’d prove myself to be a great learner, a great programmer, and code my way to glory.  I would do it right this time.

As you probably guessed, I ended up bouncing from THAT job after only a few months, disgraced and disgruntled.  This time I was fired.  Never mind that my supervising lead programmer was completely unwilling to teach a newbie the ropes; it was obviously my lack of devotion and my increasing distaste for the workplace that had led me to get fired.

The cycle continued.  I found another job, which I liked because the work was low-key, I could learn as I went, and I wouldn’t be overwhelmed with a list of responsibilities for things I had no idea how to do.  That lasted all of four months – after that, the programmers were expected to sling code 50 hours a week, every week.  Worse, we were under the reigns of any department who found a bug, big or small.  Didn’t matter, we had to fix it right away.

I left that job for yet-another-programming-job, which I lovingly refer to as my “Kung-Fu Panda” days.  In Kung-Fu Panda, Jack Black’s character is a noodle vendor who dreams of someday becoming a ninja.  He meets up with the ninjas and gets his butt kicked over and over again until he eventually becomes a ninja, too.  This was me at my last job.  I was a noodle vendor programmer with noodle vendor programing skills.  They were ninjas with ninja programming skills.  The job was fun at first, but… their needs got huge – fast – and I tried to keep up.  I got whomped, disenchanted, and as their expectations and needs on me grew and grew, I fell farther and farther behind despite my best efforts to stay in front of the curve by buying my own programming books and trying to teach myself after work.  It didn’t work as fast as they needed it to.  I was laid off not too long after.

During this whole time, I’d been spending 8-12 hours a night building up my social media knowledge, exploring the blogosphere, creating Psychotic Resumes, working with Giant Gnome, and doing other marketing-related projects.  I loved it – it’s something I can talk about for hours, it’s something I love doing, and it’s something I will probably never get tired of.

It hit me that I was targeting jobs that were not fulfilling for me.  I was seeking out companies that were perfectly okay disrespecting me, treating me like a number, and communicating poorly.  I was pursuing opportunities where I would either sink or swim, where I was a noodle vendor facing off against ninjas.  I was killing myself one paycheck at a time.

Looking for a job I’ll love in a different career this time, I am prepared.  I know exactly I want, what I am looking for, and the kind of company that I would like to work for.

I haven’t found that company or that job yet, but I know I’m heading in the right direction.  Even if I don’t find that exact company, I still have all my experience and can use that toward my own company, WTF Marketing.

Unless you know where you’re going, you will never get there…

I’m telling you all this because I want to share what I learned along the way.  I want to share the things I’m still learning.

Maybe you can make some sense of it for yourself and use it to pull yourself up off the couch and into that suit.  Maybe it’ll just give you a few laughs.  Maybe you’ll learn how to manage your Millennials better.  Or maybe you’ll find a path to your dream job – to create career goals for yourself, to understand the common job-searching mistakes and avoid them yourself, to read advice from well-known sources, and give yourself hope for your future.

A well-tuned resume, cover letter and interview technique will help you find your own path.  Thinking critically about business and ethics and your role in organizations can only help you find the right kinds of businesses.  Thinking critically about your own preferences will help you accomplish more in your career.  After all, unless you know where you’re going, you’ll never get there.

If you need advice, feel free to contact me using the info at the top of this page – and comment on posts, I love to hear what you have to say!  Thanks for visiting!

-Nick Armstrong

PS: You might find that you are either offended or put-off by my satirical style of writing or jokes.  Take none of it seriously – if you can’t laugh, life owns you!  This is all just my opinion and I don’t advocate kissing monkeys or any other “advice” the common person wouldn’t do.  I take no responsibility for your stupidity, cowboy up.

If you spot a mistake on my website, please point it out – I’m always working to improve the content and I love discussion.  Let me know what you think.

Also, I have specifically chosen pictures under Creative Commons license or used them where I believed Fair Use doctrine to apply, but if I have made a mistake or haven’t credited you properly, please let me know and I will take down the offending picture.  You can click on any photo on my blog to go directly to the author’s photostream on Flickr.

The image used as cover-art for the podcast is Laptop flambe by Chris and Lara Pawluk.

Thanks for visiting!