Mikah just left a comment asking me how I got a job in robotics that I can bicycle to from my home in Key West. My response.? "That was so old news, I'm back in Egypt now, excavating a Sunken Pharoahnic City. One cant live for last week..."
Just kidding! ( about the so old news. I really am in Egypt tho)" I'll be back at underwater robotics development in 2 months, but the question is one that I get a lot, no matter which of my vocations I am performing at the time. The question" How did you get That job?" always comes up.
I could answer with a long winded series of connected dots, coincidences, and opportunities that came uniquely my way. Or a list of people I met that introduced me to others, who introduced me to others. Both would be true and important, but not transferable.
The thing that I did do, that other people could do as well, is i went looking for a job like that.
I knew from very young that I didnt want a typical 8 to 5 job in an office, with a commute and a parking space. I wanted to be part of a tightly knit team of scientific adventurers looking for something new. And when I got an offer to join a dangerous project for no pay, I said yes.
Wait! Actually I never even got that offer, I applied for the dangerous job at no pay, and they rejected me. I finally had to help create a project that would hire me for no pay. Any way then I got a job for no pay and then I got a job for some pay etc etc and now I get paid pretty well, doing cool things like racing in the Paris-Dakar, and excavating sunken Egyptian cities, like I am doing right now, meaning I literally was digging up artifacts from 2000 years ago 2 hours ago, before lunch.
But I had to go looking for it, and I had to say yes when the opportunity came along. to quote the wise Ben Stein, " A big part of getting what you want out of life is knowing what you want."
I wish I had said that.
After I post this, I'm going back to the bottom of the sea to continue excavating, as part of the tightly knit team of Underwater Archaeologist Franck Goddio. While on the bottom, marveling at the wreckage of civilization strewn about me, I'll probably pause and ask myself " How did I get a job like this?"
Just kidding! ( about the so old news. I really am in Egypt tho)" I'll be back at underwater robotics development in 2 months, but the question is one that I get a lot, no matter which of my vocations I am performing at the time. The question" How did you get That job?" always comes up.
I could answer with a long winded series of connected dots, coincidences, and opportunities that came uniquely my way. Or a list of people I met that introduced me to others, who introduced me to others. Both would be true and important, but not transferable.
The thing that I did do, that other people could do as well, is i went looking for a job like that.
I knew from very young that I didnt want a typical 8 to 5 job in an office, with a commute and a parking space. I wanted to be part of a tightly knit team of scientific adventurers looking for something new. And when I got an offer to join a dangerous project for no pay, I said yes.
Wait! Actually I never even got that offer, I applied for the dangerous job at no pay, and they rejected me. I finally had to help create a project that would hire me for no pay. Any way then I got a job for no pay and then I got a job for some pay etc etc and now I get paid pretty well, doing cool things like racing in the Paris-Dakar, and excavating sunken Egyptian cities, like I am doing right now, meaning I literally was digging up artifacts from 2000 years ago 2 hours ago, before lunch.
But I had to go looking for it, and I had to say yes when the opportunity came along. to quote the wise Ben Stein, " A big part of getting what you want out of life is knowing what you want."
I wish I had said that.
After I post this, I'm going back to the bottom of the sea to continue excavating, as part of the tightly knit team of Underwater Archaeologist Franck Goddio. While on the bottom, marveling at the wreckage of civilization strewn about me, I'll probably pause and ask myself " How did I get a job like this?"
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