Has a person ever said something to you that made you rethink your life?

“You’ll never get an offer from Microsoft” - my wife in 2006

I graduated college with a degree in EE in the early 80s. I just missed the microcomputer revolution that was happening out west by a couple of years (little did I know there was some awesome stuff happening half of an hour from my home Commodore International - Wikipedia ) and spent the next 25 years doing some pretty cool stuff, carving out a career as an embedded controls expert outside of Philadelphia. I always thought I would end up in Silicon Valley, but nobody called to ask me to come join the party!
[There is a lesson here that took me many years to learn]

In the late 90’s, a few friends and I cofounded a very small electronics manufacturing company that despite some early successes, started to bleed cash after the crash in spring of 2001. Fast forward to 2006 - we were in the process of downsizing our company, laying off all the staff and moving it into the living room of my partner. I was under-employed, but still hustling like hell.

Back in 1996, I discovered the internet. I had a couple of websites, and I put my resume on them to try to hustle some free-lance work. (This was before LinkedIn)

And it worked! Occasionally, someone would stumble across my site - and I’d get some work.

Fast forward back to 2006 - apparently a Microsoft recruiter had discovered my web site - they were staffing a new team, and would I be interested in a phone interview ?
Of course! The tech scene in Philly was dying and it was increasingly difficult to land meaningful employment.

The phone interview went well, so a trip to Redmond was next. My wife was receptive to the move, but she injected a dose of realism: “You know, they only hire smart twenty somethings, not over- the-hill, balding, middle-aged man-children ( I was about to turn 45 when I got the call). You’ll never get an offer from Microsoft. ”

Ouch !!!

I guess that’s all the motivation I needed. I went online and bought and studied three books on interviews - including cracking the Microsoft interview. I rehearsed hypothetical questions with whoever would indulge me. I prepped and read and researched and prepped some more. Finally, I packed a carry on with all the PCBs I had ever designed.

I was prepared. I believed in myself, but also knew that sometimes things can go south quickly in an interview. I had also read that their interview process was set up to reject people by default.

October 2016. I just celebrated my 55th birthday. And just got my 10 year anniversary crystal at work. It is amazing what a person can do, when someone tells them they can’t.


and if you’ll indulge me with one more hyperlink, check out this song from Willy Wonka that for some reason I can’t get out of my head.

EDIT: If you like this answer, do not follow me. It is a fluke. Most of my answers are short, sarcastic, and troll-like 1 - 3 word answers. My better answers are about high school Physics (mechanics) and Gravity, but if you are into that, you should get a life. Seriously. Dude.

BONUS: Why don’t you navigate your Netscape to the best answer of the bunch:

Gina Vincenza Van Epps' answer to Has a person ever said something to you that made you rethink your life?

It really is the best answer -hands down - to this question. I have the first sentence printed on my monitor. Gina’s answer had such an impact on me that it inspired me to write my own answer.


Source: https://www.quora.com/Has-a-person-e...hink-your-life

Neteller here: www.ituglobalfx.com.ng