Not For Nothing

I completed a nine-month, Microsoft .NET, masters-level program last year. The intent was transitioning back into IT (esp. application development) after a longer-than-I'd-like hiatus. Half-way through the program, I got the perfect job as a Product Support Engineer that gave me exposure to T-SQL, C#, Java, and the business world of online search.

I was actually enroute to be transitioned into a Junior Software Engineer role, when the bottom fell out of the economy and I became one of the departed (see the movie for the full gist).

I've been through two recessions before, so this one didn't really phase me emotionally, as much as people expected. Don't get me wrong, I had a plan and I'm certainly working it. Plus, my wife, next to God, deserves the lion's share of the credit. For you Red Sox fans, she nailed the Green Monster when it was needed.

What really irked me was not only that I was unemployed, but that for the first time in my life I had student loans in the five-digits. Just after I had spent the better part of four years cleaning up my credit, too. Now, I was going to have to go through a tougher gauntlet than before to get an opportunity to return to application development.

I'd been getting miffed by the loans and then asking God to forgive my fretting. After all, I wasn't complaining when the same course helped me land my previous job.

Then last night, I got a call from a friend. When I returned his call, he asked if I knew C#. I told him, I spent the better part of 2008 doing nothing but C#. And since no one was paying me currently to code C#, I might as well help where I could with what I knew.

So via WebEx, I helped him with some randomization issues, hiding and revealing form objects, and passing parameters by value. It was almost three hours of work, and he thanked me when we were done. He's the type of friend that didn't have to thank me, but he did. I told him, that I should be the one thanking him. Instantly, I saw my student loans in a different light. It was the price I was willing to pay for a friend in need.