Man, 2022 felt like a weird year, right? For me, personally, around mid-year, things just felt… shaky. Not just the global stuff, but my own career. I kept looking at where I was at, what I was doing, and this gut feeling just kept nagging me: something had to give. The thought of September 2022 hitting and me still being stuck in the same old rut, doing the same old grind, it just sat wrong in my stomach. I knew I had to make a move. The idea of “Virgo Career Sep 2022: Get ready now” wasn’t some fancy headline I read; it was more like a loud whisper in my own head telling me to wake the hell up.
So, I started with the basics. First thing, I pulled out my old resume. Man, that thing was dusty. I looked at it and thought, “Who would hire this guy?” It wasn’t just old; it felt like it belonged to a completely different person. I decided right then and there, this wasn’t just about updating a document; it was about re-evaluating everything I’d done and where I wanted to go. I didn’t rush it either. I spent days just staring at it, really thinking about the projects I’d worked on, what skills I’d actually used, and more importantly, what skills I wanted to use.
Next up, I started hitting the books, well, YouTube and online courses anyway. I figured if I was going to push for something new, I needed to show I was sharp. I picked a couple of areas I knew were getting hot and just dove in. I wasn’t trying to become an expert overnight, but I wanted to be able to talk the talk and understand the basics. I remember spending my evenings after work, my eyes glued to the screen, trying to grasp new concepts. It wasn’t easy. There were plenty of nights I just wanted to crash on the sofa and forget about it all, but that nagging feeling about September kept me going. I logged hours, experimented with little projects, and just kept pushing myself to learn, learn, learn.
Then came the painful part: putting myself out there. I started reaching out to old colleagues, people I’d worked with years ago. Just simple messages, “Hey, how’s it going? Haven’t talked in a while.” No agenda at first, just reconnecting. But eventually, the conversation would turn to work, and I’d subtly drop hints about looking for new challenges. I spent time on LinkedIn, sifting through job postings, even the ones that seemed way out of my league. I wasn’t applying to everything, but I was studying what companies were asking for. I tailored my refreshed resume for specific roles, tweaking every bullet point to make it hit home. It was a grind, feeling like I was sending my stuff into a black hole most days.
The September Push
As August wrapped up, I felt a different kind of pressure. September was knocking. All that preparation, all those late nights, it had to lead somewhere. I’d gotten a few calls back, a couple of initial interviews that went nowhere, and a whole lot of silence. It was discouraging, no doubt. I started to question if I was even cut out for what I was trying to do. But I kept at it. I pushed myself to send out more applications, to follow up more diligently. I even started practicing interview questions out loud in front of a mirror, trying to sound confident even when I felt like a shaky mess inside.
Then, by early September, something clicked. A company I had applied to a while back, one I really liked the sound of, actually got back to me. They wanted another round of interviews. This wasn’t some random shot in the dark; this was a direct result of all that slogging. I threw myself into preparing for those interviews. I researched the company inside and out, practiced my answers, thought about what questions I’d ask them. It felt like everything hinged on this. I went in there, nervous as hell, but I managed to hold it together. I talked about my past experiences, sure, but I focused heavily on what I had been learning and how I was ready for new challenges. I told them what I did to prepare myself, not just what I had done.
A few days later, the call came. I got the job. It wasn’t just a step up; it was a completely new direction, a place where I knew I could grow and actually feel like I was contributing to something meaningful. That feeling of relief, man, it was immense. All that pushing, all that self-doubt, it suddenly made sense. Getting myself ready, really digging in and doing the work, it paid off exactly when I needed it to. September 2022 wasn’t just another month; it became the month I finally moved forward, because I took that damn advice to “get ready now.”
