A sincere thank you to The Coli **Free Daps and Reps**

[Splash]

Six six six six six
Never stop studying and certing up breh
You gonna see when you bounce to the next role, nikkas gonna be lookin at you like
"When you have time to pass XYZ"

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Got a sticky and everything.
This the type of stuff I like to see. Celebrate each other's wins instead of looking for ways to tear each other down. Keep winning young man. :SNAKESALUTE:

 

[Primetime21]

congratulations

 

[gldnone913]

I been meaning to make this thread for about a week now

It's a long one so

When I came to this board I was a shell of man brehs, Grew up anger, bitter, and resentful of everything and everyone. I was angry 24/7 and it was always focused on myself. I hated everything about me. Sometimes I wished I wouldn't wake up the next day.

I've resented the fact that I had to be the son,husband, and man of the house at the age of six. But it did me no good to hold that hate in my heart.
Bounced from job to job, never knew myself or what the hell I wanted to do with my life

Relationships came and went like I was on autopilot. No game, no sense of direction, I simply existed for 25 years.


When my grandfather passed away, it was the first time I had met someone on their deathbed. I only saw him on holidays, so I felt guilty that I didn't spend much time with him.

But it was his final words to me that shook me out of my personal void for a moment.

"I've seen you over the years son, and you've always looked in pain and downtrodden. You need to hold your head up high.You are a man of god, you deserve to exist like anyone else. I believe you will figure it one day."

It hit me like a truck. I really didn't know the man, but here he is reading me like he has known me since I was a little one. It was hard to choke back the tears and even now I tear up a little when I think about it.

I didn't believe him. But I believe my soul did. His words consumed my thoughts. I wanted to know what the hell he saw in me. But my doubt was enough to keep it from uplifting me completely.

About a year later, I thought I was on the fast track. I was in an automotive school, straight As, respect, alright job.

Then mom had a seizure and retired from her job of 30+ years. Every time she has had a major seizure I was there. Like every single time. If not, she would be dead right now.
But this last one almost took her out even with me finding her at 6:00am.

Hospital was about to send her home while still having a seizure because she could answer yes or no But that's a separate story.


It made really think about my long term goals. I didn't want to end up like my parents working two jobs each, barely any retirement, barely any happiness.

At this point, I dropped out of school, my job transferred me to an under performing location with less hours, so I quit.

Fast forward a few months and I'm trying to learn web design by self teaching myself. I needed pictures of Africa and I wanted REAL pictures not the BS that they love to toss in your face.

Then I found The Coli

http://www.thecoli.com/threads/the-africa-the-media-doesnt-tell-you-about.211483/

Coming from majority "white" sites, this place was like breathing fresh air for the first time.

I was reading everything like






Then I stumbled into Higher Learning

and read this thread

http://www.thecoli.com/threads/it-certs-and-careers-lets-discuss-it.9043/

I'm like holy shyt

"I could do this...nah I'm not smart enough, why bother."

*inner self*
"Fool,you've been messing with computers since you were eight."

"I've got nothing to lose Cept $300?!"

"Don't fail "

I studied up, took apart my computer, reassembled it, studied some more, and

Past the A+ cert in one try

But no jobs were available. You see majority of call center jobs down south and more on the west coast. Philly would have been an hour and a half drive with traffic and that would be for a temp job.

Had to take another automotive job and I was there for a month.

Dudes only paid me once

I got out of there quick, but not before folks stole over $500 worth of tools

I was back to square one with nothing but lint in my pockets and a beat up car.

So a few weeks ago some on made a thread about certs. Can't remember what was said, but someone asked if anyone had experience looking for work. Think it was @calixprynce . I said no, I looked for a solid month or two but everyone wanted 3-5 years experience. With a four year college degree and a few certs to boot.

Anyway it got me thinking, I haven't looked in a few months, why not take a peek?

Clock was ticking though. I had maxed out credit cards and was shuffling debt (paying bills with bills)

And I had to start paying off automotive school loans in a month. I'm like

I lead a meetup group and a white dude was like "I got connections"

I'm like hook me up!

"I'll email you when I get home. I may be able to get you a temp job."
(He never emailed me btw)

But when I got home, something awakened inside me like,

"Why the hell are you asking for help?!"

"Do you not realize how intelligent you are?! You know that dude isn't good for it."

"Make it happen on your own "

fukk.

I rewrote my resume from scratch and took it to the web. Again, same BS with the jobs.

Cept for one job. Sounded up my alley, entry level gig, full benefits, FULL TIME, not a call center, only 30min drive, willing to teach .

If yall don't know how Indeed works, they sometimes show you how many people apply for a job. By the time I had finished submitting my resume, the counter had hit 80+ people.

I almost didn't send it. My self doubt starting kicking my ass again,

" You know half of em have degrees! And with your spotty work history, who the hell is going to hire your dumbass. A+ cert?! That's a baby cert, you barely passed the test. You think you "did good enough" to compete on an equal level with grown people?! Who do you think you are "


"Nah fukk it, nothing to lose"

I applied to that and about ten other positions. Typeset game was on point I swear.

Got a phone call around 8:00pm a day later

*click*

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is Eric with *name redacted*. Calling to conduct a phone interview, you have time?"



*AHEM*

"Yes "

*talking and getting general information about me*

"I would like to offer you an interview, time and date work for you?"

"uh huh"

"See you then" *click*






I was shaking on the way there. If I didn't get this job, I would have no more money to pay the bills (I had one more month left until I would have been in serious trouble) so it was all hands on deck.

I stammered my way through the initial interview and the technical interview. I think I lost 15 pounds just sitting there. I performed what they asked me to do and I asked about my competition

"Did they get past this part "

"You did better than most "



I went home with a heavy weight in my chest. I thought I bombed out and I would have to go back changing oil and being treated like shyt.They would call if I did or did not I got the job. A day later, a phone call came through.

*click*

Hello

"Hey, this is Eric again"

Hi Eric

"I'm calling to say that you got the job."

Huh

"You got the job "




It's been three weeks now
No more lugging around truck tires for a truck with a Confederate flag all over it

I'll be able to actually save money

I make enough to be able to get a newer car sometime next year

I can pay my bills ahead of time

I can support my mom

I feel blessed as fukk .

Mom damn near cried her eyes out, dad is telling everyone who will listen how I beat out 70+ people for an IT job.



As I typed this up, I felt my grandfather looking down on me like

"I told you so "

So this is my thank you to yall, coming here has kept me sane (believe it or not) and help me achieve something significant in my personal life .

God bless The Coli.

Shoutouts: @PhonZhi for the Aloe Blacc thread (The Man played my first day of work, on shuffle)

#6certgang for putting in heavy ass work in that IT cert thread

http://www.thecoli.com/threads/it-certs-and-careers-lets-discuss-it.9043/

@tofuspeedstar
@bdizzle
@Data-Hawk
@gldnone913
@aixenv
@kevm3

Too many dudes to list just peep the thread. I read every.single.page. When it was over 150+ pages.

Now what do I study for next? My boss doesn't care about certs, company doesn't pay for em but fukk it, I want to hit at least 70k by the time I'm 30 .

tl;dr

I'm starting to learn how to win

Keep winning!!!! The thing w IT is you have to keep growing. Keep studying, keep getting certs, keep getting paper! Never doubt yourself

 

[Regular Developer]

Congrats dude. I've been lacking on that IT thread. Ima be back, lol

 

[HoldThisL]

Dam this is mad motivational, too bad I can never achieve anything like this

 

[malbaker86]

much success to you OP

 

[TRFG]

@Afro

Hey the keto diet should help with your mother's seizures

New Study Validates Ketogenic Diet for Epilepsy Treatment in Adults

 

[HabitualLineSteppa]

Gotdamn onions!!

Brethren, you touched a nerve OP...I could spill that shyt too and I'm in a similar situation as your moment before your comeuppance...

Thanks fam @Afro

 

[Another Man]

My nikka got them certs

 

[cook]

best thread in years

 

[Marci-Senpai]

Nice thread op

 

[Silkk]

Dam this is mad motivational, too bad I can never achieve anything like this

Would you ever hear Kobe say some shyt like this

 

[desjardins]

Congrats my guy, keep plugging and use any negativity as motivation

 

[MIKE SPLEAN]

Says who ? That's that kind of dumb young thinking that drives talented people off the path to success...what if someone is putting their life (every resource including money) into a craft that'll pay dividends later? What if someone sees their success as the amount of free time they have?

70k is a great salary and you'd be in the top 2.8% of earners in the world.

I know you're trollin, but this is a celebration thread for OP and he obviously takes what you guys say seriously.