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One Week to 30
12 years ago
I turn 30 next Sunday, which feels like a bit of a milestone. Still seems weird to think that I'll be hitting three decades, so I figured I'd take time to summarize some things.
Overall, I feel I am doing quite well with my life. There are some things I wish were different, but such it is.
I went to school and obtained a masters in Electrical Engineering. I graduated just at the start of the recent recession and was unable to find a decent job. I regret not doing internships or other things to get my foot in the door somewhere. I eventually got a job working for the Montana DOT as a construction inspector. It's much more of a civil engineering field, but at least my degree has value with the career ladder and it's an easy job. After two construction seasons working part time, I was hired on full time. I worked within the career ladder and was able to get a promotion, followed a year later by a lateral promotion into a better career latter, and then up a rung. I am currently the lead inspector on a relatively large bridge project, and at the conclusion of this project I should be eligible for the final promotion level in this career ladder. It would take a bit to explain how it all works, but that would place me at the top of the payroll for this position. Anything else requires becoming a project manager, or a transfer to some other department.
While I could be making more money if I had a job in my field of study, I am proud that I've been able to make steady progress.
While working in this job, I was able to accrue enough experience to take the Professional Engineering exam, and passed it, so now I am a licensed PE, which while not immediately useful, is a great thing to have. And I can add letters after my name if I want! "Deko Puma, PE".
With a full time job, I was able to move out of a rental and into my own house. To be honest, I was tired of having roommates and really wanted a place to just be my own. It's a small place, but I love it. The best aspect is that I now have a garage, which gives me the space to get into woodworking. My dad has a pretty good selection of tools, and I was able to make a few boxes and things that got me interested. Now I've begun to build up my own collection of tools and really gotten into it as a hobbyist a lot more. Even more so over the past few months as I put up drywall and insulation in the garage to make it a bit more useable in the winter. I made a couple hardwood boxes for family and they went over well.
My other main hobby is Warhammer Fantasy. I'm lucky enough to have a really good game store here in town, so I've been able to play pretty regularly, and also do plenty of modelling. I am really pleased with how my painting has improved over the last five to ten years. People are impressed with what I can manage, and I even have several models I painted on display at the store.
So that is a decent summary of what I've accomplished thus far in life. Looking ahead, there's a few things I want to do.
One thing is travel more. I've been pretty fortunate (in a large number of ways really) to have been able to travel a decent bit. I've been to Italy and Germany, and I've been to most states in the US, but I hope to travel more. At the top of my list are Australia and Japan, but I would love to return to Europe, to visit France and England, and more.
Another aspect is job. As I mentioned, I have nearly reached the top of where I can go now. Any further progression would require becoming a project manager, which I'm not overly interested in (and a good thing, because they only have a vacancy when someone retires or moves elsewhere, so it'd be a long wait) or move to Helena and do some other job for the state.
I'd love to get a job more in line with my schooling (especially if it paid awesomely) but at this point, I think what I really want is to be able to go into business for myself. I love to make things, and I want to find a way to leverage that into something that can provide an adequate salary, but I've yet to find something suitable. I have a few ideas that I may end up putting on Kickstarter, but there's still a lot of edges to smooth out. Of course, if I do try to kickstart something, I'll be posting about it here.
Other future projects include writing. I have a ton of ideas for things. I'm not sure that I'm cut out to be a writer. Afterall, it's far, far easier to visualize something in your head than it is to put it down on words, but I need to try. I am working with a friend to try and keep ourselves going as long as we can. Again, if anything comes of it, I'm sure I'll let you know.
So, yeah, that's kind of a rambling summary of my adult life, I suppose, or at least those aspects that have come to prominence recently. As for birthday stuff, feel free to shower me with gifts, I'm not modest.
Overall, I feel I am doing quite well with my life. There are some things I wish were different, but such it is.
I went to school and obtained a masters in Electrical Engineering. I graduated just at the start of the recent recession and was unable to find a decent job. I regret not doing internships or other things to get my foot in the door somewhere. I eventually got a job working for the Montana DOT as a construction inspector. It's much more of a civil engineering field, but at least my degree has value with the career ladder and it's an easy job. After two construction seasons working part time, I was hired on full time. I worked within the career ladder and was able to get a promotion, followed a year later by a lateral promotion into a better career latter, and then up a rung. I am currently the lead inspector on a relatively large bridge project, and at the conclusion of this project I should be eligible for the final promotion level in this career ladder. It would take a bit to explain how it all works, but that would place me at the top of the payroll for this position. Anything else requires becoming a project manager, or a transfer to some other department.
While I could be making more money if I had a job in my field of study, I am proud that I've been able to make steady progress.
While working in this job, I was able to accrue enough experience to take the Professional Engineering exam, and passed it, so now I am a licensed PE, which while not immediately useful, is a great thing to have. And I can add letters after my name if I want! "Deko Puma, PE".
With a full time job, I was able to move out of a rental and into my own house. To be honest, I was tired of having roommates and really wanted a place to just be my own. It's a small place, but I love it. The best aspect is that I now have a garage, which gives me the space to get into woodworking. My dad has a pretty good selection of tools, and I was able to make a few boxes and things that got me interested. Now I've begun to build up my own collection of tools and really gotten into it as a hobbyist a lot more. Even more so over the past few months as I put up drywall and insulation in the garage to make it a bit more useable in the winter. I made a couple hardwood boxes for family and they went over well.
My other main hobby is Warhammer Fantasy. I'm lucky enough to have a really good game store here in town, so I've been able to play pretty regularly, and also do plenty of modelling. I am really pleased with how my painting has improved over the last five to ten years. People are impressed with what I can manage, and I even have several models I painted on display at the store.
So that is a decent summary of what I've accomplished thus far in life. Looking ahead, there's a few things I want to do.
One thing is travel more. I've been pretty fortunate (in a large number of ways really) to have been able to travel a decent bit. I've been to Italy and Germany, and I've been to most states in the US, but I hope to travel more. At the top of my list are Australia and Japan, but I would love to return to Europe, to visit France and England, and more.
Another aspect is job. As I mentioned, I have nearly reached the top of where I can go now. Any further progression would require becoming a project manager, which I'm not overly interested in (and a good thing, because they only have a vacancy when someone retires or moves elsewhere, so it'd be a long wait) or move to Helena and do some other job for the state.
I'd love to get a job more in line with my schooling (especially if it paid awesomely) but at this point, I think what I really want is to be able to go into business for myself. I love to make things, and I want to find a way to leverage that into something that can provide an adequate salary, but I've yet to find something suitable. I have a few ideas that I may end up putting on Kickstarter, but there's still a lot of edges to smooth out. Of course, if I do try to kickstart something, I'll be posting about it here.
Other future projects include writing. I have a ton of ideas for things. I'm not sure that I'm cut out to be a writer. Afterall, it's far, far easier to visualize something in your head than it is to put it down on words, but I need to try. I am working with a friend to try and keep ourselves going as long as we can. Again, if anything comes of it, I'm sure I'll let you know.
So, yeah, that's kind of a rambling summary of my adult life, I suppose, or at least those aspects that have come to prominence recently. As for birthday stuff, feel free to shower me with gifts, I'm not modest.
Novus Tridece
~mutateclaw
+1
