What a year this has been.

I had taken a break from my blog because of a bunch of different life events happening... Coming back from being away for 3 months, moving out, but the biggest one was getting promoted and moving to Redmond.

Application and interview process

I applied for a corporate job in April, after talking to the hiring manager about it. I didn't hear anything for a month. No is something I've heard a lot, so I wasn't expecting anything for a while. I got an email informing me that I was selected for an interview! I was already in Redmond, so that meant I'd be in Redmond again... In two weeks. Trust me, traveling for work can be fun... But sometimes it's very very tiring. I was pretty over it.

I was scheduled to fly in 6/12, on a Tuesday night... Interview all day Wednesday, and fly home Thursday night. Flying from Hawaii to anywhere is always long, and it was further exacerbated by the fact that I didn't have my plastic license... So no car to pick up either. I wasn't super upset by that, picking up a rental is time consuming and I needed to maximize sleep... Which I didn't do.

Something nice that happened was that all the strangers I met that day wished me luck, and I got lots of good juju my way that day.

Interview day

At this point, only a handful of people knew I was being interviewed. I texted all of them on my Uber ride over. I overestimated the traffic time, and got to the building an hour and a half earlier than anticipated. I spent the next hour practicing my portfolio review and pacing outside of the building.

I spent an hour doing my presentation, and sweat buckets. Thank god I had a thick shirt on because you would have been able to see it. My brother texted me and said I should have worn maxipads in my armpits. The next couple hours were filled with 5 one hour interviews. Jesus. I have never been so tired in my life.

The biggest thing about interviews is knowing the story you want to tell them about yourself. I had practiced these over the 2 weeks leading up to the interview. They were working to understand my thought process and methodology, so I made sure I highlighted key features about how I work.

After this, I went to the hotel, took a nap, and celebrated my friend's birthday.

The day after

I ended up going back to Microsoft Campus and hanging out with my friends for half the day. I know my presence surprised some people because they "don't just fly you to Redmond for no reason." I also didn't want them to know why I was there, I didn't want to jinx anything.

I sent thank you emails to everyone who spent time interviewing me. On 6/14 2:13pm, I heard from the hiring manager that they wanted to offer me the job. Hearing that you got a job within 24 hours of the interview is unheard of! My friend and I ran outside, kick-punched the air and screamed a few profanities. Who gets that?! WHO DOES THAT?!

Anyway, I headed to the airport shortly after, and saw an eagle sitting on a street light. My friend, Cresta, suspects its my spirit animal. It's shown up at pivotal points in my life since coming to Washington, and I'm included to agree. Plus side, my seat got upgraded to business class at the airport, for free! As Tam said, when I win, I win.

Reflecting on it all

My journey here has been a long one. Working in retail is not the way most people would get to a corporate job, and my journey is no exception. I worked at Apple and Microsoft retail through college until now, and that retail experience is one I share with many people. I feel very lucky to have the opportunities I have and am excited for what's to come. The people I love made sacrifices for me to get here, and I'm grateful for all of it.

I'm sitting in my temporary housing right now, living out of a suitcase, with the majority of my stuff on a ship sailing here. This is just a start to a lot of amazing things to come in the future, and I couldn't be readier.