Why being let go was one of the best things to happen to me

Almost exactly two years ago, I was let go from my full-time job. I was blindsided by it; nothing really prepared me for it. I had been with the company for 6 months and had planned on staying longer. They had heard rumors that I didn’t want to stay long-term and decided that they didn’t want to invest anymore time into me. It was a really weird feeling. I felt betrayed and confused, and my mind raced as to how we would keep paying the bills and how I would find another job. This is how it wasn’t a total disaster and why being let go was one of the best things to happen to me:

We were prepared

Luckily, a few years before, Tara and I had decided that we needed to prepare for something like this to happen. We had started an emergency fund and made sure that it would be enough to sustain us for a few months. This extra money gave us peace of mind and made my job loss a lot less painful.

We knew the emergency fund wouldn’t last and promptly decided that I would need a new ways to make income. The first thing I did was file for unemployment. This was a hard decision for me because there is a stereotype and stigma around unemployment, but this is what the system is for- to temporarily help people who need it. This gave us a portion of the income that we had expected while I was working and helped us while I searched and worked towards a new job.

Tara had a part time job at the time, but was able to pick up a few extra shifts to help with expenses. That extra income was a huge help!

Immediately started looking for new options

It was at this time that I decided that I wanted to explore a new field. The one I had been working in wasn’t what I had hoped it would be and I needed a fresh start. One day, a letter came in the mail advertising a master’s program for web development. I had worked in computers before and it was always something I was interested in and felt good at, so I investigated as to what it would take to get a job in that field. I quickly learned that it was something that didn’t require a specific degree and that I could teach myself how to do it. My dad was instrumental at getting me started on the right path by pointing me to places like freecodecamp.org and codecademy.com. Once he introduced me to these sites, I was hooked. Instead of working 8 hour days, I was studying and practicing code.

Within 3 months of studying, I was introduced to a man who worked at the university nearby. He asked me about what I was studying, the experience I had and told me about the openings they had in the universities IT department. He said that they usually will hire people without a lot of experience and urged me to apply. I had never thought that I would be someone that could get a job at a university, especially having very little experience in that field, but I followed his advice and applied. After 4 different interviews, I was offered the job with about triple the salary I’d been making at my previous job.