Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Cinco de Jason!
| Five years ago today was my first day for Middle Georgia Tech, where I currently work. It's hard to believe its been that long (and yet that short) ago. It was a rather chaotic time for me back then and I still remember it very well. I had left Mercer after 2000-01 expecting to finish my masters degree and easily find a job teaching somewhere. Sadly, 9/11 dried up a huge amount of technology jobs and many of those people fled to the security of an education job. So from the summer of '01 until January of 2002 I was without a job. Money was getting tight and job prospects were few and far between. I actually had gotten rejected for one job because I had a masters degree. In a period of one week, three teaching jobs opened. One at Central Georgia Tech here in Macon, one at Griffin Tech in Griffin, GA, and another with MGTC. I applied for all of them. The CGTC job would have been the most convenient since I already live in Macon, but during the interview it quickly became clear they were looking for something other than me. They needed an IT type person with hardware and networking skills. I am a software guy. I had to hand deliver my resume to the Griffin job to make the deadline, and the drive from Macon to Griffin convinced me I didn't want the job. Griffin is in the middle of nowhere, contrary to how it may appear on the map. When I arrived home from dropping off my resume I had a phone message from Jarrett at MGTC asking to call and set up an interview. You've heard Jarrett's name here many times before. I set up an interview for the next morning, and met with Kimber and Don for an interview. You've heard Kimber's name before as well. The interview went well and they offered me the job on the spot. I took it, expecting to maybe last a year or so, until I found another job or started my PhD. It is now 5 years later. While I may still work for the same company, my job has changed several times over the years. I have been a computer applications instructor, computer programming instructor, computer based training (CBT) course developer, staff development instructor, avionics instructor, aircraft maint. instructor, and today it became official that I'll be managing the CBT training center for Robins AFB. Oddly enough I will be running the CBT lab that will use the CBTs I helped develop 2 years ago. Due to contract demands I am not 100% free from the classroom, so I will continue teaching all sorts of odd and utterly non-computer related classes like Corrosion Control, FOD, Sheet Metal Math, and soon I'll be taking on Weapons & Explosive Safety. Sadly, I won't be allowed to blow stuff up in that class, but trust me, I could. I will, however, be doing some Mr. Wizard corrosion experiments/demonstrations in the Corrosion Control class. (Anyone wanna see what I can do to two nails with a battery and a rubber band?) Since my first day was on January 31st, our personal director was annoyed that I would carry one extra line item on my paycheck for the entire year. She wanted them to hold off my official first day of work til Feb 1st. Kimber and I still laugh about that. Looking back to my calendar from 2002, I got quite a chuckle when I realized that Jan 31st, my first day on the job was... you guessed it... Thursday. Krystal Koincidences abound! Speaking of Krystal Thursdays, I went plain jane with a #1 combo today. But tune in tomorrow to see what I did with the rest of the Krystals in the bag!  |
Labels: Macon, Mercer, Middle Ga Tech, Warner Robins
