It’s a few days after Lunar New Year, so this can count as a new year’s post, can’t it? ?
I’m back to being a reformed former freelancer.
It’s bizarrely funny how I’m not posting away and gushing at how amazing working at Automattic has been. Because, indeed, it has been an amazing experience so far.
If I can summarize my experience at WordPress VIP in one word, though, it would be this: humbling. It’s why this story needs to be a post in itself. Thus, allow me to keep my thoughts on this journey for another day.
What work-related story I can share with you now is something that’s been in my mind a lot in 2022, and it’s concerning my experience owning and using an Apple product for the first time in my entire life.
I can’t help but compare my Macbook Air M1 with my existing super lightweight Windows 11-based Acer Swift 5 laptop. I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: those of you who told me my MacBook was gonna be faster and better than my Acer Swift 5, Y’ALL ARE DELUSIONAL.
I have SO MUCH TO SAY about my Macbook versus Acer Swift 5 experience. Now that I think about it, though, may I’ll save that story for another blog post. ?
Let’s move on to my personal happenings in 2022.
Without going into too much details: SO MANY CHANGES. So much. Some disruptive, yet overall, I choose to take them as rich life lessons for growth. For that, I’m filled with gratitude.
My proudest moments all revolved around my kids. My eldest snatched his first full time job in a tech support industry last year, and has since moved on as an IT exec in a private membership industry.
His effort in taking micro-credentials and having solid English communication skill have been the main factors for him being able to secure jobs with above-average pays, despite only having graduated with a vocational diploma instead of a full-time college degree like the rest of his peers. To top it off, he started to be fully employed when he barely turned 21! His gutsy decision to skip two years of high school, and take five years of vocational education instead, have now reaped rewards.
My number 2, in the meantime, surprised me by taking a similar and slightly harder route as his elder brother, by applying and attending a vocational high school himself! Not only is he experiencing living in a boarding school for the first time, but he’s also scoring with flying colours for all his subjects! Such a huge difference between now and then, where in his previous, getting a C would seem like a miracle.
Having experienced it myself, I can vouch that the quality of a school — and their teachers — matter. It can really dictate a child’s achievements, no matter how hard they try. He had been struggling with focusing and understanding the materials at his previous school. None of the teaching, and teachers, interest him enough to motivate him.
It actually came to a point where he was depressed about it, even though I never pressed my kids to be high achievers. Him turning out the way he is now is something I can’t describe in words. I’m so incredibly happy for him.
I prefer to keep my personal stories to myself for privacy reasons. Even so, a mother can’t help but share those two proud moments.
I can’t wait to find more time to post about work-related stuff. I learned SO MUCH about WordPress at scale since working with Automattic and WordPress VIP! I’ll be sure to have that up soon, I promise! ????
Check out my other posts: « Musings on my Web development v.2022 / I asked ChatGPT to summarize WebGrrrl.net »