Hi, I'm Bob, a middle aged computer systems engineer who has been living on the sidewalk my entire life. My life has always been modeled after "Go to school, get good grades, get a good job".
I have been lucky to find a great job that has kept me employed and well payed for 17 years. For those 17 years I've been riding the sidewalk always living pay check to pay check. I'd spend any money I made before it was even in the bank.
For the last few years at work when it came year end review / raise time I've been told that I'm at the top of my pay scale and would only be getting a minimal raise to keep up with inflation. I'm very much a progress motivated person and this simply didn't work for me. I decided that I would teach myself some skills and move to another department within the company. After about a year I was accepted to another position in the company and all was well again in my mind. There was no immediate pay raise but I didn't want to push my luck having just moved positions so I didn't say anything and assumed the raise would come at year end. Year end came and there was still no raise. Being a sidewalk dweller I decided I needed to learn how to program in C# to further increase my value to the company. Then I would have my raise.
After deciding what I needed to do was learn to program I searched the internet for some resources. That's when I discovered John Sonmez's SimpleProgrammer.com blog and YouTube channel. This blog changed my life. It started out with the realization that I need to educate myself about finances and get my shit together in that area of my life. This moved me to the slow lane. Then I learned that listening to audio books on my commute every day was a far better use of my time than listening to death metal. Death metal is great but not really helping me on the road to success. Then John recommended a book called "The Millionaire Fast Lane" and here I am after binge listening to 27 chapters over the weekend.
Over the last 4 months of living in the slow lane I have taught myself C# and I'm confident I could get a job as a computer programmer but thanks to MJ I no longer think that's going to make me happy. I've changed my focus and now want to pursue a business as an independent mobile app developer. My plan is to start creating apps in my spare time and remain in my current job. I actually enjoy my current job, I just can't stand that there is no room for advancement. Once I figure out how to win at making apps I might decide to do that full time.
I have been lucky to find a great job that has kept me employed and well payed for 17 years. For those 17 years I've been riding the sidewalk always living pay check to pay check. I'd spend any money I made before it was even in the bank.
For the last few years at work when it came year end review / raise time I've been told that I'm at the top of my pay scale and would only be getting a minimal raise to keep up with inflation. I'm very much a progress motivated person and this simply didn't work for me. I decided that I would teach myself some skills and move to another department within the company. After about a year I was accepted to another position in the company and all was well again in my mind. There was no immediate pay raise but I didn't want to push my luck having just moved positions so I didn't say anything and assumed the raise would come at year end. Year end came and there was still no raise. Being a sidewalk dweller I decided I needed to learn how to program in C# to further increase my value to the company. Then I would have my raise.
After deciding what I needed to do was learn to program I searched the internet for some resources. That's when I discovered John Sonmez's SimpleProgrammer.com blog and YouTube channel. This blog changed my life. It started out with the realization that I need to educate myself about finances and get my shit together in that area of my life. This moved me to the slow lane. Then I learned that listening to audio books on my commute every day was a far better use of my time than listening to death metal. Death metal is great but not really helping me on the road to success. Then John recommended a book called "The Millionaire Fast Lane" and here I am after binge listening to 27 chapters over the weekend.
Over the last 4 months of living in the slow lane I have taught myself C# and I'm confident I could get a job as a computer programmer but thanks to MJ I no longer think that's going to make me happy. I've changed my focus and now want to pursue a business as an independent mobile app developer. My plan is to start creating apps in my spare time and remain in my current job. I actually enjoy my current job, I just can't stand that there is no room for advancement. Once I figure out how to win at making apps I might decide to do that full time.
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