As I was growing up, mechanics and building things seemed very natural and made sense. Bolts and nuts, screws, nails, glue and twine were my friends. Drafting, designing, and building seemed to be my direction in life. By the 6th grade, I knew I was going to be an architect.
Plans change, and my career didn’t involve designing or drawing buildings, but I still love to do floorplan design, and my drafting work put food on our table for many years. It also provided a path to what turned out to be a lifetime career doing Unix system administration.
While in pursuit of a degree in Electronics Engineering, I answered a help wanted ad for a position of typist. I had learned touch typing in junior high, and I thought this might be a good part time job to hold as I was going to school. Answering the ad, they had me come in to take a typing test. As I was chatting with the receptionist in the front office, a doorway to the back room opened, and inside the room I spotted rows and rows of drafting tables! I mentioned to the receptionist that I knew drafting, and the person that had come out of the back room heard my remark. As it turns out, this was the contract drafting supervisor, and the typing job I was looking for turned into a contract drafting position that eventually sent me onsite to AT&T Bell Laboratories, my future employer, and the introduction to my career.
Never take for granted the possibility that a chance encounter can change your life.
A Higher Plane 