I am a Secretary

If you would have asked me 10 years ago, “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?  What’s your career plan?”  I would have never, ever responded with “I want to be a Secretary.”  I was just starting out in my career.  There were so many possibilities.  So many options and so many things I wanted to do.  I wanted to get to the top and I was more than determined to get there.  I started my Master’s Degree as soon as I graduated with my BS.  I was eager to learn and get into the “coolest” career possible.  I had dreams of making maps, changing lives, and traveling the world and I knew I could do it.  And I did get to work on some really cool projects, travel to some great places in this country and abroad, and learn awesome skills.  Before Brian and I moved to Atlanta this summer I knew finding a job was going to be a challenge mainly because I no longer felt like I knew what I wanted to do.  The current job I had wasn’t the best of experiences.  It was a frat house and on some days it felt like no one knew what the hell they were doing.  I’d become discouraged and bored to be honest.  There was no room to move up and I felt stuck.  The move was going to open opportunities for me.  At least that was the plan, and I thought those opportunities were going to be in the GIS world.  However, we moved and I spent the first half of the summer still working for the company in DC part time which meant more time to spend with Tucker and Gabriel at the pool.  IT WAS AWESOME for about a week or two but then it was hard.  Now, don’t take this the wrong way.  I love spending time with the boys but I needed something more than that.  I needed the work.  Of course, that doesn’t mean staying at home wasn’t work because it was.  A LOT of work but I just didn’t see me doing it full time.  For the summer, Great!  But full time it just wasn’t for me.  I started looking for different jobs.  Most were administrative or tech support jobs.  None of them seemed like it was a good fit and let me tell you how much fun it is to try to explain to someone outside of the GIS field my resume.  I was over qualified for every job I was interviewing for and trying to convince them that yes I really do want this job when really I wasn’t sure I actually did.  I turned down a few jobs and was rejected by a few others before going on the last interview.  It was for a county school but the difference was they were an online school.  Different, interesting, and right up my alley.  I interviewed for the Secretary to the Office of Principal.  I thought having most of the summer off, a week for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas and Spring break was the best thing about the job but it also seemed interesting so I took it.  I was a Secretary.  When I first started I sat back and just did my assignments, answered the phones, and helped whenever I could but didn’t tell anyone what my background was.  To everyone there I was just another office worker.  It’s actually amazing the attitude people have towards the secretary. I hope I never turned my nose down on my admins was all I could think.  And those that know me know just how hard keeping quiet is for me.  I say what I think and am completely honest.  Keeping a low profile lasted about two weeks.  I think I made it about 4 before I downloaded mapping software.  Since then I pipe up when I can solve a problem and offer suggestions when I know of a way that will make things easier for someone.  I’ve made maps that have been sent to the Superintendent of the school system and as of today will begin developing courses for the 6^th Social Studies classes.  Sometime this year I will work on also developing GIS courses for the high school and middle schools students and next year I just might teach those courses part time while still keeping the title of Secretary because although it was not where I thought I would be in my career it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made.  It's fun.  It's challenging.  There is potential and I have the freedom to keep learning and working with GIS and now I even have the opportunity to show students just how cool a career in GIS can be.  I would have never said this is where I would be in my career, however, I couldn’t think of a better place to be right now.