After almost 13 long years, this June I said goodbye [for now] to the corporate world. It was nothing short of a dream run I had while working at GE. Ever since I got enrolled in Electrical Engineering in my under-grad, it was my dream to work with GE - there's no bigger firm than GE in the world of electric grid.
I got my lucky break in 2012 while I was finishing my Masters in the US. HR called me to fly to Florida for 3-4 rounds of interview. After getting out of airport, I asked my cab driver to take me to the beach first [it was a 10-minute walk from the hotel I was staying in]. In my entire life upto that point, I had been to a beach twice [both times while I was in school, we went to visit my uncle in Mumbai]. This time, I was all alone on this pristine beach with my shoulder bag flying straight into 70°F Florida weather from the snowy winters of Maine. I promised myself I would do everything I could to get this dream job and would never move out of it.
The next day's interview got me a job [with the much-needed visa] in a city on the coast of Atlantic ocean. Over the next 13 years, I have forgotten how many walks I took along the coast of the same pristine sea. In the first 3-4 years, I was confident in my ability to understand and do what I was asked to in my role but I was always in awe of the brilliant people surrounding me in the office. First 5 years, I was simply happy to be in a role I had dreamt of for so many years.
In next half decade, I travelled to countries I only had heard of. Still climbing the corporate ladder slowly and steadily. Without much greed for the position or role, I was just happy working on the projects/products which were very much I had learnt all these years my under-graduation and graduation. A couple of years back, I was very content with the thought of retiring from this same company [and even on the same role I was at that time].
Fortunately, Life had other plans. This June, I left my job and a team I had for last 13 years. No more annual salary, no more promotions, no more paid vacation - just me getting paid on hourly basis for the work I do. And this tag of 13 years of work experience at GE is still giving me more work than I can handle nowadays. Fingers crossed.
