Do you have any pivotal turning points in your life?

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Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
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I was just thinking today about how a job that I almost got fired from has had such a great affect on my life. There are lots of little turning points here and there but this one really stands out to me:

I got a basic techie job to help put myself through architecture school. When the boss saw my availability (due to insane school requirements) he expressed dismay and told me he had serious reservations about keeping me on and only did so because of the recommendations people had given for me.

Well, I kept the job and ended up switching careers to IT about a year after graduating. The things I have learned have had a very profound effect on my life. I doubt I would have had the interest to find out what I did on my own given that I knew little beyond computer basics and what I have learned has lead me to some pretty beneficial results in two other areas: investments and travel. Thats three pretty large areas for an event to so greatly impact.
 
KeithTalent

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
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My divorce; completely changed my focus, in a good way.

KT
 
Rhezuss

Rhezuss

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2006
4,118
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91
I'd say moving in with my gf last summer, selling her duplex and buying a sweet house, after 6 years of LDR that actually worked and seeing now how everything feels so right.
 
vi edit

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
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I remember babysitting my sister when I was in 8th grade. My parents went out to a Christmas party for my Dad's work. I was still up when they got back home and my Dad came running into the house and said "Go out to car and help your Mother". Then he ran to the bathroom.

I walked outside to the car and Mom was trying to push the door open. There was puke in the footwell of the front seat. She had vomit all down the front of her dress. I managed to help her get out of the car and up the steps to the house. She stumbled and nearly fell into the bushes outside the front door. Got her in side and Dad got her from there and said "Go to bed".

Didn't drink a drop of alcohol until I got into college because of that night.
 
ultimatebob

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,134
2,450
126
blackdogdeek said:
The single most pivotal moment in my life is the birth of my first child.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that changes a lot of things.

For me, the biggest change was moving from rural Pennsylvania to California for a game testing job. Talk about a culture shock!
 
Scarpozzi

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,392
1,780
126
It's crazy, but my life hasn't pivoted that much. I've been going down a fairly straight path the whole time. I graduated high school, started college, started a career, bought a house, graduated with a B.S., got married, graduated with a M.B.A., got another job, moved to a bigger house, had a daughter, started adding onto the bigger house, had a son....and still working on the house.

I feel like things have constantly changed, but never turned completely around....I've taken it all in stride and tried to go with the flow. It's worked out pretty well. :)
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
Time: The morning of 10 November 1989.
Place: The western side of what is Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.
What: Watching East Germans stream across into freedom.

That one is up there.
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,175
10,640
126
Nope. Just the slow creep towards death. There's been routine episodes of chance and luck, but nothing particularly stands out.
 
lozina

lozina

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
11,711
8
81
discovering a large tumor in my head which almost blinded me and the subsequent recovery from surgery changed everything.
 
purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,654
6,532
126
my boss at my first job telling me i "almost got laid off" and "just barely made the cut" is probably the best possible thing that could have happened to me career wise. i had been in the industry 5 years as a software dev and was barely making $60k, starting at $49k at that company.

like i knew i wanted to find a new higher paying job, and one that i can learn more at than that one, but that was the kick in the ass.

now 5 years later, i'm making more than double what i was making when i left that place. i still eat lunch with the guys i worked with at that company, and some of them have been there 10 years. they are still doing the same exact technology as back then, and they are making way below what a software engineer in our area could be making with that much experience. if they try to find another job, they won't be nearly as marketable due to experience there.

after i left that company, i turned my view of my job from just bein a job into my career. now i have a much stronger desire to learn and challenge myself, and i do quite a bit of development on the side, some for fun, some for extra money. since i left there i've built quite a few ios and android apps on the side and am working on a 2nd game right now, just because i have an idea and want to learn the unity engine. first game was made with cocos2d.

but putting all of this crap on my resume as well is really helpful too. it pretty much shows that i can learn any technology and roll with it, and that i'm a go getter instead of just sitting around.

EDIT:

another pivotal moment that isn't professional wise, is my first trip out of the country to aruba when i saw clear ocean water for the first time. totally changed my view on what i care about spending my money on and made me realize that traveling and vacation was going to be a #1 priority in my life. been to many places since.

expecting my first kid in april, so i'm sure that will be yet another pivotal point.
 
DesiPower

DesiPower

Lifer
Nov 22, 2008
15,299
740
126
When I found my girl, now my wife. I started taking life more seriously, got a real job and stuck to it, started a real career...
 
R

rednas

Senior member
May 26, 2010
298
0
76
What I consider to be the most pivotal moment in my life and the best thing that ever happened to me was leaving Los Angeles. Had I never left I would have never attended college and would either be selling drugs, in jail, or dead.
 
Thebobo

Thebobo

Lifer
Jun 19, 2006
18,574
7,672
136
Being in an induced Comma for 17 days. I quit smoking and drinking during that time I highly recommend it.
 
HeXen

HeXen

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2009
7,837
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When my then g/f and now wife started hounding me about marriage.
 
Sonikku

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,906
4,928
136
When I determined being a guy wasn't working out for me. Kind of an awkward moment.
 
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