Pretty significant milestone here: it's been ten years since I started working. Ten years ago, I felt sort of worthless, bumming at home, working on my website. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Then, I started working, and going to grad school at the same time. It's hard to imagine that ten years later, I would be here. It's been relatively smooth sailing, with only 2 months of joblessness, from when I went from being a summer intern to not having a job. But, it was a nice little break, which I wouldn't get again.

In these ten years, I've learned a lot, both about myself as well as my surroundings. I've learned that the horror stories my dad told and lived were only part of the picture - told from the perspective of one who overly depended on his job for financial and emotional support. While it's true that there's no job security, it's not true that one's life is instantly over the moment he loses his job. One should live as if his job could go at any time, and always be honing one's skill to be able to get another job.

Having said that, 20s and 30s are probably the smoothest sailing period of a person's career, except for finding the first job. Youth works in one's favor; one is seen more as cheap labor with lots of energy. So, I can't say that my career won't mirror that of my dad's later down, in my 40s and 50s. However, I do aim to be in a much better position by then, earning and saving as much as I can right now.

Either way, though, I feel that these past ten years have been a tailwind journey, with few setbacks. The economy has also been on a continuous expansion, so being able to find and keep a job is no big feat. I wonder what I will be saying in 10 years. I'll be in my 40s then.