Go With What You Know

I understand that Spencerian College did not guarantee a job when I got out of school.  I had no such illusions, but all through my two years there, I was sold the line that this education would be the fast track to a better job.  My training and my credentials would open new doors for me in an expanding career field with an astronomical potential for growth.  What they failed to mention is that most places won’t hire you unless you have a minimum of two years coding experience.  Yet in order for me to get said experience, I must get hired.  See my dilemma?

This was actually discussed one day in class, when a fellow student brought up the subject to the instructor.  She said that since we would have been taking classes in medical coding that by the time we graduated, we would meet the requirement of two years.  But that is not experience.  That is training!  And I am not about to put that on my resume, when I literally have little to no experience coding in a professional setting.  How does what I did in the class room translate to the real world?

As a matter of fact, most of my fellow coders got their position because they happen to fall into it.  They were working in a practice or hospital doing something else, when a coding position became available and they were trained for it. 

I understand that I have only been looking for three months, but the payoff to all my job searching may be far and away.  I have decided in the interim to go with what I know, and expand my job hunt to warehousing and distribution until something better comes along.  Personally, I am loathe to go back to working in a warehouse, especially since I made the bold leap to quit one warehouse job and uproot myself to Texas, in the hopes of getting a better one in a different career field.  But I have to do what I have to do.  I am starting to get a little restless without the comfort of a routine.

Yesterday, I had an interview with a temp agency.  They called with regards to a warehouse position in Grapevine.  The position is second shift and offers eleven dollars an hour, and is temp to hire.  I hope I get it.  The job is close, they described it as a cakewalk, and since it is second shift, it would free up my mornings for my coding job search.  Who knows?  We’ll see.