So tomorrow is Halloween and that means more than just candy. It means that my birthday is just a couple of days away. I normally don’t even think about such things, but this year is a bit of a landmark. You see, in just a few days I will be 45 years old.

Back in the Day

When I turned 15 I went out and got my first job.

I was busing tables at Mr. Gatti’s, a pizza restaurant back when there were such things in the world. I had to wear tan pants, a white shirt, and a brown tie. No really, a tie. The shirt didn’t stay white and the tie just got darker and darker, but it was my first job. I walked to and from work and recall getting scalded with hot water and being abused by children. I made $3.80 an hour and I was pretty pleased with myself.

Over the next several years I had a wide range of jobs, usually two jobs at a time until about 2008. I have to admit, I ran the gambit:

Grocery bagger
Assistant manager
Projectionist
Car sales
Newspaper sales
Cashier
Drafter
Offshore

Frankly, those are the only ones I can recall, but there were more in there. Trust me. Lots more.

The Last Two Decades

So, what have I been doing for the last twenty years?

In 2000, I moved to a small town to work for a growing civil engineering firm as a CAD drafter. This tied nicely with my experience since the entire time I had been working I had a running theme of CAD being part of my life. Education, part time jobs, full time work, and just playing around; CAD had always been there. Now I was in a strange town, on my own.

What I didn’t realize was that there was one more thing tying my experiences together to this new job. They were all just that, jobs. Every job had been a paycheck and not alot more. But I was 25, so what did I know?

And things went that way for a while. Even though I cared about my work and I really enjoyed where I worked I still had a “job” and not much more. Then, in 2008 things began to slide. What can someone who has been pushing the CAD wagon for almost 20 years going to expect. I was bored.

Then one day I realized something important:

No one is ever going to care more about my career than me.

Things started the upswing from there.

From Job to Career and Beyond

Once I realized there was more to work than having a job I began to grow. At first I concentrated on my technical skill set, but soon I realized I needed more.

My growth began as an urge to become the best CAD drafter that I could be. I had always possessed a fair amount of skill and proficiency. But that skill would only take me so far.

I began my journey to read and learn everything that I could on the topic of management. I worked to understand the skills of working with others and project management. Later I began to work indulge my curiosity on topics such as marketing and entrepreneurship.

At this point in my career I had served as CAD manager for some time and then CAD coordinator. Next I moved into the position of IT manager, leaving my production days behind me and entering a strange new phase.

Back Where We Started

So here we are, a few days before my 45th birthday. I feel that in the past 30 years I have worked job after job. Then I began my career, paying more attention to the need to grow not only my skill set but also my understanding.

That skill growth and fledgling knowledge boosted my position. The change from “job” to “career” set a course that I had yet to understand. It would take more study and more time for me to realize that there was more than just a job or career.

That something more is sometimes referred to as a “vocation” or a “calling,” depending on with whom you speak. Regardless of the term, one factor is common and that is one moves beyond “doing your job” to something more akin to “spreading a message.”

Rather than using your skill set and experience in support of a set of tasks you begin to use those same tasks in service of instilling and spreading this overarching goal or philosophy. It is the transition from having “things to do” to having “responsibilities.”

That is where I am as I close in on my 45th birthday. I’ve grown from having a job to a much higher tier of having responsibilities. To be sure it is a different sort of work and I am hopeful there are yet more tiers to ascend in my growth. I’ve move on from my first job, making $3.80 an hour washing dishes, and I’m still pretty pleased with myself …