The Importance of Persistence

I received a call yesterday not long after I woke up, telling me i was laid off for at least two or three months, mainly due to the corona virus and whatever has caused the oil prices to plummet( there are multiple reasons). If anyone has experienced a layoff, or a firing, it's hard. It is an emotionally draining experience, one that can have an effect on both self worth and motivation.

I'm not sure it gets any easier either, unless you're prepared for it. I honestly saw something coming. I had a nagging feeling this last time out. Maybe it was the fact that I was sent to west texas which is considered the hellhole of the oilfield industry, or most of the gigs going remote after only one or two wells. I just had this really bad feeling, so I started job hunting as soon as I went on days off.

I'm like a lot of Americans. I struggle to make a living, to pay bills, to make ends meet. That's part why I continue to learn to code. Some day, I hope not to struggle so much. I say part, because the other part is I love doing it so much. I'm almost to 150 days straight.

Let me back up a minute and explain how my job worked. I would drive 850+ miles from Arkansas to texas, and mostly live in a trailer on an oil rig for a month and a half. Good paying jobs in Arkansas are scarce so a lot of people go to the oil field, or work on river boats to make real money. I have a wife and 4 year old son, so being away for that long and not being military is tough. I stayed out that long to make it worth it, collect a couple of full paychecks, then come home.

The work itself wasn't bad, and the company was good to work for. They respected my time off, let me decide when I went back to work. I was pretty religious about only taking about 2 weeks before heading out again. The time away from home was soul crushing at times.

When I decided to pick up programming again I knew it would have to be something I was going to stick with long term. There are very few things I can see myself doing for a living, and programming is at the top of the list.i had dabbled in programming in the past, but had not given it the dedication that I do now.

This isn't a plea for help or a job, although I wouldn't turn down an offer of work (I'm more than willing to relocate). This is an affirmation, from me to whoever is reading, that I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to complain about how hard things are. I'm sure others have it worse.

I've made a commitment to learning to program, to learn how to do things with code, make things come to life. Becoming a developer might take me a bit longer than I would like, but I'm not going to quit because what started as an attempt to build a habit has become a burning desire, one that won't be smoked by a small setback. Persistence through adversity is one thing I've learned, and the one thing I'll keep in mind as I go forward. Persistence is how I'll get where I want to go.