Journeying Westward: The Story of My Cross-Country Move for an Unbeatable Opportunity | IT in AV
This month’s theme is AV budgeting but I am going to take this month’s article down a different path. As you may be well aware, last April I started a new job. This new job took me from the east coast and placed me on the west coast. If you have not followed my journey I am now the Assistant Director of AV Services for the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV located in Las Vegas. This article is going to talk about the journey over the last 12 months.
The Why
You might be asking yourself why I would move my family 2,600 miles for a job. If that is the question you are asking yourself then you are asking the wrong question. I did not move my family 2,600 miles for a job. I moved my family 2,600 miles for an opportunity. I enjoyed my job back on the East Coast and I have no ill-will feeling towards anyone at my old job. I started looking for a better opportunity as one of my career goals was to get into management. Where I was working that opportunity did not seem like it would come. I did not expect to find a job in management this quickly as I was still working on my MBA. When I saw the post for my new role I had to take a very close look at my career path. I also knew that UNLV has been part of some great projects and that the main campus had a great team.
The Challenges
Now that I covered the why, let me give you some of the challenges I faced. Starting a new job is always scary as one is entering the unknown. Not only was I entering a new job and moving 2,600 miles away from the place I grew up. To make this move even more challenging the first two months my wife and kids were staying back on the East Coast. The kids were finishing up their school year and we did not want to pull them out so close to the end. Our family only had one car that remained in NJ with the wife leaving me to use public transportation in a city I had never been to before.
Being away from my family for two months was not the only challenge I faced. Another challenge I faced was the AV team for the school of medicine was brand new. In fact, my position was the first official position on the team. I was faced with the challenges of making sure the support our users expected was still there while also building a team. After I started I hit the ground running and quickly got the lay of the land. I was also granted the current IT student workers and informed I could increase the number if needed; which was needed. With this being a brand new team I also had to interview for the full-time staff members who would be working on the team. It took about 2 months after I started to have the two full-time workers and start adding to our student workers
Building a new team was not the only challenge I faced with the new job. The school of medicine was also opening its brand new building which would be the first official building for the school. The school went from a hallway to a 5 story building with classes scheduled to start in November. That meant by the time I started there were only about 6 months before classes started in the new building. Getting this building ready for classes took a lot of teamwork and planning. We had to learn the new AV gear, how classes would operate in the building, and how my team would operate. Now that we are 4 months in the new building we are still working out all the issues but we are moving forward.
Besides challenges with work and leaving the place I called home, I also faced life challenges. Some of the issues I dealt with over the last 12 months are driving my family 2,600 miles in 5 days (we were going to do 4 days but we needed the extra day). This was the first time that either my wife or I drove that much and we had to split between the car and the U-haul. Besides the traveling itself, I also had issues with the AC unit with our rental. This happened during the heat of the summer and even though we are good now we still faced very warm temps. Also, our hot water heater died causing our garage to flood with water. The water from the hot water heater wasn’t the only time our garage would flood. We discovered when it rains our garage would flood as well. Yes, our landlord took care of all these issues but they were still challenges I faced. The latest was our car, which we drove cross country, died on us. Now I was not in the market for a new car but now I had to be.
The Reward
After reading the above you might be thinking to yourself why stick this out? Why face all these challenges for a job? As I mentioned in the Why section this was not for a job. This move was for the opportunities that came with the job. As I mentioned one of my goals was to get into management and now I am in that role. This does not mean I am done as I am always looking to grow where and how I can.
Besides reaching a goal milestone of mine I also found a place that values and rewards what I bring to the table. In the 12 months I have been asked to write articles for other publications, I have been asked to speak at InfoComm and even asked to give the keynote at the MCUAV Summit. I am not saying my old job did not value me but if they did they didn’t show it. Here my work supports the decisions I make and I even had an article written about me. It feels great to be in a work environment that fosters growth and what you bring to the table.
I also feel my family is doing better as well. We moved from a ‘small’ town to a city. This city brings a load of opportunities with it. My oldest is not playing sports anymore but I felt she only did in the past because her friends did. My middle child is playing soccer out here and is doing well with it. Both my kids are finding new friends while also staying connected to their friends back East. With Las Vegas being much more diverse than where we came from, my family is also growing as they learn about different cultures.
Conclusion
Might be wondering why I wrote this. What does this have to do with IT or AV or even higher education? The reason I wrote this is to give this advice. We all will face challenges in life but we need to make the most of every opportunity that comes our way. If I did not have someone open the door for me, they know who they are, I would not be where I am. With that said I still had to step through that door and take full advantage of it. Was it scary? Yes, it was. Did it take me out of my comfort zone? Yes, it did. But I feel I am a better person and in a better position for my family and my career because of it. If someone opens the door for you, make sure you take full advantage of everything that comes from it. Don’t let the challenges of the unknown scare you off. Also if you are in a position to open the door for someone else please do. You might never know what that person can do once they are provided the opportunity.
