Autobiography and personal narrative

Strangely enough, one of the most important events in my life, given the subsequent implications for my development as an individual, was the time I got my first job. This happened around the age of twenty and it was a part-time job working as an application tester for a small software producer. I had to be at the company's website a minimum of four hours a day, but the problem was sufficiently flexible to allow me to continue my academic pursuits without affecting them in any way. It was a great way to fill all the extra time I had in college and, additionally, as a perk, receive a reasonably generous pay for the amount of work I did at that point.

It was also a great opportunity to spend the respective time in a social environment. As a group of individuals working in a small company, the people were open and ready to make friends, which enhanced the cohesion of the group. Some of the people I had met during that time are still some of my good friends. Differences of age or completed education were not factors that mattered in the way the friendships were forged and everyone was simply ready to offer a good word when in need or to be a good work colleague and provide feedback when necessary.

However, as I previously mentioned, this job experience was essential in the way I developed as an individual further on mainly because it offered me confidence. Everybody knows how things are when you are twenty: you are no longer a teenager, you have just come out of puberty, but you still have the same insecurities you might have had during that period. You go to college and you pursue a degree, but you are often not sure of what you want to do professionally after that with your life and this often becomes a burden when dealing with your life.

Another thing is that whenever you try to get a job during this period of time, you either seem not to have enough experience for a better job or you are offered only jobs and positions that don't require any experience, going from working in the local McDonald's to washing dishes. Obviously, neither of these are ways to either boost your morale nor provide the experience needed for another job later on in your life. They also do not provide the right social environment in which you can develop the social office skills you need later on.

The job I received as an application tester was an incredible opportunity of actually being able to prove to myself that I could be useful in a company and that I could adapt my personality to working in a group and to following the objectives of that group. From that moment on, I started believing in myself more and in my capacity of being able to achieve professional results, to follow instructions, to act as a member of a team and to commit myself towards certain goals.