One of the best jobs and experiences you could ask for as a Graphic Designer and only my second official in-house job with the title of Designer. This was one of those jobs that had endless opportunity and appreciation.
This was one of those opportunities that found me. I’d been laid off for about six months after my prior company was hit by the economic downturn after 9/11. It had been six months of being unemployed when I was contacted by a recruiter who had found my resume online somewhere. I held my breath over the month long process trying not to jinx anything. It was also the highest salary I’d made to date. I still remember them sliding the yellow Post-It with the salary offer and being particularly giddy when I saw it. Though I would learn later I probably should have asked for more. But, live and learn…lol…
This really was a dream job. I got to work with a cavalcade of people who were extremely appreciative of my efforts. I got to play and explore and apply my interests to projects and 99% of the time could do no wrong. The more I did the more people wanted and I worked to improve the product offerings as well as the efficiency of the processes and equipment we used.
I was creating projects in print and multimedia using anything I could get my hands on. Doing things that felt like they mattered for people who appreciated the solutions I created for them.
It was really a golden age of my career, especially just starting out, and a sad time when it came to an end. I will always look back during this time, and the people, with a particular fondness.
One tragic story to share…
This was in the early 2000’s and I had an 80(?) gig hard drive I carried around in an external case that had all of my files on it. ALL of my files and yes this foreshadows the tragedy and lesson of what happens when you do not backup your files…lol…
This was also a time when things were a bit more lax and you could still plug in an external usb drive into your work computer…heh. But, I had the hard drive sitting on top of my computer tower, under my desk, I can still remember this clearly. For some reason I jerked my knee suddenly and knocked the hard drive off the tower and, in slow motion, to the floor. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I still feel that sick feeling, my heart stop, and the tears well up. Seeing how few pieces I have left from that time of all the projects I produced still hurts.
I picked up the drive like I’d dropped my child on the floor…lol…it seemed ok. It was still running. I plugged it in and check the directory. The files were still showing up!!! I felt relief and elation sweep over me. Until I started trying to access the files…nope…nope…won’t open…not found…
Desperation set in.
Luckily, SOME of them were ok and I was able to pull them off. SOME of them I had burned on to CD. But, A LOT were lost.
This wouldn’t be the last time I didn’t learn my lesson about not back up my files and lost a lot of stuff to the ravages of technology…ugh.
I now have regular backups running and backup my files to multiple locations…lol….
