In the last year and a half since I left tech, I have felt joy, relief, confusion, uncertainty, and fear. While I immersed myself in taking classes and enjoying my newfound freedom, I also battled a whirlwind of emotions beneath the surface. At times, I felt grateful and happy to be spending my days as I wished. Other times, I was plagued by fearful thoughts that I was wasting time while my peers were advancing in their careers. My mindset flip-flopped week to week between updating my resume to apply for new jobs and reminding myself of this rare opportunity to pivot away from corporate life. It was tough to stay on one course as different parts of my personality pulled me in various directions.

Introduction to Construction Applications

This is the introductory construction class for the Construction Technology major. What we covered in class:

• Hand tools
• Power tools
• Scaffolding
• Concrete (we used sand)
• Rough Framing
• Insulation
• Interior Finishes

January

• Hung my real estate license with Corcoran Icon Properties!
• Laid off from Carta
• Started taking Construction Management classes at CCSF

February / March

• Ran a half marathon PR
• Went to Adele’s concert in Vegas
• Bought my first car!!!

A few months after being laid off, I took up a new job as an Assistant Project Manager at a construction subcontractor company. This was the role I had been working towards after completing a semester of Construction Management classes. It was a quick pivot from my tech career, but I was given the opportunity to jump right in and start fresh in a field I’m passionate about.

A few months ago, I was laid off from my job as a software engineer at a fintech company. Ten percent of the company was let go, and my team was heavily affected. Once I got over the initial shock, I had to adjust to the new reality of losing my daily routine. Suddenly, I had all the time in the world, which was initially overwhelming. However, I soon filled my days with running, meeting friends, taking classes, spending time with family, and finally choosing a brokerage to hang my real estate license with.

In early January 2023, I was exploring the construction classes offered at City College of San Francisco (CCSF). I had always been interested in these courses, but most of them were scheduled during the day, conflicting with my work hours. However, after being laid off, I took up the opportunity and registered for a few Construction Management classes. With just a week between my last day of work and my first day of classes, the timing was perfect!

Since coming back from Kenya, many of my friends have asked me, “How was your trip? How was Kenya?”

“It was good,” I reply.

I mean where do I start? There is so much depth to that question that I cannot distill it into a simple sentence or two. Sure, the safari was amazing, the motorcycle tour riveting as we descended into the Rift Valley, and the visit to the school enlightening. But these surface-level activities are not what I’ll remember this trip by. It is the invisible soul-touching aspects that have captured my heart.

I began my FIRE journey when I was 18 years old. I started with stock investing. Then, a friend introduced me to Wealthfront’s robo-advising, and I quickly invested my hard-earned summer internship money into a Roth IRA. My interest in personal finance blossomed, and I focused on developing a sound financial mindset from there. However, it wasn’t until I started working full-time that I had the means to make significant strides in my wealth accumulation.

Before this class, I had never taken a formal accounting class. I studied economics, business management, and statistics, but after starting my own businesses, I recognized the need to learn industry standards for business accounting. This knowledge has been invaluable in running and managing my ventures effectively.

Financial Accounting

Introduction to accounting information system, recording, and reporting of business transactions with a focus on the accounting cycle, terminology, application of basic principles and theories, classified financial statements and statement analysis for decision makers. The course includes balance sheet valuations, revenue/expense recognition, and cash flows.

Originally I had planned to publish this around my birthday, back in November. As that passed, I targeted this for the New Year… and now it’s mid-April. Oh, the passing of time.