I was unemployed in 2024. I’m unemployed again in 2026.
I used to think that sentence was supposed to embarrass me. It doesn’t anymore.
Here’s what actually happened both times. I lost a job, and then I built something. In 2024, that meant landing at RSC Solutions and leading a Windows 11 and macOS rollout for 150+ users. In 2026, that means finishing my Google Cloud Generative AI Leader certification, completing the AI Advantage Summit, working toward my Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals certification (AB-900), updating the portfolio site I first built for my UX certificate, and interviewing for AI Enablement roles that didn’t exist as job titles five years ago.
That’s not failure. That’s the system working the way it’s supposed to.
Nobody handed me a permanent label the first time I lost a job. Nobody told me I only got one shot. I got to try again, and when I needed to try a third time, I got to do that too. That’s not something every country offers its people. It’s not a small thing. It’s the whole thing.
I’ve spent 20+ years fixing broken laptops, resolving 700+ incidents in ServiceNow, and teaching people who were scared of technology how to actually use it. I recovered $380,000 during an internal software audit at Macy’s. More than once, a manager told me to dumb down my knowledge so other people wouldn’t feel intimidated. I’ve been unemployed twice in three years.
All of that is true at the same time. None of it cancels out the rest.
I’m proud to live somewhere that lets a person be all of that and still get to keep building. Not because it’s easy. It isn’t. Because it’s possible, and because nobody gets to decide I’m done except me.
I’m not done.
Every certification I finish, every application I send, every interview I sit down for is proof that starting over isn’t a consolation prize. It’s the actual path. It always was.
You are never too old, too tired, or too far gone to start again. The right time is always right now, not when everything is perfect, because perfect never comes.
I’ve started over twice. I’m proud of both times.
