Back in the Job Market After Heart Transplant

Finally back to the job market after being gone for 5 years. When I was diagnosed with advanced heart failure I was put on medical disability. It wasn’t just that, but I suffered a massive stroke beforehand so I had to learn to walk, talk, and eat again. It was going to be a long road for my recovery and being on an LVAD wasn’t going to make things easier. A year later I received the call for a heart transplant and without knowing that the world was going into a lockdown due to COVID-19.

Last year I was taken off of disability which forced me to start looking for work

I have mixed feelings about going back to work. A part of me is excited, and the other part is afraid that I won’t be able to handle it all. I just keep remembering when I was working before the advanced heart failure diagnosis, working as a medical assistant and doing the job of 2 people single-handedly.

I was running myself ragged in the doctor’s office, but I loved helping people. Originally I wanted to become a nurse so I started taking courses at the local community college. Because I had a bachelor’s degree, already I just needed to take a few courses such as anatomy and physiology. I was working full-time during the day and going to school at night.

Fast forward to today, I passed an AWS exam and I am switching careers to the IT industry

Everything is new but luckily adjustment is not something that is new to me. We have all had to adjust to living this life with heart failure which isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. I’m excited to learn and grow in the tech field.

The job I had before was so stressful and that is what I’m afraid of. Fear is one of those things that can cripple you and that is what has been happening to me. So I picked up a few tips from Google and one of the things the results said was to be prepared for the questions and study your resume. Part of the reason we are so nervous during interviews is because our minds are going 100 miles per hour and because we haven’t been practicing. Practice makes perfect.

The whole process is daunting

Especially if you’re like me and haven’t had an interview in years. And even harder if you get nervous during interviews as well. A lot of the time I feel like I’m not good enough for the roles. Confidence plays a big role in interviews and I’m still working on mine. It helps if you are prepared for your interview so I’ve been watching YouTube and writing down interview questions and how I would answer them. Asking the question aloud and answering in the mirror also helps.

I had remember that the people interviewing me are just people like me and it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get picked for the job. In the grand scheme of things I’ve been through much worse than bombing an interview. I am thrilled to be starting this new chapter of my life. Although there will be some disappointments through the interview process I know that I am happy to have this new chance on life.