Hired

…annnnnnd finished.

I have accepted an offer from PNC Bank to be a software developer associate. Callie, the talent acquisition recruiter from PNC emailed me on Tuesday saying that I should call her when I had the chance and that she would be free in the afternoon. I called her immediately. At 8:30am.

She wasn’t even at work yet, was walking around in downtown Pittsburgh, but still answered the phone. Since I called her four hours before she asked me to, she didn’t have the details in front of her, but she assured me that an offer was coming. In a text later on that day she said she would call me at 4:30. I waited impatiently and pretended to work on my capstone.

Marissa scheduled me a room so that I could have some privacy for the call. Callie called promptly at 4:31. She offered me the position, told me the details, and asked if I could start on April 29th. A day later (I waited just because I promised Jenny I would) I accepted.

Here are some of the differences between my employment before Tech Elevator in December and the position I will start at the end of April, after graduation.

I was working as a manager in a grocery store after being laid off from a long career at Barnes & Noble.

• I often had to be there before 7am. I didn’t really mind this, but that early hour was sometimes tough.
• I used heavy machinery and there was a high chance that I would eventually hurt myself.
• I unloaded trucks through a dock. When it was cold I shivered, when it was hot, the place stunk of rotting food.
• I had to wear a t-shirt that said the name of the grocery store everyday.
• I was not what you would call a “cultural fit” with the other employees. We were friendly, but none of them were inviting me over for dinner.
• I had one week of vacation that I only got after working for six months.
• The health care was appreciated, but not great.
• There was once an employee who used drugs in the bathroom and I had to help sort it out. (This was something of a turning point that reinforced the necessity to find a new job)
• If someone wanted to know what my job was like, I told them that I was an accountant who worked in a room that smelled very bad.

At my new job at PNC:

• I start with three weeks vacation
• I work downtown, starting at 8:30 and can easily take public transit.
• I have a 64% pay increase.
• The health care is excellent.
• After 90 days I can work from home twice a week.
• I can wear basically anything I want.
• I get a computer!

I consider myself elevated.