Last Shift in the ER

4 Years ago today was my last shift working patient registration in the ER.

Looking back on my time in the ER is always interesting. I spent 3 and half years working in the ER. Checking in ambulances and patients. Talking with Nurses and Doctors. Consoling family members, making tough phone calls to families during the pandemic.

Explaining to the single mom of 4, that her insurance had expired and the visit would need to be self-pay. All sort of "experiences" working in the ER.

But I did it. I accepted for first Developer role AND IN E-COMMERCE!

It took me from March of 2017 til January of 2022. In that time though I had gone from 1 kid to 3 kids. Worked all different shifts as a hospital janitor, and ER patient registrar. Hours of podcasts and networking via Twitter. Taking calls on my lunch breaks to try and get into tech. We also bought a house and moved!

Fast Forward to now.

I'm at a job I love. Working with a team I'd take a greyhound bus for (did that and would do it again).

Made incredible friends in the world of e-commerce.

I "won" the Operators Person of the Year Award.

Its been a wild ride, and working in the ER during a global pandemic was not on my career wishlist. However, it taught me a lot about dealing with customers. Wrote about it here:

5 things I learned about customers while working in the ER

Keep stumbling forward, you never know where you may end up (hopefully not the ER).