Goodbye Wellington…

July 2016 · 4 minute read

Wow, what a nine years it has been Wellington! It’s time to say goodbye to the city which is responsible for sleepless 3-day benders, 6 crazy years on Courtenay Place (which kind of all blur into one), inking up almost half of my body, putting on my first Muay Thai fight, giving me a kick start with coding and introducing me to some of the best friends I will ever have.

Here is where one journey ends and another begins. I still remember the drive into Wellington City as vivid as if it were yesterday. Moving out of home when I was 18 years old to come down to the Capital and Study Architecture at Victoria University. My parents drove me down from Waihi, a small town in the lower Coromandal. A tiring eight hour long drive and my parents, who are not city people in the slightest, start to bicker frantically with maps about which off-ramp to take. Me, sitting in the backseat as it all slowly sinks in. Driving down the high way, dwarfed by factories and warehouses. I just remember think to myself “OMG, What have I done?” In that moment, I just realised how big Wellington is compared to Waihi, and that I don’t know anyone here.

I did not enjoy my first year at uni. It’s not what I thought it’d be. I struggled to make new friends, to fit in at the School of Architecture, and to get excited about most of the precedents required for first year assignments.

But as the year ended, I needed to find a Summer job so I started working as a weekend cook, since I already had plenty of experience the previous Summer in Waihi. I did not want to live like other students do. And I guess that’s where it all started, the Hospitality work, I mean. I can’t count how many people I’ve met working in Hospitality in Wellington, I guess the more people you meet the better chance there is of finding one or two you get along with really well.

After trying to get excited, sticking with it for another year and then deciding that Architecture was not for me I went on to instead complete a Triple Diploma in Business, Management and Accounting. This, as turns out was became beneficial to my next endeavour, working as the General Manager in a late night bar. I did this largely because after everything that I’d learned working up from a dishwasher to a duty manager, I believed I could do a better job than many others. That’s something I had a good go at and after while it became too easy. I could predict staff, customers, turn overs, sales on special events, everything. I didn’t need to try and plan or organise anymore. And as there became less situations that required hands on management, the more bored I got, until I decided that simply working in a bar or even running one, was not enough.

I remember feeling lost for about six months, trying to work out and decide what it is that I wanted to do next. I had endless parts of plans and notes but nothing really stuck out and I guess that must have been when coding came into my life. Somehow one conversation led to another and somewhere along the line a conversation with a very good Patron turned into a programming lesson with my very first Mentor.

Exactly 3 years and 6 days later, here I am. Having studied and persisted, all while running Operations for a young Restaurant and learning the art of Muay Thai, I have been found and shifted across the country to really begin my new career, developing software.

It’s crazy to look back now and see how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned. But like I said earlier, it’s time for a new journey to begin. A clean slate on the road to success.

As big and daunting as Wellington once seemed, I feel now as though I’ve outgrown it for now and I need to look ahead to the next big adventure that awaits in a slightly larger city. Still not international, but I mean it is the home to almost half the population of an entire country…

I’m sad to say goodbye to some good friends (for now – don’t think I won’t still be visiting), but I’m also really excited to see what new adventures await in Auckland and where my career will take me next.

Bring on the City of Sails, and some warmer Summers!

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