One of the benefits of working for a small company is the ability to get in on the ground floor and make your voice heard.  I’ve had a lot of say in the way that the company is run, and my boss (the only one that I have) listens to me and gives me good feedback.

Since I started, I’ve worked on graphics, marketing, IT, and UX design, to name a few.  I once was freelance, am now full time, and working primarily in project management.  It’s a good thing that I like having a lot of variety in my tasks — I never get bored!  At the end of the day, I can say that I worked my ass off to get a job that I love, and that I look forward to working my ass off again tomorrow.

Learning a profitable skill for the sake of getting a good job isn’t a bad idea — gotta pay the rent, right?  Just make sure that you’re not painting yourself into a corner.  I’ve known a lot of people who have found themselves making a lot of money in jobs that they hate, and that is one of the worst places to be.  It’s hard to leap from the top of your money pile and faceplant into poverty, even if it means getting to do something that you really love.

Does that mean that you’re lucky to be underemployed?  Possibly.  If you don’t like what you’re doing AND you’re not getting paid enough for it, the way out is to follow your dreams.

Sounds cheesy, right?  Like something you’d have to pay $500 to get into the Toyota Center to hear Tony Robbins regurgitate?  I don’t disagree; it’s easy for anyone to tell you to follow your dreams.  They’re not you. They don’t have to follow through.  All they have to do is drop this earth-shattering knowledge on you, guru-on-the-mountain-style.  Then, if you do follow your dreams and open up new potential, they feel entitled to pass your name around as though you were their protege, and they were your mentor.

Classy.

Beneath the layers of self-aggrandizement, there’s a nugget of wisdom.  If you work hard enough at your passions, you’ll become an expert.  With a little bit of savvy, you can turn expertise into a job you’ll love.

I was in that boat — I was overworked/underpaid/underappreciated.  I started making websites for myself because I wanted websites.  Then I started making websites for my friends for free, because I liked doing it and I wanted to build a portfolio.  My friend Ross let me work for him for free for his company, saying that he’d pay me someday if the money became available.

Here’s the difference between an ambitious person and an unambitious one: an ambitious person would recognize this as an opportunity to gain experience.  An unambitious one would see it as a drain on video game time.  Sure, doing market research was less fun than climbing the leaderboards on Xbox Live; but if you choose video games now, you’re choosing them for the rest of your life.

I worked my 40 hours a week at work, then I worked another 40 for free.  The result?  A 20% pay increase and a job that I love; and I’ve got plenty of time to catch up on the leaderboards now.

It wasn’t so bad, actually.  I used the BlackBerry Manager software to do a full backup, then used the wipe command by going to Menu –> Options –> Security Options –> General Settings –> Menu –> Wipe Handheld, and I was back to defaults within a few minutes.  When I applied the backup, I got everything except my apps back.  I reconnected to my preferred WiFi hotspot here at the office right away!  Not sure what was wrong there,but I was back on track.

My next stop was ÜberTwitter to reinstall my most-used app.  So far, so good!  Then I reinstalled WhatsApp (the chat app that my girlfriend and I have been using), and my WiFi died again shortly thereafter.  I uninstalled it after awhile, and my WiFi eventually started behaving again.

I’m not sure if WhatsApp actually killed my WiFi, but the app and my WiFi certainly seem incompatible.

I’m currently installing Opera Mini to replace the (essentially worthless) built-in BlackBerry browser.  I apologize for the alliteration.

In more exciting news, the BlackBerry Torch featuring BlackBerry 6 touchscreen OS is now available!  I’ve made the decision to jump from T-Mobile’s poor network coverage (well worth the $200 to break the contract), and until recently, was resigned to getting an iPhone; but with this sexy new darling from RIM on the market, I just might remain a BB user.  I’ll make my decision this weekend, when I go to a store for a demo.