I remember laughing about it and telling my colleague how I was going to write an article after I got the news. Its been over a year but it's never too late I guess.
On a Wednesday morning, we had our regular scrum meeting except on this day it was longer, our boss had mentioned that there would be some restructuring, some people would be placed on an internship for some months, and be promoted back if they perform well. For some reason, I didn't think I could be part.
A back story; 3 months before then, about fifteen of us got employed, was a new team with a lot of hands needed. It was also my first time doing Java and venturing into back-end development, I had done front-end before that time. Funny thing, my friend sent a picture from my second year in University where I was rejoicing because the Java exam was over, who'd have thought.
I struggled with the workload for the most, to be honest, I was learning on the Job, and deliverables were expected. I almost didn't have a social life. I knew I was struggling but I thought I was struggling well enough.
Fast-forward to about two weeks after we got informed, everybody had to have a one on one with the CTO, and then you'd have your fate decided, I agree that it was quite dramatic. Because I wasn't expecting to be placed on an internship, I went there confident and after I was told, I didn't know what or how to feel.
The few hours after the news was broken, I felt numb, angry, hurt, and foolish. I normally don't know how to handle failure or rejection well, also, I was going to be getting a 60% pay cut so it's only normal for me to be angry I guess.
I remember telling whoever cared to listen that I was going to resign, I couldn't imagine being demoted. I spoke with my dad and he made me realize what I wasn't seeing; that I was learning a lot. I thought it through, decided to stay and leave after a few months when I was confident of how good I was.
I didn't stay for more than a month after that, however, a few weeks later, I was getting an offer that was going to triple my previous pay (pre-internship). The knowledge and experience I gained helped me greatly.
It's easy and normal to be in a haste to earn large, I mean the bills won't pay themselves, however, I think we should all learn to embrace our process, some opportunities should be embraced not because they're all-round fantastic but because they'd be influential in helping us meet our goals.
I'd talk about my experience as a software developer and how I got offered an internship position again a year after this in my next article.