25 Years?? Nossa!

Today at my office we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of my boss, Jeff Finkle, working at IEDC. He came into IEDC as the President on August 1st, 1986. He entered an organization that was practically bankrupt and had only 9 employees including himself. Now IEDC is a highly successful membership organization with over 4,500 members and just under 30 staff members.

As I sat with my co-workers toasting to his success and eating mini cupcakes, I couldn't help but think about what it would be like to work at an organization for 25 years, and what my life would look like 25 years from now.

Each generation has its unique challenges that it must face, and hearing about Jeff's career path very much highlights the specific challenges I have to rise to in the coming years. When Jeff began his career in state government and later at HUD then IEDC, a bachelor's degree was quite valuable and could help you get competitive jobs. Now it is basically a requirement that one have a master's degree, something which I was hesitant about pursuing before coming to DC and am now positive I will go after. For my generation, it is highly unlikely that anyone will stay at a specific company for 25 years. In fact, on average people now have 5 separate careers -- not 5 separate jobs or work for 5 separate companies, but 5 completely different careers. This is quite daunting for someone who has yet to graduate from college and figure out what I want to do for one career... let alone 5!

I have spent a good amount of time networking in DC with various people, more or less connected to what I would ultimately like to spend my time doing. Such networking has in reality only made the task of moving forward after college even more daunting. I have learned through them that there are so many different ways to get where you want to go, so many subjects you can study, so many experiences you can have, so many options that I find myself in a state of paralysis.

I know that everyone at one point or another found themselves in a similar situation -- completely scared of what comes next and trying to decide what move to make, and I know I just need to take it one step at a time. In fact, I know 25 years ago this week Jeff contemplated leaving IEDC and returning to HUD. No one knows what is the right way to go; there really isn't one. I just hope that no matter where I am 25 years from now, or 30 or 40 or whatever, I can be toasting with my friends, smiling about the great life and career that I've had.

~CRP