Seattle repeat: Ur definitely not alone

Sandra,

It was wonderful to hear from youJ I hope that everything is going well – how is your health? I am very worried about you that you went to the hospital. Please keep me updated about what happened!

Things have been busy for me lately (mid-month and month end is always busy time for us since we do the finance support for closing activities)… how is your job going? How was your holiday (I believe 10.10 was Taiwan National Day?)? Did you do anything special with your friends and/or family?

I am still trying to figure out my traveling plans to Taiwan, but will give you update as soon as I have figured out what my plans are. I will stay in Taipei for probably one week, maybe I should visit Microsoft of Taipei. I was supposed to come last year during my business travel but I never got the chance to since my schedule was too busyL Well, I will definitely let you know what my plans are once I figure out my schedule~

I completely understand what you mean when you start to wonder about your job and whether you are doing the right thing. I think that everyone thinks that way and you are definitely not alone. For me, I would say that my general thought is that if you are learning something new in your job and enjoying it, then you are building your experience. Once you have reached the “natural capacity” for a few months (in other words, you have learned everything there is to learn and there really is no room for growth) then I would definitely think about moving onto something new and try something different. I think that when you are young, it is important to try many different things to find out what you like – as we grow older our focuses change and we start to focus on having more stability (getting married, having families, taking care of our elderly parents). Therefore, it’s very important to try new things when we are younger…. Otherwise it will be too late. So when you mention that you are too late to change and find another degree, I actually don’t think that is the case. In fact, on average, a person will have 10 different careers (which means changing the job) in their working life. So, think about what you really want to do go for it, and remember to have fun!

For me, I have been in the same job for 2 years now and have been discussing with my manager about trying something different within Microsoft. I really like what I do, but as I mentioned above (I should take my own advice, right? J ) I have learned almost everything I know in this position and that is when I know it is time to think about doing other things.

My other mentees are good, but I can tell you XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!
Haha, but please don’t tell them that! ~ I can have the feeling that we get along really well – it will be nice to finally meet in person soon.

Thanks,
Catherine Bedeski