This May will mark two years since I graduated from Harding. Shortly after, I moved to California to help open a coffee bar. I spend my 9-5 working for a software start-up as a system administrator specialized and licensed in Salesforce, a cloud-computing platform projected to generate $859 billion in new revenue for its economies by 2022. Considering that I started with writing blogs, I feel like the sky\u2019s the limit. Eighteen-year-old me could not have said the same, though. The foundation of my success is a direct result of my Harding experience.<\/p>\n
I was never one for studying. Why work hard if I could get good grades without it? Until, of course, I couldn\u2019t. I was a junior at Harding, faced with my first upper-level exam from a notorious history teacher. That attitude, paired with a total ignorance of what to expect, resulted in a low D. My professor was disappointed, and she let me know. She also let me know, however, it wasn\u2019t the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you\u2019re not dead yet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
I worked like never before. Exhaustive studying and earnest participation found me needing a near-perfect final performance to finish with an A. I don\u2019t know if I aced my final, but I got my A. The lesson was clear \u2014 hard work isn\u2019t about just me or my grades.<\/p>\n
My newfound work ethic followed me to the Bison. With almost no journalism experience, I joined as a beat reporter. I concluded my career at The Bison as head editor of The Link, with several awards \u2014 including two \u201cBest-Ofs\u201d \u2014 and a few contributions that go beyond labels. Those achievements weren\u2019t accomplished by me, though, but by a team of individuals who, like me, realized work was about more than themselves and who worked for each other to create the best publication possible.<\/p>\n
It was my on-paper experience with The Bison that led to a successful interview for a position as a marketing intern at my current company, but it was these real-life experiences at Harding that have led to success. When a marketing firm was contracted about a month after my hire, I found other ways to be useful for my company. I earned the title of operations manager, and became responsible for anything that nobody else could or would do, from network administration, analytics and design, to hanging TVs and making coffee.<\/p>\n
This attitude \u2014 a long way away from \u201cwhy study\u201d \u2014 paved the way to my current position as salesforce administrator. I had no technical qualifications or experience, but the department head wanted someone that could learn, collaborate and solve problems. I had proven my ability to do just that. For a long time, I had been asked to do things I didn\u2019t know how to do \u2014 I always knew I could learn, though. When you\u2019re working for your team and for the best results possible, it feels like the sky\u2019s the limit. That\u2019s one of the most valuable lessons I learned while at Harding, and it\u2019s already shaping my life in the \u201creal world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Written by guest writer Hunter Beck<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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