Tough Start
3 months on my second job and I almost got fired because of the incompetence of a certain Internet Service Provider, which I will not name. Simply because, against my better judgement, I have chosen to keep them on the market, where they could potentially mess other organisations’ work by providing pathetic Internet services.
I was almost regretting. I had left Chingola with a reasonable salary and private projects coming from everywhere, guaranteeing extra cash each month. Plus I stayed with my parents, meaning rentals didn’t exist, though I helped out with monthly household supplies. And all my usual destinations (work, church, fellow geeks) were reachable on foot. Basically, I was comfortable in Chingola. Not to mention that I even had a part-time training gig with Necor Zambia, where I conducted training in Microsoft products. Management of Standard Chartered Bank Chingola and Chililabombwe branches were amongst the people I had trained. But I had to grow up.
Growing Up
Now I had left that behind. I was now doing a hard job. Real IT. Networking. If I’m honest, I went straight into the deep end. And now the ISP at my new job was messing with our internet connection, nearly getting me fired. My financial situation wasn’t good either. For the first time in my life I was paying rent and boarding a bus to work. And Saturday was a working day too. I was IT systems administrator with absolutely no formal training. Google helped. Guru and David, the IT Overlord were on hand to provide technical support over Yahoo Messenger. No, fellas, Skype wasn’t yet as popular at that time.
It Had to Pay Off
I had to cope not just with technical problems, but with people as well. I started to improve. I chucked out the useless ISP and brought in a better one. I also discovered some twit in another department was visiting shady websites that compromised our network’s security. I put him in his place. He was more than twice my age, but I still put him in his place. The Internet connection immediately stabilised. I learned how to manage networks and worked with my overseas IT director to set up a secure private data network between Lusaka and Nairobi. Things were looking up by the fifth month. Plus Spencon had just won a massive tender to construct an underground forensic laboratory for the Zambia Police Service under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A Short-lived Adventure
“Hello, is this Wongani Zulu?” An unexpected call on my cellphone in April 2010.
“Speaking” I had learnt to use office language.
“You applied for a job as network systems coordinator at Children International,” Mr. Siyumbwa said in a suspiciously foreign accent. I had no idea who he was and I couldn’t remember applying for a job at Children International. Heck, I didn’t even know Children International. He continued: “You have been shortlisted. Are you available for a practical interview at 14:00hrs tomorrow?” I said “Yes” and he gave me directions.
I went to my Yahoo! Mail account and searched for any mail sent to Children International. I found it. So it turns out that when the tide was high at Spencon, I had applied to work at Children International Zambia (CIZ) in November 2009 and I had completely forgotten about it. That was my third application with no real papers to talk about, yet it went through. I couldn’t even remember what I had written in my application cover letter. I checked the application, went to the newspaper I saw the ad in and scrutinised the requirements. I studied like crazy that night.
30 out of 31. That was my score. But how on earth could I forget that the data rate for a T1 line was 1.544Mbps? Anyway, the bright side was that I scored the highest among 50 candidates. That was pretty cool. Two rounds of interviews later, I got the job. They wanted a geek. And apparently, that’s what the G in WONG stands for.
But I learned that the corporate, fast-paced business environment has got no time for you to be below your game. You have to know your stuff and know the people you’re dealing with. Also, you may be comfortable where you are, but no challenges means no growth. I headed out to earn less money in a city that had a much higher cost of living. It was worth it! Off to the next challenge…
