My Greatest Achievements (So Far)

After laying out some of my biggest regrets, I’d like to recount some of my greatest achievements (so far). As a 28 year old man, I’m aware that I have a lot to be excited and enthusiastic about. I haven’t even scratched the surface of the great things that life has to offer. However, at this age, I still have things to be proud about. Let’s go ahead and jump into it.

Graduating From College

I first started taking college classes as a Junior in high school, and it took me a full 7 years of taking classes to finally finish my degree. I certainly didn’t have the typical path as most. First I started as a dual-enrollment student, then continued to take classes after high school, then transferred to UCF after earning my A.A., and finished with a Bachelor’s degree after one year of being on campus. And on top of that, I graduated right in the middle of COVID. We didn’t even have a regular ceremony. I watched my name get called from home during a virtual presentation.

It’s all these factors that makes my degree so special. I remember the huge sigh of relief after finishing that final semester just to know that I had made it. It felt so good. At the same time, it wasn’t like I was left scratching my head with no where to turn. I realized that I would only have more freedom to pursue the things I really want in life.

I worked my butt off in college. There were so many days where I would take classes, work a full 7-8 shift, and then come home and do homework for another 2 hours after work. By the time I was at UCF, studying and doing homework had become an around the clock part of my life. It’s these things that make graduating such a special achievement to me.

Landing My Job at Intuit

The onboarding process at Intuit wasn’t what you’d typically get from most places. Before I could even be eligible to apply, I had to go through about 6 months worth of studying and preparation, and that’s on top of my degree. First it was a Bookkeeping Specialization Certification that included a 4 part program followed by a proctored exam. The course typically takes about 4 months to complete, but I finished it in about a month. From there I had to study for the exam, which I took and passed on the first try with a great score thankfully.

After that I had to get certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. This involved a whole different course and a comprehensive exam that was broken down into 10 different sections. These sections were geared specifically to QuickBooks whereas the Specialization courses were more for general bookkeeping practices.

The interview process at Intuit required an on-camera question and answer format, with a short timer in between questions. Plus another short test that asked questions similar to what were on the original specialization exam.

After initially being denied for a behind the scenes, month-to-month bookkeeping position, I got a call back a few weeks later about being brought on board as part of the Guided Setup team. It took another month or so after accepting the position to officially get started. And from there it was another two weeks of training before I actually went live on the phones.

As you can see, it was quite a heavy process. But, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It gave me something to work on and feel good about along the way. I can still remember sitting in the library studying, working on the courses at home, and even taking my material to the gym to study in between sets. And I can remember just how good it felt to have passed that proctored exam. I worked my ass off for that thing. Passing that and landing the job is easily one of my greatest accomplishments.

Finishing My First Album

As mentioned in other articles, when I first graduated in late 2020, I was so excited just to have a chance to start working more proactively on my music. As you might imagine, it was hard to find the motivation to write music on top of taking classes and exams.

Basically from the time I first came home in the summer of 2020, I started writing more. I would write about a verse a night, and would finish around 3 songs a week. This carried throughout all of 2021 as well. By 2022 I had slowed down with the writing, but was getting real involved in recording it all. During that time I was releasing singles and dropping songs every week on my social media platforms as well.

By 2023 I had built myself an entire at-home studio. I had picked out all the pieces and parts individually. Microphone, mic stand, pop-filter, audio interface, acoustic treatment. I had upgraded from Audacity to Ableton and learned the ins and outs of how to put a basic mix together. From there I wrote and recorded for another year before finally putting out Continued Growth in late 2023.

I had also put out an EP called Trip to Tally a few months before, which was a collaborative project I put together while visiting up in Tallahassee for a weekend. We recorded 6 songs in 2 days.

It felt so good to put those first projects out. After years of rapping, I felt so happy just to have released a full body of work. I can still remember riding home from that Tallahassee trip amped up on the playback of what we’d recorded. That trip was part of what fueled me to continue recording when I got home and put out Continued Growth at the end of the year.

Just Getting Started

The beautiful thing is that although all of these achievements mean a great deal to me, there is still much to look forward to. After graduating college in 2020, I never would’ve guessed things would have worked out the way they did. I never would have seen myself going on to land a job at Intuit, or getting as proactive with my music. That was part of the joy of graduating. It was a clean slate, and a chance to move forward with much to be excited about.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope that you have enjoyed. Please feel free to check out some of my other content if you haven’t already. I will see you on the next article.