Recently ran into a situation, and don't know where else to share it but here.
I'm currently in grad school studying Data Science / Artificial Intelligence. Ever since I got out of undergrad, I'd been looking for a way to be able to consistently train MMA full time and compete professionally.
For the past few years, that goal took me overseas to another country. I'd quit my white collar job, and was teaching English to make ends meet, while having the time freedom to train full time. I was given the opportunity to join a high level professional MMA team. Thought this was the perfect arrangement, but it turned out that English teaching income is touch and go. When the students went on holiday (and there were a lot of holidays), I had no income. I made it work the best I could.
Fast forward to August last year, I had to go to the U.S. embassy for paperwork one day. Didn't have breakfast or lunch, and went straight to 3 P.M. practice. Just my luck, it would be the first time we would have a completely different Wednesday afternoon practice. We had to carry a partner around a track for 2 hours nonstop using various wrestling holds, switching every 100 meters. I hadn't eaten all day and was pissing my pants because I had no energy to keep the piss in anymore. Fortunately, everyone was sweating buckets, so no one noticed.
The wrestling coach used a cane to whip any stragglers, which would leave welts and sometimes break the skin. He said, "Anyone who quits today can GTFO and never come back." I wanted to quit so bad. But I'd put too much into this stupid personal project already. I just couldn't quit that day. Had no energy and my back was rounded and collapsing trying to hold up my training partner, but I finished the practice. The next time we did this workout, I had a normal meal and cruised through it.
The next couple weeks, I felt I had some muscle strain in my lower back. I went on 6 mile runs to get my back muscles to naturally fix themselves (dumb and ignorant). It only got worse, my entire hamstring would cramp, and I couldn't walk anymore. Turns out that non-functioning leg was sciatica, I'd gotten a herniated disc and a misaligned sacroiliac joint from that empty stomach workout.
Tried to see some "specialists" there to fix my back, they only made it worse. The medical bills piled up, I couldn't teach English because I couldn't even sit in a chair without excruciating pain, and everything had come to a standstill.
Came back to the U.S. February this year to fix my back. Also applied for a Master's program in Data Science / AI and got in. I tried to find a remote job to continue my MMA goals, but no luck getting any replies. The only jobs I could get interviews for were regular 9 to 6 analytics office jobs.
I turned down two 6 figure offers (one with a major bank) to take a job for only 80K with a small government contracting company, which only consisted of 2 people who were business partners. For the past 5 years, every analytics specialist they'd hired had failed to build a deliverable that was required by the government to win the next round of contract re-bidding. I looked at the specs and knew it was nothing new for me. I made a deal with them to start working remotely full time in September, in exchange for delivering this crucial software for them. They agreed, and these terms were written into the contract.
I spent the next 2 months burning the midnight oil to get it done ASAP so I could start preparing for my Fall classes and training full time. For 2 months straight, I worked from 8:30 A.M. until 2 A.M. the next morning, until I felt frequent heart palpitations from the lifestyle. 5,000 lines of code, all by myself. I never billed them for a single second of overtime. I more than held up every single bit of my end of the deal.
I thought everything was in order. Then, come September, they want to "talk" one day. They wanted me to either work in the office, or work remotely for only an hourly rate. Meaning that now that I had burned through the lion's share of the work, and there would only be the quarterly maintenance work on the software, I would not be getting paid most of the time.
I guess it's a common problem for fighters, a lot of us don't have good tempers. I didn't blow up or say anything inappropriate, but I definitely could have worded things more diplomatically instead of bluntly "keeping it real." I know I could have handled this situation better on my end, but it is what it is.
I put everything into those 2 months, building that program. 2 months to build something from the ground up, that they had failed at for the past 5 years. 5,000 lines of code, by myself.
Long story short, I was given the option to voluntarily resign at the end of that conversation.
Been searching for a remote analytics job for the past 3 weeks, and just like before, no luck. I have a family to support now, and I'm really close to giving up this time. Accepting reality, taking a normal 9-6 office job, and giving up this MMA fantasy.
I'm currently in grad school studying Data Science / Artificial Intelligence. Ever since I got out of undergrad, I'd been looking for a way to be able to consistently train MMA full time and compete professionally.
For the past few years, that goal took me overseas to another country. I'd quit my white collar job, and was teaching English to make ends meet, while having the time freedom to train full time. I was given the opportunity to join a high level professional MMA team. Thought this was the perfect arrangement, but it turned out that English teaching income is touch and go. When the students went on holiday (and there were a lot of holidays), I had no income. I made it work the best I could.
Fast forward to August last year, I had to go to the U.S. embassy for paperwork one day. Didn't have breakfast or lunch, and went straight to 3 P.M. practice. Just my luck, it would be the first time we would have a completely different Wednesday afternoon practice. We had to carry a partner around a track for 2 hours nonstop using various wrestling holds, switching every 100 meters. I hadn't eaten all day and was pissing my pants because I had no energy to keep the piss in anymore. Fortunately, everyone was sweating buckets, so no one noticed.
The wrestling coach used a cane to whip any stragglers, which would leave welts and sometimes break the skin. He said, "Anyone who quits today can GTFO and never come back." I wanted to quit so bad. But I'd put too much into this stupid personal project already. I just couldn't quit that day. Had no energy and my back was rounded and collapsing trying to hold up my training partner, but I finished the practice. The next time we did this workout, I had a normal meal and cruised through it.
The next couple weeks, I felt I had some muscle strain in my lower back. I went on 6 mile runs to get my back muscles to naturally fix themselves (dumb and ignorant). It only got worse, my entire hamstring would cramp, and I couldn't walk anymore. Turns out that non-functioning leg was sciatica, I'd gotten a herniated disc and a misaligned sacroiliac joint from that empty stomach workout.
Tried to see some "specialists" there to fix my back, they only made it worse. The medical bills piled up, I couldn't teach English because I couldn't even sit in a chair without excruciating pain, and everything had come to a standstill.
Came back to the U.S. February this year to fix my back. Also applied for a Master's program in Data Science / AI and got in. I tried to find a remote job to continue my MMA goals, but no luck getting any replies. The only jobs I could get interviews for were regular 9 to 6 analytics office jobs.
I turned down two 6 figure offers (one with a major bank) to take a job for only 80K with a small government contracting company, which only consisted of 2 people who were business partners. For the past 5 years, every analytics specialist they'd hired had failed to build a deliverable that was required by the government to win the next round of contract re-bidding. I looked at the specs and knew it was nothing new for me. I made a deal with them to start working remotely full time in September, in exchange for delivering this crucial software for them. They agreed, and these terms were written into the contract.
I spent the next 2 months burning the midnight oil to get it done ASAP so I could start preparing for my Fall classes and training full time. For 2 months straight, I worked from 8:30 A.M. until 2 A.M. the next morning, until I felt frequent heart palpitations from the lifestyle. 5,000 lines of code, all by myself. I never billed them for a single second of overtime. I more than held up every single bit of my end of the deal.
I thought everything was in order. Then, come September, they want to "talk" one day. They wanted me to either work in the office, or work remotely for only an hourly rate. Meaning that now that I had burned through the lion's share of the work, and there would only be the quarterly maintenance work on the software, I would not be getting paid most of the time.
I guess it's a common problem for fighters, a lot of us don't have good tempers. I didn't blow up or say anything inappropriate, but I definitely could have worded things more diplomatically instead of bluntly "keeping it real." I know I could have handled this situation better on my end, but it is what it is.
I put everything into those 2 months, building that program. 2 months to build something from the ground up, that they had failed at for the past 5 years. 5,000 lines of code, by myself.
Long story short, I was given the option to voluntarily resign at the end of that conversation.
Been searching for a remote analytics job for the past 3 weeks, and just like before, no luck. I have a family to support now, and I'm really close to giving up this time. Accepting reality, taking a normal 9-6 office job, and giving up this MMA fantasy.