Hey, what's up?
John Sonmez here from simpleprogrammer.com.
I thought I'd read another success story.
I've been doing a few of these success stories.
Maybe we can put together a success store playlist for those of you that are interested
in hearing people's success stories as more and more of them are coming in.
It's kind of funny because I've been doing this really like doing the two or three videos
a day and really like change the focus of this channel maybe like—I guess it was about
three years ago.
That's about how long it takes to really like really hit success that you got to stick with
things long enough.
This is from Andreja, I believe, and he says, "Hey, John.
First off, I wanted to tell you.
You have been a huge inspiration over the past few years on and off of my journey from
being a nobody to a somebody in my career.
In 2013, sometime around the spring/early summer, I was an IT network engineer who had
been pushing the boundaries on my career development.
Fail off and fail hard, learn off and grow, overcome and succeed my previous self every
single day.
However, I had fallen into a slump after two years of trying to break into Microsoft, my
dream company.
The cloud was a very new concept and it felt like a moment in time that given the right
skill, attitude, perseverance and hint of luck would become my own great journey.
All I needed was that foot in the door.
I did what anyone out of the community of college with an IT degree in network and server
administration would do.
Find jobs, get experience, hop off and certify like a madman.
I remember just simply saying why you should fake it until you make it in May of 2013."
We'll link to that videos of old video of faking it until you make it.
"Then I kept consuming learning from and leveraging your content to shape my own reality, and
it worked.
I was on freaking fire brother.
October 2013 after four interviews and endless nights and weekends and weekdays of trainings,
studying, learning, failing, rinse and repeat, I was extended an offer at Microsoft with
Azure Cloud."
Nice.
That's cool.
All right.
"Ever since I kept to the lessons learned from your channel, hit the freaking gym, lost
the weight, became the best version of myself and, you guessed it, faked it until I made
it.
After four years at Microsoft with three promotions and a lot of fascinating world-changing projects
at my helm, I left for a senior role in another cloud company with direct reports in all including
a large field of impact for the company in many new exciting adventures to come.
In 2011,"—listen to this one guys.
"In 2011, I made $13 an hour.
In 2013, I made $45 an hour and now, well, shit, man, my total comp is just shy of 300K.
Sometimes it doesn’t even feel real.
P.S.
Not a software developer but a long-lost brother from IT networking and security data center
world, which is insanely good news.
I want to thank you directly and personally.
Please keep doing what you're doing.
Inspire these kids who are just starting out or the folks starting their third careers.
I faked it, I made it and I kept diving right back into the river to get wet.
It turns out the things I faked, I forced into becoming a reality both for myself and
the world around me.
You rock, man.
Keep up the amazing work.
Sincerely, AJ."
Thanks, AJ.
I appreciate your email.
You know, I just wanted to read this email as a brag, of course, but also just because
like this is one of those things that I talk about all the time.
It's just how your reality can change.
It's awesome what AJ has been able to do here to go from $13 an hour to $45 an hour to $300,000
plus a year.
Something that he couldn’t even have imagined before, but he did it because—I don’t
know like—I mean he talked about obviously a huge amount of work ethic, but what probably
changed things more than anything else and I think AJ would agree was this change of
reality, of believing it, of that fake it until you make it.
Is it that you're faking it until you make it, is that why you're making it or is it
because you're suddenly believing.
You're acting as if the things were possible and you're changing your viewpoint.
Once you believe that something is possible, once you start going after that thing and
you start operating with that premise, with already believing that you've made it, with
already believing that what you want to become, that change in mindset, that shift in reality,
makes things a reality.
You literally have the power to shape your reality.
I think that's something that AJ discovered in his life, and it's still amazing.
It still amazes me of my own ability to shape my reality, how my life has changed over the
last seven years.
I did this video.
I guess it's been eight years now and you can check that video out of you're interested
in my own changes in my life.
It still amazes me, how much power we have.
I also am amazed or I wonder a lot of times about how much that I don’t even recognize
that I have now, like how much of my own reality am I trapped in right now that I don’t even
see what true reality is.
I don’t even realize what is still possible for me that I'm limiting myself.
You got to realize that you're limiting yourself, that you're limiting your own beliefs that
what you think is impossible is quite possible because you have the ability to shape reality.
I'm actually going to point to a book here that I think is worth reading.
I've talked about this book before.
It's probably my top pick of book.
It's called Man's Search—As a Man Thinketh and this is by James Allen.
It's a really old book.
You should definitely check out this book.
It's a very short book as you can see, but this has the mindset.
This book is all about the idea how what you believe and what you think shapes and alters
your reality.
A very, very powerful concept.
Something I would highly recommend that you read.
If you want to have success like AJ, this book can help you to do it.
Obviously, continue watching videos on this channel.
Thanks again, AJ.
Thanks for sharing your story.
If you've got to share a story to share, make sure you can email me at john@simpleprogrammer.com.
I dug in a lot of these stories.
I do read not all of them on the air, but I will try to read your stories, especially
if it's a good one and you're really highlighting how the content here has helped you to achieve
success in your life.
Thanks again, AJ, and congrats man.
That's awesome.
I'm glad to hear your story.
All right.
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I'll talk to you next time.
Take care.