However, I thought I would respond to the job ad, out of curiosity. Normally, when it comes to Technical Developer jobs, there is a pretty standard application process. One phone interview, one or two face to face interviews and a technical test. I always score well on the interview side, but often slip up, during the technical test. I tend to panic during the technical test and often, make a mess of constructing my answers. The majority of the tests I have completed, have been written ones. I, very rarely write by hand anymore, so I actually find writing, in a traditional manner, quite difficult now.

I waited a few days, and then I received a phone call from my job agent. To my amazement, the client was willing to set up a phone interview with me, using Skype. For the next few days, I prepared meticulously for my interview. As the day of judgement drew closer, I became more agitated. Insecurity & doubt began to set in. The strange thing about all of this, is that out of the 20 different job interviews, that I have had over the last two decades, I have been offered a job on 13 occasions, which is a 65% success rate. In most people's book, this isn't a bad statistic to be carrying around.

Usually, during a phone interview, I get bombarded with in depth technical questions, but the interview that day, was a very different beast. After the introductions & pleasantries had been exchanged, the first thing I noticed, was that my interviewer had a very strong Spanish accent. This was going to make things even more difficult.

After about 20 minutes of talking about the weather, I had been offered the job. To say, I was shell shocked, after the interview, is an understatement.

On August 1st, 2018, I was offered the job of a lifetime. The question that immediately flew into my mind, was, "Would I accept this offer?"

The day before the interview, I had decided not to do any more revision. In fact, I spent most of it, out walking. You see, a friend of mine, had recently been talking to me about mindfulness. To be honest, I found the stuff about Buddhism and his adventures in Thailand, far more interesting. Never-the-less, it is clear to me now, that I have an affinity for this kind of knowledge.

On the day of the phone interview, I had felt abnormally calm. For some strange reason, I did a lot more listening than talking. Maybe, unintentionally, I struck a chord with the interviewer. Perhaps the Spanish, are more laid back and prefer their employees to have a calm personality?

Whatever happened during that long, hot, late summer afternoon, had a profound affect on the way I would think, going forwards.

Sometimes, you reach a crossroads in life, and a set of events happen at just the right time and in just the right order. This was one such time.