Background

Throughout your career, there will be choices to be made. Sometimes you make the right choice, and sometimes you might not realize you are missing a big opportunity. Such is the case in this story.

Looking back over three decades from the perspective of my career, how was I supposed to know that Microsoft would grow as much as it did? I will never know how big this missed opportunity might have been. However, I think fondly of this story because Microsoft did recognize my abilities early in my career and they directly contacted me to offer me a job without an interview! I am proud of that, and that is the reason this story has stayed with me through the years.

The lesson I have learned from this is to keep working, learning and teaching. Most importantly, always maintain a positive attitude because another opportunity might be right around the corner! Maybe someday I’ll write another story about how I unsuccessfully tried to get a job with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, even though I blew the chance with Microsoft!

Final Thoughts

In making these videos, I don’t script them. They are spontaneous and unpracticed. I might make mistakes with dates or details, but the stories are true.

In this one, I made a locational error by calling the Y-12 plant the Oak Ridge National Lab. Figure 1 provides the correct names. The phone call of a lifetime article is here.

Figure 1 – The Y-12 plant, ORNL, the Spallation Neutron Source and where we built my first groundwater model in this area.