I’ve never been much for the “standard” way of doing things, because I know if I put my own style behind it it’ll be more memorable. So this post is a blend of a standard blog post and a parting or “keep in touch” letter to my colleagues, in which I out myself as a blogger.

Today is the last day of my first job out of college. As I have written before (elsewhere on the site), I graduated 2 years ago as a cocky know-it-all, but I honestly don’t know if I learned as much in my four years of college as I have in my 18 months of work at a Fortune 500 company. Between the training I have received, the mentors I have found, and the day to day business interactions I have been able to participate in, I gained not only a great deal of knowledge which I will carry with me for the rest of my life, but also many close friends. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for taking me under your wings, teaching me, training me, and putting up with me on the days when I would endlessly quote lines from various movies or TV shows.

I also greatly appreciate the trust you placed on me and the encouragement you all gave me when I took on new projects around the office. This trust has served as my gold star that, as a member of Generation Y, I am stereotypically striving for. It made me feel proud to go into work and work harder to fulfill what you thought I could do.

For all of these things, and many many more, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making my time with you quite enjoyable.

For my fellow Gen-Y reading this, remember that you You Are Who You Associate With, and while you really don’t have much of a choice with who you surround yourself with at work (especially in your first job), you can only hope to be surrounded by as many good people as I have been surrounded with in my first job out of school. It’s important to remember that you are still learning, so don’t be afraid to latch on, ask tons of questions, and observe. You aren’t expected to know everything and most people genuinely want to help you succeed however they can. I have truly appreciated having this kind of support, and you’ll soon find that you have it too, you just have to remember to ask.

If you haven’t figured out by now, this is my website on which I’ve been chronicling my journey from cocky know-it-all to professional with more to learn. I mainly deal with the topics of business, personal finance, and entrepreneurship for Generation Y, and I don’t get “personal” on the site unless I can relate it to something professional. Jump in, kill some company time and have a look around if you’d like, but whether you do or don’t, please try to stay in touch.

One of the great advantages of blogging and social media is that it makes it very hard to lose contact with someone, so I encourage all of you to stay in touch. I am providing enough modes of contact for there to be no excuse not to.

Email: daniel at this domain dot com

My Facebook Profile

My LinkedIn Profile

Twitter: @danielpbowen

Coming soon-ish: DanielPBowen.com

Or, you can always Google Me (I’m number 2, but closing in on #1 thanks to my syndication on Brazen Careerist).

I hope to hear from you, and wish you all the best in whatever life hands you.

Daniel P. Bowen

Related posts:

  1. 23 Things I Know at 23 That I Pray I Remember At 43
  2. The Art of What Not to Post
  3. No One Cares About Your Resume, and Why You Should
  4. You Are Who You Associate With