Originally posted on AnotherSideQuest.com

So, lets get that out of the way then. As of today I work full time in my dream position at the online publication I've been following since I was a little girl. It's amazing and exciting but also inevitably terrifying in its new-ness and unpredictability.

Just three years ago I would have been in my first to second year of university. I had no idea this is what I wanted to do. I spent eighteen years of my life dead-set that I wanted to be an actress - I had trained professionally and taken every course and workshop I could get my hands on - then in 2008 I auditioned for full time study at a huge performing arts college in Sydney. They notoriously never took 18-year-olds fresh out of uni but I had to try - obviously I didn't get in but fortunately I gradually worked out that acting wasn't the path I wanted to go down.

In 2010 I had just switched out of a Psych degree which was going nowhere fast since I decided I was far more interested in the theory of psychology than the practice of it. Another big reason for me changing out of that degree was due to the fact I didn't think it would be easy enough to get a job in (I know, this theme of choosing ridiculously off-the-wall jobs carries through all of this).

I was deciding between being an archaeologist, and changing degrees to do so, or being a writer for video games. The former, again, sounded a lot better in theory so I switched to a Media degree to try and get myself some qualifications and learn a bit of writing - which I loved already - and a bit of programming. Programming didn't pan out so well. I remember attending the very first three hour lecture which started at 6pm and leaving at 7pm, calling my Dad and telling him I would be dropping that class. I hated it. So, video game design probably would not have been on the cards for me.

Fortunately I had also taken web design where I could be creative and make mini-games in CSS and I was loving it and also doing very well at it. This led on to a computer games unit which was run poorly and whilst it let me be around people who cared about what I cared about we weren't doing much of interest. Our major assignment was to create an educational game about Australian history - I'll let you make of that what you will.

I had been unemployed for a while by this point if you don't include doing the odd job at my Mum's office and, being an HR executive, she had been trawling Seek.com to try and get me off my ass and into a proper workplace. It may also have had something to do with how little I cared about doing her admin work. Fortunately she dug me up the Seek ad asking for a video games journalist to work casually at GameSpot.com.

The interviews went very quickly. I studied for them harder than anything I've ever studied for. I called in every favour from my friends to review my work and interview questions and went through more wardrobe options than I'm willing to admit. When they put me in front of a teleprompter I shook like a leaf but I followed it up with a joke and went on with what I had to do. I remember being asked to state three words that described me and one of the ones I chose was 'critical'. I remember cursing myself for it afterwards because I thought it was too negative, I wished at that point that I had said 'gamer' instead - I'm so glad that I didn't. For my second interview, I made a video feature about Chosen One's which I then emulated in a more professional manner in this video which remains to this day one of my very favourites.

When Randy called me and offered me the position I remember being polite and enthusiastic on the phone as I accepted and literally jumping for joy in my bedroom when I hung up.

I feel very lucky to be in this industry, working with clever and interesting people who are also close friends. Even when I had no idea what I was doing with my life I knew if I figured it out I'd be alright, I'd make a plan and get there. I'm not saying there wasn't a little luck involved but I honestly feel that people can get anywhere they want to go with a little effort and a lot of determination. Well, it worked for me anyway =]