Well, I guess it's time to 'fess up....I'm no longer "just" a stay at home mom. I'm officially employed as a remote independent contractor for a coding company, which hopefully will lead to full-time salaried employment with the same company if I work out. Allow me to explain....
A couple of weeks ago, I found out about a coding company and took the assessments that were part of the application process. Within a day or two of submitting the test (for inpatient and ER coding), I got a request for an interview, which I happily accepted. The phone interview was short and very down-to-earth, with none of the crazy interview questions that I had prepped for ("what is your definition of success?" or "tell me a time when you failed at something"). In short, they told me that they normally don't accept someone with no experience, but that my test scores (while falling short of their normal pass rate of 90%) were much better than many coders with lots of experience who apply, so they were interested in testing me out as an independent contractor who would be trained to eventually code ER reports. This was last Thursday, I believe.
I started work Monday. Right now, I'm training and starting with "easy" stuff, but the end goal is to get me coding ER reports, which can be a lot more challenging. It's pretty overwhelming, to say the least, but I fully realize that I have been amazingly blessed. It's very rare for a brand new certified coder to find a remote position, and to find one that is willing to do some training because they saw potential is even more rare. The schedule is flexible and I will still be able to take the kids to school and back and kind of set my own hours (eventually). I can even work in my pj's if I so choose, which isn't a bad deal at all (though I'm usually fully dressed!).
So life has taken a sudden shift, but not a bad one at all....instead, a huge answer to prayer. That being said, I'll take any and all prayers going forward, because after not having a full-time "real" job in many, many years....this will be an adjustment and I want so much to do well for this company that took a chance on me, but my confidence is a little shaky!
