(no subject)
First day on the job!
I walked into the office to fresh bagels, which was a delicious start to an otherwise topsy-turvy morning. The whole staff (all six of us, hehe) had a production meeting in which we divvied up clients and projects. It took a while, and it was really overwhelming. I hardly knew where to begin when we got back to our desks. Luckily, I am working with great people. Lea, the designer who started right before me and the other girl who started today (her name's Tara) walked me through some of my new clients and what's coming up on their schedules. And Matt, the only guy in the office, and the one who does all the web design, was sympathetic too-- he said he'd been working here for over a year and even he was thrown off by that meeting. But, of course, Karen told me and Tara that if we needed help with anything, we just had to ask. (I think she could sense that the meeting was a whole lot of stuff just being thrown at us.) So the initial confusion quickly gave way to a sense of relief: I'm not alone, and I'm not expected to already know everything.
Because today was just really a getting-acclimated day, I didn't get to dig too deep into any of the clients I was assigned. It seems like I'll be doing a lot of writing, and a lot more social media-related stuff than I'd originally anticipated, but I'm happy to make the workload a little lighter for someone else by doing that. And we're also trying to focus on getting new clients. So tomorrow, Sarah (the designer in charge of schedules and social media) and I will be going to a networking breakfast for local businesses. I just sort of jumped right in, because I'm excited by the prospect of designing for entirely new clients as a balance for the times when I will just be redoing what's already in a template.
Chris asked that I send him a text at lunchtime, so I wrote: "I'm kinda lost but the people are great!" And he wrote back, "That's what counts. You'll find your footing soon enough." And it's true: the work is just a jumble of client names and files right now, but that will come in time. But the office itself is warm and open-- we talk to and joke with each other, we play music, there's always food, and there's always help when you need it.
I think it's going to take a while for me to fully grasp that this is my job, and this is what I'm getting paid to do, and I'm here for the foreseeable future. And that these clients are my clients, my responsibility. My design. Galley's design. It's a strange feeling to be one piece inside a larger creative puzzle again, but it's what I wanted, and I don't think I could ask for a better puzzle to start with.
On top of work, I've settled into Marissa and Dan's house, and am feeling quite at home. And I'm getting my general motivation back: I'm reading more, I'm getting back into my freelance (I put a hold on it just before the move because things got crazy), and I'm reconnecting with old friends (remember Lin? She now lives in Rockville. It'll be so great to see her again after all this time!) I'm even thinking of taking a class or two, once I get some money in my bank account. A stained glass class, or possibly something more active, like a conditioning class at a dance studio that's one of Galley's clients. I do miss my friends, and especially Chris, but most of my college buddies are beginning to find their stride in the working world, so we all have our own adventures. Hopefully our paths will cross again soon, but I'm satisfied with where this path is taking me for now.
I walked into the office to fresh bagels, which was a delicious start to an otherwise topsy-turvy morning. The whole staff (all six of us, hehe) had a production meeting in which we divvied up clients and projects. It took a while, and it was really overwhelming. I hardly knew where to begin when we got back to our desks. Luckily, I am working with great people. Lea, the designer who started right before me and the other girl who started today (her name's Tara) walked me through some of my new clients and what's coming up on their schedules. And Matt, the only guy in the office, and the one who does all the web design, was sympathetic too-- he said he'd been working here for over a year and even he was thrown off by that meeting. But, of course, Karen told me and Tara that if we needed help with anything, we just had to ask. (I think she could sense that the meeting was a whole lot of stuff just being thrown at us.) So the initial confusion quickly gave way to a sense of relief: I'm not alone, and I'm not expected to already know everything.
Because today was just really a getting-acclimated day, I didn't get to dig too deep into any of the clients I was assigned. It seems like I'll be doing a lot of writing, and a lot more social media-related stuff than I'd originally anticipated, but I'm happy to make the workload a little lighter for someone else by doing that. And we're also trying to focus on getting new clients. So tomorrow, Sarah (the designer in charge of schedules and social media) and I will be going to a networking breakfast for local businesses. I just sort of jumped right in, because I'm excited by the prospect of designing for entirely new clients as a balance for the times when I will just be redoing what's already in a template.
Chris asked that I send him a text at lunchtime, so I wrote: "I'm kinda lost but the people are great!" And he wrote back, "That's what counts. You'll find your footing soon enough." And it's true: the work is just a jumble of client names and files right now, but that will come in time. But the office itself is warm and open-- we talk to and joke with each other, we play music, there's always food, and there's always help when you need it.
I think it's going to take a while for me to fully grasp that this is my job, and this is what I'm getting paid to do, and I'm here for the foreseeable future. And that these clients are my clients, my responsibility. My design. Galley's design. It's a strange feeling to be one piece inside a larger creative puzzle again, but it's what I wanted, and I don't think I could ask for a better puzzle to start with.
On top of work, I've settled into Marissa and Dan's house, and am feeling quite at home. And I'm getting my general motivation back: I'm reading more, I'm getting back into my freelance (I put a hold on it just before the move because things got crazy), and I'm reconnecting with old friends (remember Lin? She now lives in Rockville. It'll be so great to see her again after all this time!) I'm even thinking of taking a class or two, once I get some money in my bank account. A stained glass class, or possibly something more active, like a conditioning class at a dance studio that's one of Galley's clients. I do miss my friends, and especially Chris, but most of my college buddies are beginning to find their stride in the working world, so we all have our own adventures. Hopefully our paths will cross again soon, but I'm satisfied with where this path is taking me for now.