On Vox: zSnow Day
Tomorrow is zSnow Day. At Zillow we have a tradition of prepending words or terms with our initial. For the company birthday celebration at the ski slopes, we have zSnow Day. All employees have been offered transportation and ski passes for the day, though many may take the company holiday in another manner. As for myself, I will be at work. An Operator has to monitor the site and perform daily tasks, and as the n00b I am always given the short straw. I do not mind much, since I despise snow. This aversion comes from having grown up with an excess of the stuff. I hope to one day overcome this aversion, much like I overcame my arachnophobia as a child and acrophobia as a teenager (by falling off a cliff), but I doubt I will find any time this winter. Maybe by next year.
I have been working at Zillow now for seven months. I am still on contract, as I have not yet proven myself qualified enough to be hired on full time. I believe I have enough of a grasp on company operations to please my garrulous boss, so all that is left is to show how I enhance the team. Boss gave both me and the Operators as a group several grand compliments in the last meeting. That he thinks of me as part of the team is a good omen towards getting the real prize--full time employment--and he seems optimistic about the future of our team, me included. That he has not offered me what I covet means that there is and aspect of me yet untried. It is not a question of my work ethic, I have cheerfully taken on overtime and holiday hours not just because it earns me more money but because I do like the job and want to make myself available. I have worked through several highly stressful Operative crises, and no one has found fault with my performance there. What I need to do now is show my value as an individual contributor to the team. For this I am working my way through the cluttered internal documentation, and revising it to reflect current operational procedures. If Boss finds my work pleasing, I should hope to see my goal met soon.
Originally posted on thewulf.vox.com