Monday, January 30, 2012

if it seems easy you're doing it wrong

this classy image was hanging from a bent paperclip to the side of the bulletin board above my desk at my old job. i never knew where it came from, and never remembered to ask until i was packing up my stuff on my last day. amazingly, no one in the office had ever noticed it before--this thing i'd been wondering about for like two years, assuming there was some funny story behind it. (i don't know who the guy is, but the image appears to be from the meme generator.)

so i claimed it as a going-away gift, and i intend to hang it above my new desk.

my last day was bittersweet--they gave me a wonderful card, a kindle gift certificate, a water bottle that everyone signed, and they laid out a spread of treats clustered around two signs, one labeled "VEGAN" and the other "NON-VEGAN." i made delicious vegan cookies, and no one even touched the non-vegan stuff.

i'm three days in to the new job and things are going well. the very first day was overwhelming, but first days always are. i have so much to learn.

luckily a few months ago i had to learn how to use html. at first i thought it would be like learning a new language, but it was more than that--i had to construct an entirely new schema around this new language. i challenge you to remember the last time you suddenly and consciously needed to build a new schema, and to do so very quickly. it's unusual and exhausting. after a couple days and a lot of online tutorials i had enough of a grasp on it that all webmaster duties were handed off to me. my knowledge is full of holes because most of what i did was just work on an existing website--if someone told me to build a whole new site from scratch i'd be clueless.

but thank goodness for that few months of experience with html. this new job involves using xml, another new thing to learn, but it's a thousand times more user-friendly/intuitive and much easier to grasp because of the html experience.

the assignments aren't what i was expecting, but that's not a bad thing. it sounds like i'll do more editing than writing, and a lot more in-depth tech-y stuff than i anticipated. that's kind of exciting, if you can believe it. i feel genuinely interested in this whole world of things that i never even considered becoming interested in before. it won't be long before i'll know about all the parts of a computer, all the bits and pieces of the peripherals, printers and webcams and blah blah blah...i'll have a nice feather to put in my nerd cap.

the campus is awesome. scattered around the private parks and courtyard there are over a dozen huge cherry trees gifted two decades ago by a company from japan (the same company that makes the cameras i use all the time...and that dream camera of mine. i think it's a sign.) i can't wait to see the cherry trees in bloom this spring.

one of the best things about my job is sadly going away after tomorrow. last weekend i met up for coffee with the person whose job i'm taking over (she was promoted and will now work exclusively from home). we totally hit it off. right now she's training me and it's really fun, but tomorrow's her last day. she said she's going to make vegan cupcakes for a combo going away/welcome to the office party for us! we're still going to hang out after she's gone, but it's a bummer that she won't be around at work anymore. my other coworkers are great too, but not like her.

6 comments:

Goneferalinidaho said...

I'm so glad to read this post. it looks like you are off to a good start. I had to learn HTML 1million years ago in college where I found myself the new "webmaster". I think you have been given a sign about that camera as well.

Andrea said...

I'm really excited for you, Emily. Learning new things that you actually want to learn is exhilarating. It's been a while since I learned to construct Web sites with HTML, and everything's changed so much I don't think I could do it anymore.

Bumble Lush Garden said...

So glad the new job is going well! I hope your other co-workers become cooler to hang out with. Will you still have interaction with the nice one, even though she'll be at home?

I'm passing on a Versatile Blogger Award to you (posted today on my blog). I love reading your posts and you always have interesting things to say, beautiful pictures, and you grow cool vegetables. :)

Congrats on your first week at the new job!

Emily said...

goneferal--pretty good start, yeah. thanks!

andrea--thank you! i don't know, i bet you could figure it out again pretty quick.

bumble lush--i won't have any work interaction with her, but we fully intend to hang out a lot. the other coworkers really are cool and kind and helpful, and i haven't even met them all yet because a lot of people work from home regularly. thank you for the award, that's very sweet of you!

Bee Girl said...

Hiya Emily! I've tagged you in a little blog love linky fun! Check it out: http://skymindedandevergrowing.blogspot.com/2012/02/little-blog-love.html

BTW-I hope all your transitions are smoothing out :-)

Emily said...

aww cool, i like the questions! i will check it out further when i have more energy. thanks!