Three Weeks In: Still Happy with Alt-Academic Path

Week three of the new job.

Some highlights/observations:

--They seem to like what I'm doing so far. I'm relieved I appear to know what I'm doing. I'm still doing a lot of "fake till you make it" internal chanting.

--Staff meetings are like academic club meetings. In fact staff meetings really really really remind me of the steward council meetings I used to attend (and run) for my former teachers' union. It's half BSing, half business, and there's a lot of "we'll talk after this meeting" and "uh, let's just keep that as a pending item on the agenda." I'm glad I have experience participating in and running these kinds of meetings. Stuff actually does get accomplished, but it's not as obvious as it might be in a classroom.

--I had lunch with the two other worker bees and that was the best hour fifteen minutes yet. We got to hang out and I learned a ton. Found out what the organization's weaknesses were, how best to deal with personality quirks. Got the scoop on everyone. Found out that everyone actually likes each other in the office (a nice contrast to my former job where alliances were taking seriously and meant the difference between having to do crappy tasks and not so crappy tasks). Was completely relieved when I asked them if they liked their jobs and they wholeheartedly said YES. Since our lunch we've been super joke-y and friendly. Having cool coworkers is a total win.

--I'm a mechanical moron. Totally flooded the coffeemaker and kitchen counter because I didn't know how to work the fancy schmancy coffeemaker. Haven't answered the phone once because I don't know how to work the hold and transfer buttons (I've resolved to start answering the phone this week).

--There's no slacking on this job. I might have had a crazy, sleep deprived weekend, but they don't care. I'm expected to be on my game when I'm there. No indulging my fuzzyheadedness. I need to speak coherently and concisely on my projects and responsibilities.

Am still totally loving my job and all the cool stuff I'm learning about that is either directly or indirectly tied to the organization. The dissertation remains abandoned 5.5 days/week, but I'm hoping I can pull together a better schedule soon. I'm also taking on editing projects now. I figure keeping up those freelance jobs will pay off in the future (and present, I still haven't been paid). Not only do I ensure future jobs by taking these on now, but they keep me engaged with scholarly discussions and make me use my editing brain. Score.

As another non sequitor, I was recently emailing with a friend who told me that she had started volunteering for a museum doing the kind of work she does for a living. She said it was a way for her to determine if she actually likes her line of work and just dislikes her workplace or if she really dislikes her current career. I thought that was brilliant and low-stakes way to find out what she "wants to do for the next 15 years".

I am determined to continue On the Hunt, but at the moment things are pretty slow on the "hunting" front. I'm still thinking about going for the PMF (as a leveraging tool in future salary negotiations). And the Parachute book says as soon as you get your job, start thinking about finding your next job. I have a couple of long term plans in mind, so I'll start blogging about those once the time gets closer. But for the moment, I'm still resting after a whirlwind summer! So sorry for my intermittent posts!