10 Oct 2020

First 4 Weeks into Working Full-time at Home

Welcome back if you’ve been here before, which is most likely not true. But if so great! It’s been a while since I’ve posted something and it’s nice to get back on it. I always wish I blogged more but I also wish I did a lot of things like go outside and remember the world is not going to fall a part even if it seems like we’re heading that way.

Nonetheless, the big update for today’s post is, I’ve begun working full-time as a software developer at Discover Financial Services! So far it’s been a lot to take in and I’m grateful to not only have a job, but one at a company that has been so welcoming. This year, of course has been difficult for me but who hasn’t had a tough time. However, it’s good to put it all into perspective since no one I know has been seriously affected by Covid-19 healthwise or financially. Everything or just about everything will change and I hope that all these changes will bring about more awareness to hygiene and how to properly handle a pandemic.

But anyways, back to how work has been, enough reflecting, that’s for the end of the year. This is my very first job as a full-time developer and to make things even more interesting, I’m working from home like everyone else in the world. This of course has been weird because I video chat with individuals whom I’ve never met in person. I don’t even know what the office looks like since I’ve only been there once and it was a year ago. This truly presents a challenge but what I’ve repeatedly been told and have also realized, is that I have to ask questions, take the initiative and be my own self advocate. Only I can ensure I achieve success, this holds true in normal times but even more so now, and while there are times when I feel lost, I know I can ask anyone for help. Everyone I’ve met, spoken to, and worked with has been more than friendly making everything that much easier.

I’m a part of the enterprise technology side of the company, and my team works on GRC (Goverance, Risk Manangement, and Compliance) software. It is a brand new world to me, I’m learning about batch file jobs, Windows servers, and what Jira is. Things you just can’t learn when in school because you never actually work in a production environment. You can’t learn/experience it until you are in that situation, which is why I’m so excited to start week 5 and learn even more!