As a History graduate, freshly released into the world of employment, I entered the tech sphere as an account manager with a sense of trepidation. Not only had I never had a ‘proper’ job (I’m not sure weekend employment at Hobbycraft counts), I had never heard of Drupal before.
Though I was assured that this didn’t matter, I was right in thinking that my first few months working at Zoocha were going to provide a whole host of insights - tekkers and non-tekkers alike.
Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way:
1) There are many, many words and phrases in the English dictionary that you will never have heard of before, or words that suddenly take on a whole new meaning
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I had a steep learning curve during my first weeks (and months) as a member of the Zoocha team. On a daily basis, I was forced to acquaint myself with the endless development terminology used offhandedly in the world of website building and digital marketing.
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On a number of painful occasions I was confronted with acronyms that even after I had Googled for a solution, taunted me in all of their shortened, pointless, encrypted glory.
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My epiphany came around 3 months in; my responsibility is to designate jobs - as long as other people know what they’re talking about and can advise me on how long it takes/any potential blockers to their work day, then everything will be fine.
2) The standard uniform is relaxed and comfy; bonus points for a Drupal conference t-shirt
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It’s great to work in an office where no one bats an eyelid when you crack out the fuzzy slipper socks.
3) Coffee first thing is a must
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A pot of coffee is always on the go, with some members of the team opting to also crack out their own cafetieres every morning. Do not get between a developer and their caffeine fix.
4) The human brain is unique (wow - a huge philosophical revelation, eh?)
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Working at Zoocha has illustrated to me that it takes many types of people to make the world - and a business - go round. While I might enjoy organising folders and making sure my Inbox is kept neat and tidy, there are many others (to my eternal dismay) who are quite happy to leave 10,000 opened emails sit in there.* However, we all have different roles and we fulfil those roles to the best of our abilities. After all, I’d be out of a job if everyone was good at organising their day, replying to clients and prioritising tasks!
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*Disclaimer: not all tech people refuse to streamline their inboxes. Only a select few - you know who you are.
5) Final and most important conclusion - web development isn’t boring, in fact it’s the opposite
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When I get asked what I do for a living, the natural reaction from family members/friends is to imagine a group of technical masterminds cooped up in a small, dark room glued to their computers. While this stereotype has it’s truths (!) working at an agency like Zoocha is actually fast paced and exciting.
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Even from a non-developer’s point of view, it’s cool to see when we create customised solutions to suit a client’s needs during the planning stages, or when a new site finally goes live and has a great reaction from users.
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The general consensus at our office is that anything is possible with Drupal, our CMS (acronym alert) of choice, and that’s a kind of phrase you don’t hear very often in today’s cynical world!