What I learned my first week working at Etsy
My first time working at a major company
Last week, I started working at Etsy as a product design intern. It was my first time in New York City and my first time working at a major company. I had freelanced a ton and had worked at a creative agency, but I had never worked on a product of this size. I felt awesome. Nervous, but awesome.
Once I had arrived and met the team I would be working with, I started my on-boarding process. The process was a week long and included things like shadowing people on different teams, casual lunches with some of the people from my team, the Godzilla premier in 3D IMAX, and coffees breaks with my mentor. I learned so much in the first week.
It’s important to understand what every team does, even if they have nothing to do with you. Hint: They have everything to do with you.
As a part of my on-boarding, I had to shadow people from different teams. At first, I didn’t really understand why I was following around a person on a totally different team and going to meetings that had nothing to do with me, but then it clicked. It was important for me to see what all of the pieces looked like, what they do, how they work, so that the whole puzzle could come together. I learned that as a product designer, it’s still very important to know what teams like values, growth, or marketing do. And by the way, Etsy’s values are legit. The values team makes sure we’re staying true to our core, and that’s the reason why you can sign up to ride the compost bike to deliver the compost and why there are no products with high fructose corn syrup in the office.
Positive and constructive criticism makes better design.
During my first week, I went to a few of our weekly design meetings where people show and talk about what they’re working on. The first thing I noticed was how positive these critique sessions were. Criticism was given and accepted thoughtfully and with an open mind. Cap Watkins, my manager, reminded me that at Etsy they love the messy stuff; they like to see the whole process and iterate as much as possible. I realized that this is a really important step to better design. It’s much easier to iterate, implement suggestions, and try new things when the work isn’t “finished.” Waiting until every pixel is perfect only limits new ideas and makes accepting criticism harder.
Being able to choose your work environment inspires creativity and better thinking skills.
On my first day at Etsy during my tour of the insanely cool office, I realized there was no pattern to where everyone was working. Everybody was scattered about the office either at their desk decorated with things from our sellers, on the vintage furniture throughout the office, or in one of our kitchenettes that feel like coffee shops. For those who wanted some time away from the office, a remote location was fine. Having the option to pick the environment you work in allows everyone to focus more on their work than what’s around them. A change of scenery is always good for inspiration and some time away from a difficult problem helps you solve it when you come back to it.
Love what you do.
There’s an all around good energy throughout the office that comes from everyone loving what they do. It’s obvious here that enjoying your job and having fun helps keep things moving forward smoothly. I’m extremely excited to continue working and learning at Etsy. I love what I do.
