Starting a new design job during a pandemic
I’m sure I’m not the only one who started a new job in 2020, but this time for me it was different, not only because it was during the pandemic, but also because it was during the lockdown, I just became a dad and on top of that I also managed to cut my thumb’s ligament a day before I had to start my new role.
Now I’m sure other people also found 2020 challenging, and this article is not about that. It’s about how a company can manage all of that, be positive and welcoming and being extremely prepared for all the above.
I remember I started looking for a role slightly before the lockdown and the pandemic started. I got two offers but then lockdown happened and both offers got put on hold. Meanwhile the situation in my previous company wasn’t that great as we had a 20% salary cut for an unknown period of time to make sure we could exist for the year ahead. All of that wasn’t great especially with a newborn, so rather than being put off, I took that as a challenge and started looking for what was out there.
Let’s just say there’s not much going on on the market during an unprecedented time especially in these early days of the pandemic. I found few places, of which 3 I got to a final stage and offer, but tray.io stood out from the rest. Not only because it was a great and challenging product to work on, but mostly because of the people and the team.
My interview process was extremely well handled and had an update every step of the way. Everyone was extremely welcoming but in a very natural way. At Tray people are welcome to be natural and this makes working here so much easier. I have the luck of being part of an extremely funny, hard working and organised product team.
Before I started I had tons of questions. How do I get to start my new day remotely? How do I get my equipment? How do I meet new people and where do I start. If you are in an office all you need to do is get in the building and someone could just help, but how does that work when you’re remote? Well that process was also extremely good. The HR team made it feel like a breeze. I got my shiny new laptop two weeks before I started. I got few cool tray.io branded shirts, bags and a welcome card. Which already made me feel at home.
As mentioned, a day before I started I managed to cut my ligament which probably was the worst time of my life on top of the pandemic. My manager handled that extremely well. On my first day at work I was in AE and the very same week I got my surgery. Let’s just say that’s not how a new job should start. Working with one hand was challenging, but managed to set up my machine and get going in half a day thanks to the extremely well organised onboarding which was written up step by step in a document. This happened so fast, not because I was smarter or faster than average… but because of the incredible planning that went into my onboarding.
At that time I remember I was scared if I will ever be able to work as fast as I used to. If I ever will be able to do everyday things and mostly if I will have a job at all to support my family in such a difficult time. I can’t stress how difficult it was for me and how generously and well that was managed by everyone at Tray. Everyone was very reactive and supportive to what happened in my life.
Looking back at the time that has already passed, this was by far the most challenging time of my life, but it made me stronger and also helped me realise that I got extremely lucky to work in such a great team and company. It’s the people that make a place. There are challenges in everything and not always everything goes according to plan, but if you have reactive people and people who can solve all sort of problems quickly and are supportive to each other, then usually these companies succeed. Great products are built by great people and that’s always true.
