Week 2: Cultural Immersion and Reevaluation
May 29, 2018
Today was challenging. It was a bit of a hiccup getting back into the groove of things coming from a three day weekend the week after onboarding. I had some time to continue pursuing my Hubspot inbound marketing certification. Then, went to a two hour meeting on administration and sponsorship. If there is one thing I am starting to notice is the difference in management, as opposed to the training I’ve had in school and at the last incubator I worked in. I see a lot of opportunities to be efficiently integrated, but I will save my two cents until I can better understand more of the language and formalities.
I was talking with people in the kitchen about self-branding. We discussed the difference between using your next professional step to either be institutionalized or individualized. They told me to keep my eyes on opportunities and don’t get in a pattern of subordinance for too long. Always, see ways I can benefit the image of the company and see what my actions and task I manage do for my reputation.
May 30, 2018
Today was challenging. I feel like there is an expectation of me to have produced more than I have, but onboarding has been hectic. I think an issue is that an intentional time for communication was not been established. I know what it feels like, I have experienced this before. So, when I tried to voice my curiosities I was told I sounded defensive and argumentative. I certainly haven’t seen dialogue exercised in this space which concerns me considering I have been tasked to hold a community workshop on the topic. Naturally, I feel like I won’t have a productive space for this workshop if this is not a practice of the management. Though I have been getting a lot of information that I value, little has been thorough. I tried to ask for clarification from someone who is supposed to be helping to onboard me, but they didn’t really answer my questions and instead told me why I was wrong to ask questions during a meeting. I was told my european experience abroad was out of touch from someone, who justified their reasoning in what they understood about European incubators from the theory they studied in college. This is not the professionalism I am use to based on the professional spaces at FSU or in the places I have interned in. Overall, I am optimistic that we will find a solution. I would rather have these issues sooner rather than later.
May 31, 2018
Today, I got into work a little cautious. I wanted to be a little bit more aware of the office and things I could get done. I got to talk with David Montez, our associate director and mentor to reflect on the two week mark. After talking with him I felt relieved and more appreciative about my trajectory, experience and progress. Having a third party coordinator is a nice perk of the Tech Fellows program, because a lot of students are going into internships and varying corporate cultures without having people help them with culture shock. Afterwards, I went with Dayle my internship advisor to mentor students at our Parramore location. They were juniors competing in a entrepreneurship contest Battle of the Brands. It was really cool to see how passionate they were about their business — which at large were selfless ideas. Afterwards, I went to this monthly event called Orlando Tech and Beer (OTAB). Community organizers provide free food, beer, and a space for locals to network. It was really cool to see how diverse and engages the downtown community was.
June 1, 2018
Today was a quick one. It was also national donut day. We had week recap meetings and then I worked on finishing one of my projects.
