Positivity Through Uncertainty

Positivity Through Uncertainty

by | Oct 19, 2021 | Guest Blog

Positivity Through Uncertainty
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 
This past year was not what anybody expected. It is definitely not what I had pictured for the second half of my junior year and full senior year of college. I thought this period of my life was going to be full of excitement, socialization, and personal growth. Instead, I – and the rest of the world – was greeted with unprecedented fear, grief, and loneliness. During this time of immense uncertainty and fear in the world, I knew I needed to be grateful for the health and safety of my friends and family. However, as time went on, I found it difficult to maintain my positivity without an end to the pandemic insight. In the fall of my senior year, I made a conscious decision. I was going to dig myself out of this rut, improve my headspace, and take small actionable steps every day.

Positivity can be helpful in relation to a person’s mental health and also be used to benefit those around them. The ability to not allow negative events to affect one’s headspace is not always easy, but a useful skill. That being said, the goal here is not to inflict toxic positivity but encourage a push towards a better mindset.

Toxic positivity needs to be acknowledged because often it results in someone feeling like their emotions are invalid when they are legitimate. This can happen when people are told, “don’t worry, everything will be fine” or “just shake it off”. While it is beneficial to try to maintain a positive mindset, it is important to not dismiss the emotions of oneself or others.

A year ago, I didn’t know how to take any meaningful steps forward. Though every situation is different, I hope these three tips can help you find positivity in difficult times – like a pandemic.

STEP 1: Find someone to talk to. Even if you may not think that your challenges are extreme, your feelings are always valid and should not be lessened by the idea that others may have it worse. Everyone can benefit from seeking help whether that be therapy or finding someone trusted to confide in. In order to benefit from therapy, you must be open to receiving help. Personally, I learned that finding a therapist can be difficult, draining, and expensive – so it’s ok if you choose a different outlet or path. Even confiding in a close friend or family member can be calming and help you refocus. In this strange, virtual space, I found that keeping consistent contact with loved ones helped to provide a sense of normalcy to balance out the uncertainty of these times.

STEP 2: Highlight the positives. When things were tough, I found myself overwhelmed by the ugly. To try to pull myself out of what started to feel like a never-ending dark hole, I started what I called a “positivity journal”. For this practice, I would set aside about five minutes every morning and record statements of gratitude, self-affirmations, and hopes for the future. Before I even checked my cell phone notifications, I wanted to gift myself a little positivity.

This concept is similar to a diary. However, I didn’t just record all my thoughts and feelings of the previous day. Instead, my positivity journal enabled me to focus on and extract out positives in life, even when times felt fairly bleak. Looking back at my journal, I wrote about being grateful that the Oregon sun came out, appreciating the calmness of morning, and even threw in a few self-affirmations (“I can graduate, I can pass this test, I am powerful”). The writing sometimes felt purposeless at first, but looking back, the days, weeks, and months of bite-size positivity helped me to persevere through the tough times. Whether you do this at the beginning or end of your day, it can help alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression.

Excerpts from my positivity journal

STEP 3: Incorporate movement into your day. When I started my self-help journey, I found it difficult to dedicate time for my mental health. By blocking off time to either walk, work out, perform grounding exercises, or stretch daily, you are simultaneously bettering both your physical and mental health. These activities allowed me to take some desperately needed time away from screens, virtual college and internships, along with specific stressors in my life – replacing that with a new perspective. Additionally, if you are able to do these things outside, your body will appreciate the sunshine and fresh air.

As we experience a new phase of the pandemic in 2021, it can be hard to pull yourself out of the rut of the past year and a half. For many of us, our environment has been limited to four walls and a computer screen. Change is scary (even if you’re not a recent college grad starting a new chapter of your career in a new city). Trying just one of these tactics suggested above, or finding one that works better for you, could make a great deal of a difference for your mental health. Who knows? A single entry in a positivity journal could evolve into your own storytelling journey. You might just realize your story is even brighter than you gave yourself credit for.

 

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Megan lewis

She/Her/Hers 

B.S. Business Administration | University of Oregon

LinkedIn
Email

Positivity Through Uncertainty
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

This past year was not what anybody expected. It is definitely not what I had pictured for the second half of my junior year and full senior year of college. I thought this period of my life was going to be full of excitement, socialization, and personal growth. Instead, I – and the rest of the world – was greeted with unprecedented fear, grief, and loneliness. During this time of immense uncertainty and fear in the world, I knew I needed to be grateful for the health and safety of my friends and family. However, as time went on, I found it difficult to maintain my positivity without an end to the pandemic in sight. In the fall of my senior year, I made a conscious decision. I was going to dig myself out of this rut, improve my headspace, and take small actionable steps every day.

Positivity can be helpful in relation to a person’s mental health and also be used to benefit those around them. The ability to not allow negative events to affect one’s headspace is not always easy, but a useful skill. That being said, the goal here is not to inflict toxic positivity but encourage a push towards a better mindset.

Toxic positivity needs to be acknowledged because often it results in someone feeling like their emotions are invalid when they are legitimate. This can happen when people are told, “don’t worry, everything will be fine” or “just shake it off”. While it is beneficial to try to maintain a positive mindset, it is important to not dismiss the emotions of oneself or others.

A year ago, I didn’t know how to take any meaningful steps forward. Though every situation is different, I hope these three tips can help you find positivity in difficult times – like a pandemic.

STEP 1: Find someone to talk to. Even if you may not think that your challenges are extreme, your feelings are always valid and should not be lessened by the idea that others may have it worse. Everyone can benefit from seeking help whether that be therapy or finding someone trusted to confide in. In order to benefit from therapy, you must be open to receiving help. Personally, I learned that finding a therapist can be difficult, draining, and expensive – so it’s ok if you choose a different outlet or path. Even confiding in a close friend or family member can be calming and help you refocus. In this strange, virtual space, I found that keeping consistent contact with loved ones helped to provide a sense of normalcy to balance out the uncertainty of these times.

STEP 2: Highlight the positives. When things were tough, I found myself overwhelmed by the ugly. To try to pull myself out of what started to feel like a never-ending dark hole, I started what I called a “positivity journal”. For this practice, I would set aside about five minutes every morning and record statements of gratitude, self-affirmations, and hopes for the future. Before I even checked my cell phone notifications, I wanted to gift myself a little positivity. This concept is similar to a diary. However, I didn’t just record all my thoughts and feelings of the previous day. Instead, my positivity journal enabled me to focus on and extract out positives in life, even when times felt fairly bleak. Looking back at my journal, I wrote about being grateful that the Oregon sun came out, appreciating the calmness of morning, and even threw in a few self-affirmations (“I can graduate, I can pass this test, I am powerful”). The writing sometimes felt purposeless at first, but looking back, the days, weeks, and months of bite-size positivity helped me to persevere through the tough times. Whether you do this at the beginning or end of your day, it can help alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression.

Excerpts from my positivity journal 

STEP 3: Incorporate movement into your day. When I started my self-help journey, I found it difficult to dedicate time for my mental health. By blocking off time to either walk, work out, perform grounding exercises, or stretch daily, you are simultaneously bettering both your physical and mental health. These activities allowed me to take some desperately needed time away from screens, virtual college and internships, along with specific stressors in my life – replacing that with a new perspective. Additionally, if you are able to do these things outside, your body will appreciate the sunshine and fresh air.As we experience a new phase of the pandemic in 2021, it can be hard to pull yourself out of the rut of the past year and a half. For many of us, our environment has been limited to four walls and a computer screen. Change is scary (even if you’re not a recent college grad starting a new chapter of your career in a new city). Trying just one of these tactics suggested above, or finding one that works better for you, could make a great deal of a difference for your mental health. Who knows? A single entry in a positivity journal could evolve into your own storytelling journey. You might just realize your story is even brighter than you gave yourself credit for.

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Megan Lewis

She / Her / Hers 

B.S. Business Administration | University of Oregon

LinkedIn
Email

Recent Posts

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Oct 27, 2021

Personal finances are one of the most bewildering, yet essential aspects of adulting. Without a doubt, how you handle your money today, tomorrow and into the future, will affect your quality of life, and the life of everyone around you.

read more

Professional Experience Vs Passion Projects

Professional Experience Vs Passion Projects

by | Oct 9, 2021 | Guest Blog

Professional Experience Vs Passion Projects
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 
Grab the nearest writing utensil and something you can write on. Have them? Great! Now, on that sticky note, piece of paper, or back of a receipt, answer this: “How would you define experience?” What did you come up with? What does that mean for you when you approach the dreaded “Professional Experience” section on a résumé or job application? What counts as professional experience? How do you include that on your résumé? And how do you chart your future path by seeking out specific experiences? Let’s address each of those questions individually. 

Defining what counts as professional experience

I’ve worked a fair number of paid jobs in my relatively short life, and each could be included in the “Professional Experience” section of my résumé. Some jobs helped me develop customer service skills, some taught me how to manage teams, and some just kept the rent paid. I also recently finished an online course on Futures Thinking, and spent the last year editing a website, blog, and other media for a women’s leadership & philanthropy organization. Neither of those were paid (in fact, I paid for the opportunity to do both of those things!), but I built skills doing both. But which ones count? Any of them that have skills transferable to the job you want. Yes, any. That may include unpaid positions, volunteer opportunities, jobs where your title didn’t match your responsibilities, and everything in between. As you’re getting ready to refresh your résumé or send a connection request to a hiring manager, step back and identify the skills they want. Once you know which experiences have taught you those skills, then you’re ready to make that résumé stand out. If you’re getting stuck, you can start with CMD’s Skill Mapping Packet.

How to include skills on your résumé

First things first, we’ve broadened the definition of professional experience based on all the other ways you’ve built skills. Thus, it’s time to change your “Professional Experience” section title. Let’s use “Experience” – it’s nice and broad, and allows us to include all kinds of things underneath. Now we can add in only our relevant skill-developing experiences. We want to tailor our résumé to each job we apply to. Yes, this can seem tedious if we start over every time, but my way to streamline this is to have a “Master Résumé” that includes all my experiences for me to pick from. Each experience includes a variety of bullet points describing what skills I gained and how (making sure they include numbers and action verbs) so I can simply grab the ones I need for each résumé creation. If you have particular skills that you’ve developed but don’t have specific experiences you want to call out (like languages you speak or software you’re fluent in), include those in a “Skills” section in your résumé. Now you’ve created a résumé that shows you’re a perfect match for the job you’re applying to! But what if, as you’ve read through dozens of job descriptions, you realize that the future job you want you are missing skills or key requirements for?

How to chart your future path by seeking out specific experiences

Say you’ve gone to school for and worked as an engineer for ten years, but you realize that you need more team management skills to make a career change into the project management side of your organization. Don’t fret, this is a great opportunity to leverage your other experiences and find new ones! First, determine if you have built those skills outside of work. If so, bring those examples up with your manager and others who can help you make the career change. If you need to build those skills, find ways to work in the community that could do so. Find organizations that you have shared interests with (and use your hobbies as cues). If you love exercise and being outdoors and need those team management skills, you could volunteer as a Team Lead for a local nonprofit organizing a road race or cycling event. Plenty of small organizations always need extra hands, and reaching out with your skill development in mind is a great way to ensure you both get what you want out of the experience. Need a little push or some extra help as you get started on your résumé revamp? Schedule a free consultation with CMD, and go get that dream job!

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Michele Mandula

She/Her/her’s

Graduate Student | SCAD

LinkedIn
Email

Professional Experience Vs Passion Projects
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Grab the nearest writing utensil and something you can write on. Have them? Great! Now, on that sticky note, piece of paper, or back of a receipt, answer this: “How would you define experience?” What did you come up with? What does that mean for you when you approach the dreaded “Professional Experience” section on a résumé or job application? What counts as professional experience? How do you include that on your résumé? And how do you chart your future path by seeking out specific experiences? Let’s address each of those questions individually.

Defining what counts as professional experience

I’ve worked a fair number of paid jobs in my relatively short life, and each could be included in the “Professional Experience” section of my résumé. Some jobs helped me develop customer service skills, some taught me how to manage teams, and some just kept the rent paid. I also recently finished an online course on Futures Thinking, and spent the last year editing a website, blog, and other media for a women’s leadership & philanthropy organization. Neither of those were paid (in fact, I paid for the opportunity to do both of those things!), but I built skills doing both. But which ones count? Any of them that have skills transferable to the job you want. Yes, any. That may include unpaid positions, volunteer opportunities, jobs where your title didn’t match your responsibilities, and everything in between. As you’re getting ready to refresh your résumé or send a connection request to a hiring manager, step back and identify the skills they want. Once you know which experiences have taught you those skills, then you’re ready to make that résumé stand out. If you’re getting stuck, you can start with CMD’s Skill Mapping Packet.

How to include skills on your résumé

First things first, we’ve broadened the definition of professional experience based on all the other ways you’ve built skills. Thus, it’s time to change your “Professional Experience” section title. Let’s use “Experience” – it’s nice and broad, and allows us to include all kinds of things underneath. Now we can add in only our relevant skill-developing experiences. We want to tailor our résumé to each job we apply to. Yes, this can seem tedious if we start over every time, but my way to streamline this is to have a “Master Résumé” that includes all my experiences for me to pick from. Each experience includes a variety of bullet points describing what skills I gained and how (making sure they include numbers and action verbs) so I can simply grab the ones I need for each résumé creation. If you have particular skills that you’ve developed but don’t have specific experiences you want to call out (like languages you speak or software you’re fluent in), include those in a “Skills” section in your résumé. Now you’ve created a résumé that shows you’re a perfect match for the job you’re applying to! But what if, as you’ve read through dozens of job descriptions, you realize that the future job you want you are missing skills or key requirements for?

How to chart your future path by seeking out specific experiences

Say you’ve gone to school for and worked as an engineer for ten years, but you realize that you need more team management skills to make a career change into the project management side of your organization. Don’t fret, this is a great opportunity to leverage your other experiences and find new ones! First, determine if you have built those skills outside of work. If so, bring those examples up with your manager and others who can help you make the career change. If you need to build those skills, find ways to work in the community that could do so. Find organizations that you have shared interests with (and use your hobbies as cues). If you love exercise and being outdoors and need those team management skills, you could volunteer as a Team Lead for a local nonprofit organizing a road race or cycling event. Plenty of small organizations always need extra hands, and reaching out with your skill development in mind is a great way to ensure you both get what you want out of the experience. Need a little push or some extra help as you get started on your résumé revamp? Schedule a free consultation with CMD, and go get that dream job!

 

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Michele Mandula

She / Her / Hers 

Graduate Student | SCAD

LinkedIn
Email

Recent Posts

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Oct 27, 2021

Personal finances are one of the most bewildering, yet essential aspects of adulting. Without a doubt, how you handle your money today, tomorrow and into the future, will affect your quality of life, and the life of everyone around you.

read more
Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

by | Sep 30, 2021 | Guest Blog

Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 
I recently visited Olympic National Park and learned about nurse logs. Wikipedia defines nurse logs as “a fallen tree, which, as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings.” The grounds of the forest floor is so covered with other plants that it can be hard to compete as a seedling. One way to grow is to use nutrients and resources from decaying trees.
Olympic National Park

What do nurse logs have to do with anything? Jobs are like nurse logs for your career. Take my career journey for example… Back in high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Honestly, I still don’t, but I know I’m not alone with this feeling. In a society that constantly asks children what they want to be when they grow up, it feels like you have to know what your career is from a very young age. Fortunately, I’ve learned this does not have to be the case. In college, I studied computer science with a focus in human-computer interaction (HCI) because my interests leaned towards the visual, front-end side of technology. I participated in an HCI research group, contributing to a project by developing applications, running user studies, and iterating on the apps based on user feedback. While I enjoyed being a research assistant, I knew academia wasn’t for me. It did, however, provide facilitation to the next step in my career – an internship doing user experience (UX) research – just as a nurse log helps facilitate a seedling. My research project had given me the foundational skills I needed to talk to real customers at the internship, investigate what they did and didn’t like, and come up with solutions to improve the product.
Nurselogs

After graduating, I joined a tech company as a web developer. I quickly learned that I was not interested in coding, but I did enjoy the part of the job that involved working with data. This led to a role at Intel doing business and data analysis with an HR chatbot. Another tree growing from the nurse logs! Not only did the previous role help me improve upon the analysis process for this role, but my past UX experiences also helped me lead a redesign of the chatbot interface with something more modern and user-friendly. Sure enough, that role in HR became a nurse log too. Just a few weeks ago, I started a new role as a system analyst in the healthcare industry. Though I’ve never worked in healthcare, I’ve seen how all my previous roles helped me succeed. I’ll let my experiences guide me in this seedling phase. Already I can see where I could utilize my UX skills to ensure user-friendly interfaces for clinicians, my business and data analysis skills to determine what the best solutions are, and my developer skills to troubleshoot defects in the system.

My career path may not have been very defined or linear, but neither is growth in general. Whether you’re growing from the ground or a nurse log, from college education or previous work experiences, everything provides some sort of “nutrition” from one place to the next. I never would’ve thought to pursue any of these past roles of mine as a kid, and I’m glad I didn’t restrict myself to one path because I would’ve missed out on an interesting journey. I no longer feel pressured to know what I want to do with my life anymore, knowing that all my experiences will plant the foundation for the future.

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Finn Lin

He / Him / His 

System Analyst | OHSU

LinkedIn
Email

Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

Opinions expressed are the author’s own.

I recently visited Olympic National Park and learned about nurse logs. Wikipedia defines nurse logs as “a fallen tree, which, as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings.” The grounds of the forest floor is so covered with other plants that it can be hard to compete as a seedling. One way to grow is to use nutrients and resources from decaying trees.
Olympic National Park

Back in high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Honestly, I still don’t, but I know I’m not alone with this feeling. In a society that constantly asks children what they want to be when they grow up, it feels like you have to know what your career is from a very young age. Fortunately, I’ve learned this does not have to be the case. In college, I studied computer science with a focus in human-computer interaction (HCI) because my interests leaned towards the visual, front-end side of technology. I participated in an HCI research group, contributing to a project by developing applications, running user studies, and iterating on the apps based on user feedback. While I enjoyed being a research assistant, I knew academia wasn’t for me. It did, however, provide facilitation to the next step in my career – an internship doing user experience (UX) research – just as a nurse log helps facilitate a seedling. My research project had given me the foundational skills I needed to talk to real customers at the internship, investigate what they did and didn’t like, and come up with solutions to improve the product.
nurselogs

After graduating, I joined a tech company as a web developer. I quickly learned that I was not interested in coding, but I did enjoy the part of the job that involved working with data. This led to a role at Intel doing business and data analysis with an HR chatbot. Another tree growing from the nurse logs! Not only did the previous role help me improve upon the analysis process for this role, but my past UX experiences also helped me lead a redesign of the chatbot interface with something more modern and user-friendly. Sure enough, that role in HR became a nurse log too. Just a few weeks ago, I started a new role as a system analyst in the healthcare industry. Though I’ve never worked in healthcare, I’ve seen how all my previous roles helped me succeed. I’ll let my past experiences guide me in this seedling phase. Already I can see where I could utilize my UX skills to ensure user-friendly interfaces for clinicians, my business and data analysis skills to determine what the best solutions are, and my developer skills to troubleshoot defects in the system.

My career path may not have been very defined or linear, but neither is growth in general. Whether you’re growing from the ground or a nurse log, from college education or previous work experiences, everything provides some sort of “nutrition” from one place to the next. I never would’ve thought to pursue any of these past roles of mine as a kid, and I’m glad I didn’t restrict myself to one path because I would’ve missed out on an interesting journey. I no longer feel pressured to know what I want to do with my life anymore, knowing that all my experiences will plant the foundation for the future.

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Finn Lin

He / Him / His

System Analyst | OHSU

LinkedIn
Email

Recent Posts

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Oct 27, 2021

Personal finances are one of the most bewildering, yet essential aspects of adulting. Without a doubt, how you handle your money today, tomorrow and into the future, will affect your quality of life, and the life of everyone around you.

read more
Navigating Pandemic Detours

Navigating Pandemic Detours

by | Sep 23, 2021 | Guest Blog

Navigating Pandemic Detours
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 
From the moment I signed my full time job offer in the fall of 2019, I didn’t give my future career another thought until the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced my hand (as it did for many others). Luckily, my offer was not rescinded, but my start date was pushed back from my expectation of August to mid-January.

Though I’d worked towards securing a job in management consulting since sophomore year of college without ever examining my decision along the way, I was suddenly confronted with the strange feeling of having a relatively long span of open and unplanned time in front of me. I had spent all of my summer breaks working various internships and jobs that would get me closer to that elusive full-time offer, but now, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to work towards a specific long term goal. I didn’t have an obligation to be “productive” at all, but I felt an itch (maybe that’s just internalized capitalism, but I digress) to take advantage of the opportunity.

After a catch-up call with one of my favorite professors in May, he reached out again, asking if I might be interested in doing some data analysis work for the company his son worked at. I figured it would be a good way to build on my data skills and had good initial conversations with the people I met from the company, a small private equity resourcing business. The job turned into a mini consulting project where I analyzed the company’s data to determine an ideal customer profile. More importantly, my boss became a mentor and friend, one of the first people I reached out to when I returned to Nashville. She previously worked as a lawyer and lived abroad for years, both of which are future possibilities I’ve considered. The chance opportunity I took as a way to pass the time turned into a rewarding project and hopefully lasting connection.

As I was working on the data analysis project, my mind also began to wander to think about how I could use the time until my start date to push myself and explore something new. I majored in public policy in college and had a longstanding interest in the public sector, but to be frank, I didn’t apply to a single public sector internship while in college because money had always been a big concern for me and (at the time) many of the opportunities in that space were unpaid. However, given my newfound economic freedom, I explored fall public sector internship postings. With the help of my university’s career center and a couple of former professors, I applied to several nonprofits in the area, eventually getting an offer for a fall internship doing policy analysis for a Georgia-based civil rights organization.

It was an exciting time to be involved in Georgia politics, with several important elections and changing political tides at play in the state. Getting to see the issues I learned about in the classroom play out on the state political stage was thrilling. For the first time, I had the chance to interact and work with policy analysts and lawyers, and I seized the opportunity to ask them about their experiences being trained and working in their fields. Though I knew I would be starting my professional life in consulting, I got a glimpse into what working in law and policy might look like.

Even better, the experience gave me a conduit to more sustained involvement with both the organization I worked for and the public sector in general. When I started at Deloitte (which ended up being in early December), I had a clearer idea of what kinds of work I was interested in. I got involved with a pro bono consulting group that works with Atlanta-based nonprofits, and my current client project is a collaboration with a nonprofit in the health equity space.

When I think of my proudest moments, the examples that come to mind are always the ones where I jumped into something new headfirst and a little unsure and came out on the other side knowing something new about my abilities and goals. Of course, I’m thankful for the big moments—the graduation, the job, etc.—but I’m equally as grateful for the little detours and meanderings off of the path—the one-off projects, connections, and explorations that allow me to pick up my head and look around.

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Helena Augenstein

She/Her/Hers

Strategy & Operations Analyst | Deloitte
LinkedIn
Email

Navigating Pandemic Detours
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

From the moment I signed my full time job offer in the fall of 2019, I didn’t give my future career another thought until the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced my hand (as it did for many others). Luckily, my offer was not rescinded, but my start date was pushed back from my expectation of August to mid-January.

Though I’d worked towards securing a job in management consulting since sophomore year of college and had never felt a need to examine the decision once I made it, I was suddenly confronted with the strange feeling of having a relatively long span of open and unplanned time in front of me. I had spent all of my summer breaks working various internships and jobs that would get me closer to that elusive full-time offer, but now, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to work towards a specific long term goal. I didn’t have an obligation to be “productive” at all, but I felt an itch (maybe that’s just internalized capitalism, but I digress) to take advantage of the opportunity.

After a catch-up call with one of my favorite professors in May, he reached out again, asking if I might be interested in doing some data analysis work for the company his son worked at. I figured it would be a good way to build on my data skills and had good initial conversations with the people I met from the company, a small private equity resourcing business. The job turned into a mini consulting project where I analyzed the company’s data to determine an ideal customer profile. More importantly, my boss became a mentor and friend, one of the first people I reached out to when I returned to Nashville. She previously worked as a lawyer and lived abroad for years, both of which are future possibilities I’ve considered. The chance opportunity I took as a way to pass the time turned into a rewarding project and hopefully lasting connections.

As I was working on the data analysis project, my mind also began to wander to think about how I could use the time until my start date to push myself and explore something new. I majored in public policy in college and had a longstanding interest in the public sector, but to be frank, I didn’t apply to a single public sector internship while in college because money had always been a big concern for me and (at the time) many of the opportunities in that space were unpaid. However, given my newfound economic freedom, I explored fall public sector internship postings. With the help of my university’s career center and a couple of former professors, I applied to several nonprofits in the area, eventually getting an offer for a fall internship doing policy analysis for a Georgia-based civil rights organization.

 It was an exciting time to be involved in Georgia politics, with several important elections and changing political tides at play in the state. Getting to see the issues I learned about in the classroom play out on the state political stage was thrilling. For the first time, I had the chance to interact and work with policy analysts and lawyers, and I seized the opportunity to ask them about their experiences being trained and working in their fields. Though I knew I would be starting my professional life in consulting, I got a glimpse into what working in law and policy might look like.

 Even better, the experience gave me a conduit to more sustained involvement with both the organization I worked for and the public sector in general. When I started at Deloitte (which ended up being in early December), I had a clearer idea of what kinds of work I was interested in. I got involved with a pro bono consulting group that works with Atlanta-based nonprofits, and my current client project is a collaboration with a nonprofit in the health equity space.

 When I think of my proudest moments, the examples that come to mind are always the ones where I jumped into something new headfirst and a little unsure and came out on the other side knowing something new about my abilities and goals. Of course, I’m thankful for the big moments—the graduation, the job, etc.—but I’m equally as grateful for the little detours and meanderings off of the path—the one-off projects, connections, and explorations that allow me to pick up my head and look around.

 

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Helena Augenstein

She / Her / Hers

Strategy & Operations Analyst | Deloitte

LinkedIn
Email

Recent Posts

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Oct 27, 2021

Personal finances are one of the most bewildering, yet essential aspects of adulting. Without a doubt, how you handle your money today, tomorrow and into the future, will affect your quality of life, and the life of everyone around you.

read more

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech

by | Sep 20, 2021 | Guest Blog

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 
If I traveled back in time to meet my younger self and told her that I had quit my data engineering job to take a year-long break, my younger self would give me an incredulous look. “What are you going to do with all that time?” she would ask. “Won’t you run out of money? What will happen to your career?” Throughout college, I was solidly focused on my academics and career. I powered through a rigorous curriculum and was surrounded by very smart classmates. I carried this work ethic to my full-time data engineering job in New York City. Within the first six months of my professional career, I learned how to develop jobs in Apache Spark, a big data processing software, to crunch millions of production customer data points daily. I worked in other technologies such as databases, cloud infrastructure, distributed computing, and API programming. I also learned soft skills such as writing technical documentation, interfacing with customers to understand their needs, and handling on-call dumpster fires. I enjoyed exploring new lunch spots with coworkers, playing Dungeons and Dragons in my spare time, and reading fantasy novels on my commute to work. I’d be lying if I said that my professional dreams had come true. Behind the veil of productivity and success were the doubts and burnout. My first six months of the job involved a high-visibility project that I was wholly unfamiliar with, tech- or business-wise. This project also added to the stress of adjusting to post-grad life in an unfamiliar, fast-paced city. I’ve been known to reliably deliver any project I’ve been given, and was rewarded with more requests and responsibility. I was surrounded by very brilliant software engineers who seemed to know everything in the industry, while I felt like I was always just trailing behind their shadow. The treadmill of tech didn’t get any easier with the stresses the pandemic brought.

With the doubts and burnout lingering earlier this year, I contemplated on taking an extended break. There wasn’t any reason not to, since I was fortunate enough not to have to pay loans or medical bills. I looked realistically into an extended break by forming a rough budget and researching insurance options. Even with the planning and growing excitement, I spent a lot of time doubting myself on whether this was a good idea to quit with no job lined up. How would other potential employers see this gap in my resume? Was I abandoning my coworkers? Maybe I was too stressed to think clearly, so should I first take an extra long vacation to clear my head?
HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

At the end, I asked myself, “What would my future self look back on – spending a year to take a break and do some cool things with a minor hit to my career, or to continue working myself to the bone?” Looking back at my academics and career thus far, I felt confident that I would work hard to re-enter the workforce after an extended break. I then confided to my close friends and family on this plan, and they were nothing short of supportive. Finally, I handed in my resignation. I am now five months into my gap year, and it has been a refreshing experience. I spent the first two weeks not doing much, simply resting and adjusting to the freedom. I then set myself a rough outline of how my week would go, while also not confining myself to optimize every minute of my life. This is the time to explore new hobbies, or to cultivate and refine existing ones. I took advantage of my free weekday time to enjoy the sights of NYC, or travel around the Northeast, avoiding weekend crowds in the process. So far I’ve taken online courses, volunteered, exercised my creative brain, exercised my body, and read novels. I keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues regularly – virtually or in-person. I reflected on how I’ve grown in my career, what lessons I’ve learned, and what I value most in my career and life.
2021 TRIP TO PORTLAND, ME. CHANGE OF SCENERY AFTER MANY MONTHS IN NYC.
PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

The treadmill of the tech industry is not easy to keep up with. Technology and business continue to evolve, which means there’s always something new to learn. Keeping up with the treadmill can also result in tunnel vision, moving so quickly that other aspects of life may blur in the process. I did end up nearly falling flat on my face as I stepped off the treadmill. However, after picking myself up, it has been nice to walk at my own pace and learn what I can do on my own terms. If you want to follow along in my gap year, you can check out my blog at www.warunlock.com!

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

SusanNa Dong 

She / Her / Hers

Software / Data Engineer

LinkedIn
Email

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech
Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

If I traveled back in time to meet my younger self and told her that I had quit my data engineering job to take a year-long break, my younger self would give me an incredulous look. “What are you going to do with all that time?” she would ask. “Won’t you run out of money? What will happen to your career?” Throughout college, I was solidly focused on my academics and career. I powered through a rigorous curriculum and was surrounded by very smart classmates. I carried this work ethic to my full-time data engineering job in New York City. Within the first six months of my professional career, I learned how to develop jobs in Apache Spark, a big data processing software, to crunch millions of production customer data points daily. I worked in other technologies such as databases, cloud infrastructure, distributed computing, and API programming. I also learned soft skills such as writing technical documentation, interfacing with customers to understand their needs, and handling on-call dumpster fires. I enjoyed exploring new lunch spots with coworkers, playing Dungeons and Dragons in my spare time, and reading fantasy novels on my commute to work. I’d be lying if I said that my professional dreams had come true. Behind the veil of productivity and success were the doubts and burnout. My first six months of the job involved a high-visibility project that I was wholly unfamiliar with, tech- or business-wise. This project also added to the stress of adjusting to post-grad life in an unfamiliar, fast-paced city. I’ve been known to reliably deliver any project I’ve been given, and was rewarded with more requests and responsibility. I was surrounded by very brilliant software engineers who seemed to know everything in the industry, while I felt like I was always just trailing behind their shadow. The treadmill of tech didn’t get any easier with the stresses the pandemic brought. With the doubts and burnout lingering earlier this year, I contemplated on taking an extended break. There wasn’t any reason not to, since I was fortunate enough not to have to pay loans or medical bills. I looked realistically into an extended break by forming a rough budget and researching insurance options. Even with the planning and growing excitement, I spent a lot of time doubting myself on whether this was a good idea to quit with no job lined up. How would other potential employers see this gap in my resume? Was I abandoning my coworkers? Maybe I was too stressed to think clearly, so should I first take an extra long vacation to clear my head?
HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

At the end, I asked myself, “What would my future self look back on – spending a year to take a break and do some cool things with a minor hit to my career, or to continue working myself to the bone?” Looking back at my academics and career thus far, I felt confident that I would work hard to re-enter the workforce after an extended break. I then confided to my close friends and family on this plan, and they were nothing short of supportive. Finally, I handed in my resignation. I am now five months into my gap year, and it has been a refreshing experience. I spent the first two weeks not doing much, simply resting and adjusting to the freedom. I then set myself a rough outline of how my week would go, while also not confining myself to optimize every minute of my life. This is the time to explore new hobbies, or to cultivate and refine existing ones. I took advantage of my free weekday time to enjoy the sights of NYC, or travel around the Northeast, avoiding weekend crowds in the process. So far I’ve taken online courses, volunteered, exercised my creative brain, exercised my body, and read novels. I keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues regularly – virtually or in-person. I reflected on how I’ve grown in my career, what lessons I’ve learned, and what I value most in my career and life.
2021 TRIP TO PORTLAND, ME. CHANGE OF SCENERY AFTER MANY MONTHS IN NYC.
PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

The treadmill of the tech industry is not easy to keep up with. Technology and business continue to evolve, which means there’s always something new to learn. Keeping up with the treadmill can also result in tunnel vision, moving so quickly that other aspects of life may blur in the process. I did end up nearly falling flat on my face as I stepped off the treadmill. However, after picking myself up, it has been nice to walk at my own pace and learn what I can do on my own terms.

If you want to follow along in my gap year, you can check out my blog at www.warunlock.com!

Alex Berry Headshot for Meet the Team page

Susanna Dong

She / Her / Hers

Software / Data Engineer

LinkedIn
Email

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Redefine Your Relationship With Money

Redefine Your Relationship With Money

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Personal finances are one of the most bewildering, yet essential aspects of adulting. Without a doubt, how you handle your money today, tomorrow and into the future, will affect your quality of life, and the life of everyone around you.

read more