Jumping Right In

To be honest, I really didn’t know what to expect before starting my first real internship (and I say “real” because I have had internships in the past, but this directly applies to the field of work that I want to go in to). I had gone to the offices before, met some of the key people that I would be interacting with on a daily basis, and got a feel for the culture and mood of the offices. I was extremely impressed with the attention to detail and professionalism I was shown throughout the application and interview process.

And then I got the call. I forget when it was or what I was doing, but it was a great feeling to know that all the work that I had put in and all the knowledge I had gained while at Tufts was going to be used in a real world setting that will impact actual users and actual stakeholders. The closest I have gotten to that before was while working on my Senior Design Project with elderly individuals at an assisted living facility.

On my first day I was thrust into the throws of observing multiple remote usability sessions for a client, which is something I didn’t have experience with. The dynamic is much different from what I am used to, but its something that could happen based on clients requests. I’d like to think I picked up the intricate parts of the process that I was unaware of through asking a lot of questions and making sure I was following along. I was also acquainted with new software and tools that are very important during testing and the information architecture process; I would only hope that more of these tools are introduced in undergraduate programs so that people can start learning how to use them. I took time to get acquainted with the people I would be working with, and they have been an invaluable asset in helping me to learn more about agency work, and the role of UX and CX in project time lines. Overall, it was fast paced, quick moving, and utterly exhilarating.  every day when I walk in and see the awards on the shelves and the artwork on the walls, I cannot help but smile and look forward to what I am about to embark on.

It has been about a month since I started, and I have done everything from research work into current UX practices and methodologies, to usability tests and expert reviews of different products. Every day I learn something new, and experience something different. During the last two months at One to One, take a look for blog posts that have a little more insight into how usability and user experience plays an important role in marketing and branding as well as posts on interesting upcoming industry research.

The Final Countdown

The summer is winding down at an alarming rate, and I can say for sure that I am ready and excited to begin my final year of undergraduate study at Tufts. I have learned a lot about myself in the past few weeks; most of these things I am relearning and trying to focus on in the coming months in order to improve myself and my life.

First, I am re-recognizing the importance of journaling and writing in my life. As a child I was not a fan of the writing sections of my schooling, but as I learned about different types of written works (including writing about things I love) I began to enjoy putting my thoughts to the page. After a few bumps in the road, I have been doing less and less review and journalistic writing to the point where I haven’t written anything worth publishing in over 6 months. I find now that in order to keep myself going, I must write. This includes keeping a journal of my life, as well as working on writing from a newsworthy standpoint. I need to be able to look back at this time of my life in the future and remember all that I was doing and feeling (this, of course, besides the obvious benefit of allowing myself to put feelings down in writing when I might be keeping them bottled inside of me). I need to keep up with this, and any encouragement is appreciated.

Second, I found that I need to stop being to hard on myself and accept the fact that some things are beyond my control and can’t be changed.

Third, I have to remember to take charge of my life and not allow others to push me in a direction I am unsure about or displeased by.

These lessons are worth remembering and taking note of in my life as I approach the next big part of my existence: adulthood. It’s a scary thought, especially since I realize that I am living in a delicate bubble which will burst to the culture shock of living life outside of the normal comforts and protections of my current surroundings. Hopefully I will be able to experience a lot of new things, make mistakes, learn from them, and mature further into the person I have always wanted to become.

Cheers.

My (lack of) blogging ability

As you may have noticed already, I don’t do too much serious blogging. This could be for a few reasons not limited to my lack of time to sit down and put pen-to-paper (so to speak) or my lack of motivation. But really, I think it all stems from the fact that I have no idea what I really want to write about. Should this blog be more of a personal endeavor (like this) or should it focus on opinions and interesting bits from the Internet and beyond (like my Tumblog)? I don’t have personal challenges whose solutions could benefit others, I don’t necessarily write interesting pieces of (non-)fiction, and I definitely don’t draw. So what can little ol’ me do?

This is a constant challenge in my life; finding my place… took me a while to do that with my major and with what I could be doing with the rest of my life. I guess I will figure it out one way or another, like I always end up doing eventually.

Bear with me…

I just recently switched over to WordPress after seeing the awesomeness in my friend’s blogs/websites (not to mention, I should really learn the back-end for future job prospects).

I’ll be making changes here and there, but if you need anything, feel free to contact me at matt@mattdigirolamo.com.