This past weekend, I traveled to London! I saw Big Ben and went to the British Museum! I also saw the Philadelphia Phillies, my hometown team, play against the New York Mets! Big Ben was my favorite part of the trip! I really like how in Europe the buildings are all so pretty and usually have an interesting back story since they were built so long ago. For Big Ben specifically, I did not know that it was connected to the Parliament building. London also had great food. A few friends and I went to a steak house where they gave us free popcorn and ice cream. It was delicious. Overall, London was really cool, and it was very exciting to see new places and attractions.
This week at work, I have been given a new task of creating Excel sheets for different financial plans. I have enjoyed this task as I am very familiar with Excel. I love to learn new things, but it is also nice to be comfortable with the tasks you are given occasionally. This week with the Excel sheets, I have felt like I am truly contributing to the company rather than being in a learning position.
However, I do face a lot of uncertainty at work. I am working for a company that created software to aid real estate agents create invoices. The company also manages different software for estate agents such as software that helps agents know where they stand in relation to other agents in Ireland. I am still not entirely familiar with all the different software in that they are all extremely intricate and detailed. I face uncertainty when I am given jobs regarding these different software.
Specifically, one of the jobs I have been helping with is answering the phones to create a ticket for customers who are facing issues with different software. This has been a slightly difficult task as I am not familiar with the software to the extent that I am able to help the customers myself. It can also be hard to put their problems or complaints into words in that I am not completely comfortable with the different tech terms that they use or not familiar with the way that the software runs in general. I have been doing my best to listen very intently and rephrase their technical issues in my own words back to them to ensure that I have correctly understood their area of need.
Occasionally, I face difficulty receiving clear instructions on projects that I am working on. My boss is very busy. He is also happy to give me work to do and explain when he has time; however, because of his busy schedule, it can be difficult to ask him for clear instructions. I usually am given a task and kind of just mess around with it until it makes sense to me or until I figure it out. For example, my boss asked me to add two new people as users on a software. I was not entirely sure how to complete this task. I took time to get familiar with the platform and ultimately, I did figure it out. However, if the task given to me is very important, I am willing to ask for help to make sure that I do not create more work for other people.
Lastly, I have uncertainty about when to ask for more work. I believe that it is better for me to ask my boss for more work rather than not doing anything at all. My boss is often on work calls. For me, this makes it difficult to ask for more work to do as I do not want to interrupt him. However, I also want to be helpful and do as much work as I can possibly do. To deal with this, I have been asking my boss in the morning what he wants me to complete for the day. My boss has become aware that I want to do as much as I can for him. He has recently been giving me bigger and more time-consuming tasks and he knows my capabilities.
Overall, the uncertainty of a new job has been overpowered by the kindness of my boss. He is very understanding and willing to help when he has available time. Over time, the uncertainty has become less and less as I am becoming more familiar with the company, the different software, and my role in the company. I am excited to grow my role in the company over time.