My first week of residency in Ireland has been completed, and I’m happy to say that there was a lot of fun things to do while getting used to the country. As the featured picture I included a waterfall we looked at while traveling outside of Dublin last Friday. Today was my first day of work though, and after getting used to the people and environment I will be working with, I’ve come to learn some things about what I will need to bring to the team.

First off, I will essentially be working in web design. Some things that certainly come in handy is technical literacy when it comes to learning new tools and strategies to build a website’s user count on the web. Despite all my time in User-Centered Design at Pitt, there are still new techniques or tools (like online Search Engine Optimization Tools) that I will need to use in order to perform my job. These new ideas, however, are quickly absorbed because I have spent a long time learning things in the past. I personally believe there will always be new obstacles or things to learn when joining a team or starting a project, so being experienced in learning and problem solving is a strong skill to have. Other than that, the ability to scour the internet for resources is also a useful trait. Turns out when running a small business, many people come across similar problems and useful tips are well documented for figuring out a bug in the code required for processing payment information on a website for example.

To dive deeper into my work environment, I will be working in a shared workplace called the Tara Building. The reason for this place specifically is because the person I work for mostly runs small businesses through her websites. These websites provide services mostly through the web, so there really isn’t any need for her to have a designated workspace throughout the year. Because of this, Saoirse rents out these spaces for the duration of my internship and I meet with her and possible some of the other people working for her when necessary. The workplace itself is spacious and included plenty of open desk space or cubicles to get work done. On top of the work-related amenities, there are also two kitchens, a roof area, and a bathroom. To be completely honest, I like the building and can see myself getting stuff done in this environment. Due to the nature of an open work space, there are people coming in and out throughout the day to get their work done, which segways perfectly into my next point on social competency.

One specific competency I found useful in Ireland was in a social aspect. Reading between the lines is a very important thing here. From past working experiences, I am used to people telling me exactly what to do, when to have it done, and how to do it. Here, there seems to be much more freedom for interpretation. Though I am not yet used to the reading between lines, I believe the social aspect to Irish work culture has many strengths that I quickly got along with . Though it may not be directly related to my job performance, a big part of enjoying work here is saying hello to the people around you as work gets done. Even during lunch, for example, it’s far more interesting to talk to people instead of finding some place elsewhere to eat alone. Talking to the people around me throughout the day keeps me engaged and the day ends up passing by quickly. I am confident that my productivity went through the roof after connecting with people more.

All in all, I am greatly looking forward to this job experience. The Web Design nature of this internship will have me doing a lot of design work on various website tools and some coding for backend data, but what I’m really learning about most is how to interact with other professionals in the work place. I fully expect to use the experience I gather here in future internships and most likely the job force once I graduate from Pitt in 2027. The professional world is much different than the work environment I had in the past. As a server and bartender, situations between coworkers had the potential to get heated during trying times. For that reason I was quite nervous about the new, more professional environment. What I learned from only my first day, though, is that we work as a team. This is exactly what I joined this internship program for. I look forward to more workdays in the future!