My first day at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) was Wednesday, June 4. On my first day, I didn’t have many tasks to do, so it was mostly an introductory day focused on getting more acclimated to the workplace. I was introduced to several team members including Tetiana Shchukina, the Recruitment Executive, Arif Rahman, an Information Systems Officer, and my supervisor, Patricia White, the IT Manager.
First Arif helped get me set up with my laptop, and I logged into all the necessary applications using my new IMMA email. Afterward, Tetiana walked me through using BambooHR, the internal HR platform they use at IMMA. It has a lot of impressive features such as an organizational tree to see everyone who works here, employee blog posts about updates in the museum, a calendar of events happening at the museum, and a built-in to-do list to help keep your tasks organized.
Since one of my projects this summer is going to be working on IMMA’s Smartify app to help improve a digital walkthrough of the museum, Patricia gave me a quick tour of one of the museum’s galleries. While most of their exhibitions and artwork rotate from museum to museum, the one that she showed me was exclusively composed of art from IMMA’s own collection, which was cool to see firsthand.
After touring more of the museum, I watched a few training videos and then I went out to lunch with Patricia, Arif, and Mark, an onsite contractor. We walked through the museum garden trail and managed to avoid the rain, which is hard to do in Ireland. It was interesting to talk about different foods in terms of culture. Arif is from Bangladesh, Patricia is from Australia, and Mark is from Ireland. We talked about what our favorite foods are and they recommended local places I should try in Ireland like Bunsen, a good burger place near Temple Bar.
On my second day of work, I learned how to set up laptops for new employees. Arif had a walkthrough of steps to follow on how to set it up, and I ended up setting up three laptops. In terms of time management, I decided to set up more than one laptop at once since a lot of the steps would involve waiting for the laptop to restart or update, which could take a long time. Arif also seemed really busy with his own tasks, so I offered to take on one of his setups to help out since I was getting the hang of it and had the time. I had other tasks to do such as completing online training courses, but I decided to prioritize setting up the laptops since I knew that was more urgent and hands-on. In addition, since I know that Arif will be working remotely for the rest of the summer, I wanted to learn from him as much as possible while in person.
Later in the day, I met two other interns, Louise and AnnaMaria. They are a part of the Operations team and work under Catherine O’Byrne, the Senior Commercial Events Manager. They showed me a nearby shop called SuperValu where they also make fresh sandwiches for lunch. It was great to hear their perspectives about working and living here. AnnaMaria is originally from Serbia and has been living in Ireland for four years, while Louise is from Ireland. Their different perspectives made for an interesting and fun conversation. We got coffee after lunch, and Louise and I both got mochas. After mentioning that I love chocolate, Louise said I have to try Butler’s Chocolate Cafe, a spot that’s known for making great mochas and giving you a complimentary piece of chocolate with your drink.
Overall I feel I’ve done a strong job managing my time and prioritizing tasks efficiently. I’ve focused on completing key tasks such as setting up laptops and progressing through my online training videos and courses, while also making time to meet and connect with a lot of the staff members who work here. I can tell the work environment at IMMA is very friendly and welcoming, which has made it easy to feel comfortable and engaged. I expect to get busier as time progresses, but I’m excited about the work I’ll be doing. Some of my upcoming projects include touring the gallery to give feedback on the Smartify app, building phish awareness campaigns for the staff, building cyber security courses for the staff, and building Shopify templates suitable for the IMMA shop.
