Brief Breathers

This week I decided to take some unprecedented breathers from my usual job application-study-event routine. I still did all three, but I peppered in some new experiences just to spice things up a little. It's challenging sometimes not to get tunnel vision with the job search, so to put things into perspective I decided to sign up for some activities outside of software engineering to remind myself that there is a world outside of the one I'm so wrapped up in.

Intro to UX Workshop
On Monday I decided to attend General Assembly's free Intro to UX Design workshop. I've always wanted to attend one of their free sessions to see what it's like but it's usually during the daytime, which is not ideal for someone working the 9-5.

It was really fun! I loved how we honed in on the design decisions of various mobile apps and digital products, and then split up into groups to think of how we would design an imaginary festival app built by Spotify. It let me exercise my creative juices and think about something other than code for a bit.

Nextdoor Research Study
I'm a pretty active user on Nextdoor, the neighborhood app. I don't post that much stuff but I like to be in the know of what's going on. Whether it's crime, classifieds, or shop openings/closings, I like to digest it all. So it was no surprise that when a product manager reached out for research participants to test out something they're building for their app, I immediately signed myself up.

Plus, I always like to see what different offices look like. Because I myself have not been privy to working in big, fancy schmancy offices before, it's always exciting to see how spacious and nicely decorated a workplace can be.

It was fun being the second person to test out this feature/campaign Nextdoor wants to try and discovering all the bugs in their platform; I felt like one of those quirky field study participants on TV who can't stop asking questions and calling out things for not being user friendly. Being paid to be super opinionated is really fun!

Also, the method in which they recorded my actions on the app on my phone was hilarious: They had me hug an engineer's laptop from behind and play with their app in front of the webcam to record my motions. DIY recording at a tech company at its finest.

Volunteering to Pack Supplies for Homeless Youth (At the Crossroads)
This was also one of those activities I'd always wanted to do but haven't been able to because of scheduling conflicts in the past. I love volunteering at the SF Marin Food Bank, and I wanted to check out how other nonprofit volunteer sessions are run. They had 3 activities going on: pack bags of snacks, QA for candy packets, and write thank you cards to donors. Jesse and I actually got to do all three!

First, we worked alongside all these other friendly volunteers in an assembly line putting snacks in bags. When we finished, the nonprofit organizers had us stuff already really-packed packets of candy with even more candy. Basically the idea is that they give these packs of candies out, sometimes to groups of homeless youth, and they don't want there to be a difference in volume among the bags. So we had to shove as many Snickers, lollipops, Starbursts, Reese's, etc. as we could into each packet.

After a good half hour of trying to wrangle a few candy packets closed, Jesse and I decided to switch stations to give our fingers a break...and then subsequently found our hands cramping up instead writing thank-you cards to generous donors. It was all really fun though, and I loved how nice everyone there was. I'll definitely be back!


So, yes, with new perspectives gained this week, there's now a new motivation to keep chugging along the job search ride!