Not really what I imagined...

Claudia Ostafijczuk-Wydrzynska
Graphic and Media Design 

Since the beginning of October I have been working for a document experience startup company. Their main goal is to turn PDF's into something more interesting and collect analytics as well - like what page the reader got to, did they click on any of the links/widgets and if they even opened the document. I can describe their platform as being in the beta stage as there are still many bugs and things that need changing. When I started, I thought that this internship would mostly be editorial design made using mostly Indesign and other Adobe software, as they do make presentations and PDFs and put them through their platform to make them interactive. Although once I actually got to work it turned out that the work I was given has to be done in... Google slides. Why? Because the owners want every member of the team to have access and be able to change the documents. "Ok.." I thought while getting started on the document. After some time I was getting more and more annoyed by how un-precise Google Slides were but I got through the document and did my best to somehow set the text on an imaginary grid line and made the elements stand on a document grid. At one point I made a document in Indesign and tried to sneak it onto the platform hoping that after seeing how much cleaner the file turned out they would let me work using Adobe, but I had to make it in Google Slides later anyway.

I started this internship hoping that I can practice Adobe software and get better at it at the same time making myself be better prepared for future jobs and projects which is why for the first month or so I was very upset with myself, the internship, the company, literally with everyone. "Why didn't I start searching sooner?", "Why didn't I make a better portfolio that would have got me a better internship?" I asked myself. 

But now, 2 months in, I am trying to look at the positive side as every experience teaches us something new. Working for this company gives me a look into how a business is run in the early stages and am I happy to be involved in the process, as my actions do affect how the company will be seen by clients. While making documents, I also have to look for certain bugs on the platform that could make potential client's lives hard and find ways to work around them - which requires creative problem solving and also is fun to do as I am quite passionate about technology. Even though this internship isn't what I thought it would be, I know that I have made progress and will make more and more progress even if I don't see it straight away.

That being said - stop focusing on the bad things and bringing yourself down, find positivity in everything you do and use it to keep going forward!