Nov
30th

I’m sure most of us have a job where we have to collaborate with colleagues everyday. I’m sure we’ve all had bad days and get irritated when they are constantly asking from things from you, while you are already juggling a ton of other tasks and vice versa. I’m sure we’ve  all had that feeling where you need to ask someone for something but you feel really bad for bothering them because they’re really busy.

But as a part of our job, we are required to help others with their dependencies on you, and you must also push them in order to meet your deliverables as well.

My biggest problem when I first entered the industry was that I always felt bad asking my leads for things because sometimes we’d get so busy that we can hardly breathe, and once you lose focus, it can be hard to get back in. This was usually related to asking for advice and feedback and asking them to come over to my desk in person because you know, they’d have to completely stop what they were doing and walk all over to my desk. After managing others, I’ve learned that it’s better to ask for anything as soon as you need it, because your leads would probably be a lot happier if you asked for for anything earlier on, since your work reflects them as well. I’ve had experiences where a workflow could’ve been a lot faster if the designer just asked for feedback earlier, than spend days on wasted work. Not a good reflection on both of you! Now, whenever I need something from anyone (clients, engineers, other designers, etc), I’d do it right away with no hesitation because it’s my job on the line.

Simply an amazing office!

There is a software engineer I always work with, who probably always ask me for the most things ever— questions, changes to this and that, etcetera, etcetera, but I’ve never given him a second and always got him what he needed right away because: his emails and the way he talks is always polite, thankful and apologetic and usually begins with a, “Hi Katy, I’m sorry to bother you again but…” and always ends in a “thank you so much!” (and the fact that he is super nice)— how can you get irritated at that?

My point is, if you want things from other people, always ask nicely and never demand it. If you need something and feel bad for asking, just remember, if it’s going to affect your efficiency, the quality of your work or even your performance review, ASK FOR IT ASAP. Don’t hold off on it!

This entry came into mind after I walked to a colleague’s desk one day while he was eating his lunch and was frantically trying to swallow but hey, it was an urgent issue! I don’t even have second thoughts any more when colleagues interrupt my lunch because no one really does it unless it’s urgent.

Nov
15th

The bad thing about working in the video game industry is that it makes me lazy and inconsistent— in terms of looks and fashion. When you go out, you should always look your best because you never know who you’re going to meet, but at my workplace, where networking does happens, I don’t do always do this, and I should!

If you know the industry, you would know how relaxed it is. We wear whatever we want, we have beer fridges, we attend fitness classes, play games, take our dogs for a walk, eat or simply grab a coffee whenever we want. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely not all fun and games here, but this atmosphere is designed to balance out our high-stress work environment.

Some days I’ll come to work all dressed up with my 4” heels, make up on and hair done while other days I’ll arrive looking like I just got out of bed. I’ll go to the gym in the middle of the day and come back to my desk with my hair still dripping wet and my face beet red— my colleague walked by once and asked, “is it raining outside?” I would rather look hideous for a while than fry my hair with the dryer, every single day, okay. With this being said, I swear I am going to try making an effort… at least 90% of the time.

What do you wear to work? Do you make an effort to dress up everyday?

Jul
29th

• AIR CONDITIONING (what a perfect time to publish this entry). At least this should make the bosses happy that I’d rather work longer than leave this building and go melt away with the rest of Vancouver in this unbearable heat.
  

  Whether or not you were born here, you’re a true Vancouverite if you bitch about the weather, be it hot, cold, or rainy. Complain away!

  - @blandcouver

• Free 24-hour gym … with a tanning bed and towel service (you know how they always make you pay extra for that at other gyms). It’s definitely not one of those dinky community center-like gyms either.



• Free Starbucks coffee, free tea, free hot chocolate, etc. at the coffee stations on each floor. Even though I buy my own coffee on the way to work, I have my own stash of Chinese/Japanese teas and I rarely drink hot chocolate… at least it feels good knowing it’s all there.
• Relaxed atmosphere. There’s no one checking up on me every 5 minutes and everyone is chill. I even took a nap in my cube during lunch once when I was severely hung over.
• No dress code. I can wear whatever I want! The only thing is that one day I’ll be really dressed up but the next day when I’m feeling uber-lazy, I’ll be totally fashion faux-pas-ing it (like I’ve been doing this entire summer because I just don’t care about summer clothing). I wonder if anyone notices since I sit with mostly guys anyway.
• Lots of meetings/events/BBQs with free food and beer. Although I don’t take advantage of it all the time… can you imagine how much I’d weigh and besides, I have my own stash of unhealthy snacks at my cube. Plus I don’t drink beer which means I’m wasting one of my benefits!! Oh well. They should serve free bubble tea!! Hyukhyukhyuk.
• The “Gourmet” Cafeteria. The caf has it’s hit-and-misses (like that day they decided to experiment with sushi with processed cheese) and I only eat there a couple times a week but the staff is nice, the sushi chef always makes me my specially ordered chopped-scallop nigiri (sooo good), the salad bar is always good, the breakfast wrap is muy awesome. They also have poutines (my favorite) at the grill station but the gravy sucks. Too bad for me.
• Boyfriend gets to reap away at my benefits. Like the gym… good thing for him because he lives 3 minutes away while I live 20 minutes away. *inserts jealous glare here*
• Cheap games. I get my Sims games (the only game I really like) for very cheap. Gotta thank my company for wasting my life away especially with the release of Sims 3. :dead:
• Pay and benefits. Blah blah blah… uninteresting but it belongs on the list.

From The Secret Society of List Addicts

Jun
25th

Jul
17th