hsyata5point0-blog

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Day Two Placeholder

I was in the process of writing another huge post, even though I said I wouldn’t, but it was taking longer than I thought it would. So I will save it for another time. I was planning on including a bit about me and my background, but as that is what we have been doing ALL DAY, I kind of wanted to take a break. and also I have to get up early, and my phone is yelling at me that I need to go to sleep now to get the full 8 hours! :P 

So hopefully tomorrow I will have a double post or a double long single post. Ehh, who knows, but for now? Good night! xoxo -Exausted but Content

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Intro and Day One

Awesome! I haven’t blogged in so long, but I am really looking forward to this opportunity! I can’t even say that I haven’t had much opportunity, but instead just a lack of drive. Pure laziness, if you will. But without further ado...

Hello! My name is Holly, and I have just completed Day One of the Akamai Technical Academy program! Now, I know what you may be thinking, “Who the heck is this chick?”, “What on earth is Akamai Technical Academy?!” and “Why should I care about this?!”, but give me a moment and I will do my best to explain. 

First, Akamai Technical (not ‘Training’*) Academy (known fondly as ATA), is a paid training program designed and configured to help diversify the work force amongst the technical industry (did you notice I said “paid”?). It focuses on bringing people who don’t necessarily come from a technical background, but who have interest and aptitude for technology to the tech field, focusing on women and people with diverse backgrounds. (Also, ITS PAID.) This particular class is nicknamed 5.0, because we are the 5th class to have been launched. The first two were located in the same office as we are in now, Cambridge, MA, and the latest two (just before us) were from the Krakow, Poland office. I am over-the-moon excited to be a part of this program, as I’m sure most of the other students/participants are as well. There are 22 of us (out of about 400 applicants!) in total who made it through a particularly challenging process to get to this stage. The initial application was pretty straightforward, entering in your details and expertise, but after being accepted through stage one, there were two much more challenging stages. 

Stage One: The Assessment Test. Just as it sounds. Daunting, and leaving you with that feeling of “Oh crap! Where are my clothes?! I’m standing in front of a room full of people, naked!”, except no actual nudity was involved (not that kind of test!). While I thought that I had managed to escape the need to study and partake in the GREs by attending a graduate school in the UK, to make it past this stage, that was exactly what I had to do: study for the GREs. Of course, we weren’t really taking the GREs, but the Akamai equivalent. It might be necessary to explain to you that I am not the first person in my family to have gone through the ATA program. Yeah, that first class, 1.0, that I mentioned before? My younger sister, Belle, was a part of it. She has since been converted to a FT employee at Akamai, and now is a Business Analyst and Program Coordinator for the ATA program, making sure that none of the faux pas that occurred during 1.0 and 2.0 happen again. I know you’re probably wondering if she had anything to do with my success at passing through the three stages to be accepted, but no! She did not! My sister is an incredibly fair human, and, with the exception of hanging out with me and our other sister, Charlotte, on the weekends, she has treated me just like all the other applicants to the ATA program. I found myself filling my weekends leading up to my test pouring over practice tests, and refreshing my memory on how to calculate percentages, plotting graphs, solving for x, and reciting the Pythagorean Theorem, amongst many other math problems that I haven’t even thought of since early college, and very few of which, I might add, were on the actual assessment test! 

Stage Two: The Interviews. *dun dun DUUUUHHH* I just need to start with: I am SO NERVOUS when it comes to interviews! I hate them with a passion (then again, who doesn’t?!?)! Having been on both sides as the interviewer and the interviewee, neither side is particularly fun. I went into Akamai with my head held high, though, trying SO HARD to not think of THAT ONE TIME I was interviewed with situational questions, and I mostly responded with blank stares and “I honestly don’t know”s (PTSD- I had answers to 90% of the questions, but I choked; also have been known to blackout when in hugely uncomfortable positions like answering questions about myself)! May I add, I have since interviewed very well in multiple situations since, including via a video interview where a program records your answers, and plays them to HR later on. And you only have about 90 seconds to answer each question! Talk about pressure! But if I could be hired from crappy video interviews, real-time interviews with real people really there in the room with me? Should be a piece of cake! And honestly, even with all the stress and panicking, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been! However, SURPRISE! It was speed interviews. Interviews. Inter. Views. InterviewS. As in MORE. THAN. ONE. <sarcasm>Thanks for the heads up, Belle!</sarcasm> But I am being overly critical and dramatic. They were actually really pleasant, and while they did feel super rushed, it was fine. And overall, a great process. I left feeling super confident about the interviews and my chances of getting an offer. I don’t think I’ve done as well during any other interview, honestly. It was a good feeling!

Lo and behold and true to the confidence I was feeling when I left the interviews, I was offered a spot in the 5.0 ATA program! Flash forward a few weeks later, and here we are today, Day One of orientation, and this three to four month training program! AND I GET PAID TO DO IT! 

Today, we started the day with some cool freebies and swag:

Pen, Moleskine notebook, ATA branded water bottle, and our badges! We then were introduced to the rest of our cohort (what a funny word!), and started to get to know each other. Every single person that I interacted with, both from the cohort and those leading the program, were incredibly nice and so friendly! We met the team who creates this program, along with the people who work on the actual curriculum, and also the coach that we have to help us be successful. Let me say that again: We have a COACH who’s purpose is to make sure that we SUCCEED in the training program. They don’t teach, per say, but are there to make sure that all our needs and wants are being met, and that we are progressing through the curriculum properly. They get to know each person on an individual basis so that we can all be successfully placed amongst the workforce. We did some ice breakers in the form of “Fun Fact Bingo” (find the person associated with the fun fact), and just general conversations and general excitement for the program. It is a wonderful feeling to partake in something that the management and project coordinators are just as excited about as you are. You can tell that they have really put their hearts and souls into making it the best experience for us, the 5.0 class, and also for those in classes to follow. While we were playing Bingo, the IT team came to bring us our new company issued laptops and to help set up all the basics. 

The laptop came with a new backpack to carry the laptop, along with another water bottle, and some pens, paper, post-its, and a map of the T system (the Boston area’s subway), and other little doodads and beebops. After sending my boyfriend, Tom, both images, he asked, “Why are they giving you all this swag?!” “Because they LOVE us!!” was all I could think to respond with. And that is the truth. From the moment walking in the door, I felt like a valued employee. I don’t even have experience in what they want me to even be doing in the end, and I felt so welcomed, valued, and embraced, more than in any other company I have ever worked for. There were a few hiccups (My last name got switched around and my employee badge wasn’t working), but everything was addressed and was being righted on the spot! I didn’t get to bring home my new computer, but I should have it tomorrow, and I can totally wait a day to make sure my name is correct! 

They gave us breakfast AND lunch. Hoh-lee moh-lee! I haven’t been fed this well with this great food in a looooong time! Our lunch was from Aceituna Grill, which is an amazing Mediterranean food place (I highly recommend it). After lunch we attended the general Akamai On-Boarding presentation. I won’t even get into details, but holy cow! Akamai is SUCH and amazing company! By the mid-afternoon drinks (coffee, tea, etc.) break, my face hurt from smiling so much. I know... such a complaint! 

We eventually made it over to our classroom where we will be meeting for the remainder of the program, and did some more discussions about why we were there, what brought us to Akamai, and what we were doing before this. And then it was time to go home. Oh! I almost forgot to mention the cookies!

How freaking cool is that?! Well, anyway. That wrapped up Day One, and what a great day one it was, too! I still can’t believe that I will be paid for playing Bingo and meeting some amazing people... Hopefully I’ll have some time to report tomorrow, including answering a few of the other questions I started with like who I am and why is it important! But until then, 5 Stars for 5 point OH! :)

*I made the mistake the other day of calling it ‘Training’ the other day, and was told off by my sister who runs a lot of the back end of this program. Apparently, they strongly dislike this mistake being made (sorry, Belle!)!