#sinclairdigital

[milacodes]

OhMyGodINeedToDoMyTaxes (and other updates)

Heavens to Betsy, I need to get my taxes done. Time to call my accountant.

My accountant, James.

On an unrelated note: You guys remember when I said I would update you with how my first week was at my new job? Whoopsie daisy!

I’m about the start my 8th week, so there’s a lot to catch you up on. Strap in.

The Office My office is right next to Seattle Center. I’m actually in the KOMO building, on the same floor where they film the news. So far, I’ve had Molly Shen, Brad Goode and Steve Pool sightings. Look ‘em up. The People My coworkers are awesome. I can talk sports with at least 2 of them. Another taught me the history of Fiji and the different cultures the country has. And I can drop lines from Anchorman with another. Milk was a bad choice.

The Job It’s been interesting so far. I’m on the WebOps team, which provides customer service and support for the TV stations that use the CMS (Content Management System, like Wordpress) that Sinclair Digital built. Most issues the TV stations have are simple fixes like giving someone access to a certain site, or making edits to pages on the CMS. But every once in a while something in the CMS breaks and emergency calls start coming in. That’s where the WebOps team shines - or in my case, panic and escalate the problem as quickly as possible.

Me, whenever the phone rings.

For the first 7 weeks I’d been doing only customer service/support work and hadn’t looked at any code. That was a bit disappointing, but there were a couple reasons for this. One was that I needed to fully understand the process of helping customers navigate the CMS. Another was just the fact that I didn’t have the right computer. But that’s going to change soon. I’ve finally gotten set up on a Macbook pro with all the programs that I need. Soon, I’ll be able to take on some of the work that requires a code change, but doesn’t need to get escalated to the developers that are focused on other things, like implementing new features for the site.

Other Junk

I’m still an instructor for Girls Who Code. I was afraid work would be too busy, but my manager, Brian, has allowed me to participate every 3 weeks, so that’s awesome.

Brian has set me up with a mentor. She’s one of 2 female developers in the whole office. Our meetings have been helpful. Since I haven’t touched code yet, I haven’t had many work related tech questions to ask. But her main advice to me is to stay busy building my own projects so I don’t forget what I learned at Coding Dojo.

So, I dragged my friend, and fellow Coding Dojo grad, Shana into a weekly coding night. Both of our jobs aren’t code-heavy, so we meet every Wednesday after work and attempt to code. So far, I’ve built...nothing. But it’s the thought that counts.

I’ve realized how hard it is to have side projects outside of work. I need to keep up on my skills, but Grey’s Anatomy isn’t gonna watch itself, amiriiiiiiiiight?

Ugh. Taxes.