A first-month reflection by Sabah Butt
rel8ed.to Analytics opened our operations centre in St. Catharines to take advantage of the great skills and fresh ideas made available through Ontario’s co-op Employment program. In this blog we’re featuring one of our newest hires from Brock University’s computer science department. Sabah addresses the fears and triumphs of the first few weeks working at a new company.
It did not take long for me to feel overwhelmed on my first day at my new job. Trying to adapt to all the new tools, technologies, and business trends turned my reality into a maze of tasks and priorities.
At every turn, worried thoughts and questions precariously popped up in my head. Had I made the right decision for myself? Did they pick the right person for this job? These questions of uncertainty plagued my mind all day, making me increasingly anxious with every passing minute. I spent my first day with such apprehension, longing for the time I would return home.
I wondered at how fast-paced the workflow could be as I received my first assignment. I had never been more doubtful of my ability to succeed. My heart and mind were filled with the fear of all the work that would pile up as time went on at this new job. Were my skills adequate to keep up?
But deep down, I knew I wanted to do this – it was something I had been looking forward to for months. My passion for information technology was paramount to overcoming my fears and persisting in my work.
As the second day passed, I feared I would cave in to the mounting uncertainty of what I was doing. I remember thinking: I simply could not handle it anymore and contemplated leaving.
The third day was structured around official employee training. I entered the training room, frightened of what kind of information or responsibilities will be thrown at me in this new job. I thought I would have to become an expert in just a few short hours.
After a few hours of training, a sudden realization dawned on me, and I genuinely smiled to myself for the first time in those three days. This is my chance to gain knowledge, skills and understanding that will impact my career life in a very positive way. This new job would bring me the confidence which I was lacking as a programmer by eliminating the persistent fear of not knowing – or in other words – the fear of having to confess “I don’t know” to a programming question someone might ask me.
Moving from the first week to the next, I realized I was doing what I had wanted all along. I was following my passion, continuing to learn, building a career, and creating something that will have an impact on the world.
And from that moment, I knew I belonged here.
For me, a co-op term doesn’t mean having a fancy badge and a nice office to work in. These trappings shouldn’t really matter much and definitely should not be bragged about on social media or even amongst friends. Instead, one should definitely brag about what they learned or what they gained out of their four months of experience working as an intern.
I can’t really speak on behalf of other start-up companies, but rel8ed.to has given me an opportunity that I will always be grateful for. Therefore, I encourage every co-op student to try to obtain a position to work here as you will always have such a great insight on real work experience that you may not find elsewhere. It has not been a month yet, but I have gotten my hands on so many different tools and aspects of data science. I’m very excited to see where this co-op assignment will take me as a programmer this term.
My name is Sabah Butt, Systems & Business Analyst at rel8ed.to Analytics!
Come join us
rel8ed.to is currently hiring co-ops for the Summer! Check out information on postings at our partner universities in Canada and the US.