It's time to BUILD character
AOL is not just your grandpa's email provider anymore.
Famous people actually COME here. To VISIT. And TALK. And possibly take SELFIES *fingers crossed*.
It wasn't something that I thought would happen as part of this job. It's not like I applied to be a Cambio intern just for the possibility of celebrity selfies.
Though that is not a drawback by any means
It just turns out that this internship is less of a professional thing than I ever expected.
"Working hard, even during lunch 😜 #builtbygirls #cambio Snap creds to the fab @oliviajohnsto"
Sure, our lead engineer gives us a task to complete. Sure, we have meetings scheduled throughout the week. Sure, we have to have our new version of Cambio done by the middle of August.
But, other than that, we're free to do as we please.
That has resulted in one noise complaint so far...whoops ;)
We get in by 9:15 and immediately are drawn into the downward spiral that is social media. Several dozens Facebook scrolls, Snapchat updates, and BuzzFeed quizzes later, we are ready to tackle the day, whether it's going into a meeting about page performance or figuring out the monster that is a time tag.
Don't even ask. It took me FOUR DAYS.
By noon, IT'S LUNCH TIME. You wouldn't believe how hungry we get. Coding is pretty tiring, especially when you end up sitting in the same position for four hours trying to get a for loop to work in Twig.
Our lunch hour is not only relegated to the act of consuming comestibles. Oh no. By day four, we had explored the entirety of the fifth floor, giving us access to what we have now dubbed "the kids corner."
And yes, we realize the irony.
It is there that we chow down on chicken-parmesan sandwich (me) and the various food products from the vendors that AOL brings in (everyone else), while also partaking in the games they have stashed there.
Jenga and Cards Against Humanity are personal favorites of mine :)
AND, most importantly, I have never lost at Jenga, even though this internship introduced me to it. I AM THE QUEEN OF BUILDING THINGS WOOOOO!!1!
"We're women engineers 👍🏻 #builtbygirls #brokenbygirls #cambio #jenga #girlswhocode"
Let's not forget the most important part of what I do every day at work. GO TO THE BUILD SESSIONS.
"#aolbuild with Sir Ian McKellen and Laura Linney!!! Sir Ian McKellen: emotional Sherlock Holmes, Gandalf the Gay, not-friends with Patrick Stewart,..."
It's so crazy how chill everyone is about the fact that dozens of celebrities just casually come into the building and do interviews in front of an audience. They send out the schedules for the sessions weekly, and we once got the email when we were fixing our laptops' VPN connections.
I'm pretty sure that the workers on the fourth floor heard us squeal about Bill Hader, Vanessa Bayer, and Judd Apatow coming in for press about their upcoming movie, "Trainwreck" (which I still have to see NO SPOILERS PLS).
Trust me, the IT guys were excited, but their fingers weren't shaking as they typed in their information for a reservation. In fact, most people don't reserve seats at all--they kind of just stand in the back of the room and peer anxiously as the camera guy rolls back and forth on his little cart.
I've been in that position WAY too many times. UGH MY LIFE SUCKS ;)
"Had the amazing opportunity to listen to Judd Apatow, Bill Hader, and Vanessa Bayer be funny (and answer questions 😉) at the #Trainwreck #aolbuild 😄..."
FYI I was being sarcastic. I love this: the coding, the BUILD sessions, the friendships, the involvement with an actual product. I'm lucky beyond words.
