Coming out of college, one of the things that drew me toward working as an SSP Junior Developer was the fact that I wasn’t going to be a simple “code monkey.” I wouldn’t sit behind a screen all day and mindlessly program. The idea of not only getting to create programs that help large groups of people and of working with large amounts of data in multiple databases — but also getting to interact with the clients and build relationships — appealed to me.
In my first few months as an SSP Junior Developer, all my client interactions were over the phone. Some of them were calls involving multiple people from multiple companies. Other interactions had me one-on-one with a project manager. However, this November, the time had come for me to go onsite to help a client for the very first time. The trip would be to Oregon, and I was excited. Going into it, though, I felt a bit nervous. This was going to be the first time I wasn’t in the comfort of the office I had grown accustomed to. That being said, I felt prepared for the trip, and in the end, my first onsite visit went very well, and I was able to learn a lot.
Before Departing
Before I left, my coworkers told me stories of people forgetting something while onsite, or of something breaking. With this being my first time onsite, I wanted this to go as smoothly as possible. I decided to be overly cautious when it came to preparing to leave.
I decided to bring all my monitor cables with me, just in case. I had been told beforehand that I would have a workstation ready for me once I arrived at the client site. However, on the off chance that something would go wrong with the workstation, I wanted to make sure that I would be able to use my laptop as my main computer. Was this overly cautious of me? Probably, but had an issue arisen, it would have been terrible to not be prepared! I even decided to bring my own keyboard and mouse with me. I probably wouldn’t need them, but it would be nice to have them. When it came to clothing, that was pretty simple. I just had to make sure that I had enough clothes for while I was working, and regular clothes for afterwards.
Aside from packing, I had to make sure all of my code was somewhere easily accessible. Since I was going to be onsite, I didn’t know if I would be able to access our source control. So I went ahead and made a copy of any code, scripts, or any other software I would need and saved this to my desktop. While not the most elegant solution, it was simple, quick, and allowed me to do everything I needed to do.
Onsite with this SSP Junior Developer
Once I was onsite, it was time to get to work. The first day definitely felt strange. I was in a completely different time zone than my body was used to. It didn’t help that I was also getting up earlier than normal. I knew I had to shake it off though, and go about work as I usually would, to represent the company as an SSP Junior Developer. Once I got into the client’s office for the first time, I finally got to meet the people I had been talking to over the phone for the past couple of months. It was nice to put a face to the voice I already knew!
After introductions and getting the workstations set up, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t that different from working in the SSP office. Sure, the desk was different, and I had just met the people who were around me, but at that point, it felt more like a first day on the job where you already happen to know exactly what to do. Plus, I had my other coworker there with me which made the whole experience even easier. It was also helpful that the people I was working with were great. They were very friendly and helpful. They kept the work environment fun and interesting, such as pointing out a nutria (giant rodent animal) that was strolling through the grass in front of the building one day. It made the next few days feel like normal work days for me.
The one main difference I noticed is the pace at which I was working. In the office, where I have multiple projects and tasks, the pace can sometimes feel laid back. If I’m stuck on a project, I could always go ask someone for help, or work on another task to help freshen my mind. This of course changes when a deadline is near, as you feel the pressure to make sure everything is done and done well. While working onsite, the hectic feeling of working with a looming deadline is ever present. It makes for a much faster working pace than normal. This was especially noticed if any problems came up, but I expected this. No project is going to go perfect the very first time. In fact, no project will ever go perfectly. This isn’t a perfect world, and knowing this going into this experience made it go rather smoothly.
While I Wasn’t Working
While finishing the job was important, I found that it was also important to manage the time I was not working. This was another area where the clients I worked with were more than helpful, as they were able to give my coworker and I great ideas for places to grab some food. If there is one thing to take from this, it would be to ask those who work at the client you are working for the good places to eat around town! Remember, your clients people actually live here, while you are basically a tourist.
My client pointed my cowroker and myself in the direction of some great places to eat, and we decided on a brewery. Having to figure that out on my own would have been a challenge. How else was an SSP Junior Developer from Denver going to find Plank Tower Brewery — a craft brewery to eat at with fantastic beer and a delicious pulled pork sandwich that had an apple on it (yes, an apple on a pulled pork sandwich) — in Oregon?! I probably would have found one place I liked, and eaten there every chance I got. While I consider myself an adventurous person, my mind wasn’t exactly on finding food and adventure, what with work being the reason I was there in the first place.
In the end, going onsite for the first time was quite the experience. I probably overprepared for it, and got myself overly nervous, but the only thing I would have changed was having a few less issues pop up while working. That’s always the hope though. Overall, it was a very fun time working onsite for the first time and I look forward to the next time I get to venture outside of my cozy cubicle.
Are you interested in becoming an SSP Junior Developer? Visit SSP Careers for information on openings.
What do you think?