My 6 Months At Meta Wrapped - Honestly

How's things going at your job? In this post I reflect on how my first 6 months at Meta have been. “An unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates.

Hi Reader,

In this post I wanted to take a chance of being open and honest by sharing my reflections on how my first 6 months at Meta have been. Hopefully this post can inspire you to reflect on how things are going at work as well. “An unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates.

Uncertain times

Joining a new job under uncertain times with the COVID spike in December 2021 meant that the whole experience was a very unique challenge. Starting a new company virtually made it a whole different kettle of fish, people do understand this.

I feel like there’s a lot that could’ve gone worse; however, having the right network around to guide me has been crucial.

Being a new starter

I feel like the people you interact with in your first month are so important to shaping your views and experience at the company. There are a few mountains you have to climb between month one and month 6 when joining a new environment, starting virtually at a new job for the first time made this a totally different challenge for me personally.

My fave tip when I started - probably came from Jeannie, who has a very sincere and honest approach. “You're in control of your own time, no one is going to force you to turn up to meetings, no one is going to manage your calendar for you”

Have a buddy

Having a buddy is really important. Nico really helped a lot in my first few months at Meta and has been such a great buddy and continues to check in and offer me support. This really helped make the first few months a lot more welcoming.

No stupid questions

I had so many questions about little and simple things when first joining. Having someone to answer these in a transparent and sincere way is one of the most helpful things. Having someone to help adjust your expectations, making sure your health and well-being is okay and giving you assurance you will make it to the end of the 6 months with ease.

Month 5

When I joined it felt like how can I really reach the heights and expectations. Honestly a lot of this is self-imposed, and it comes from a lack of confidence when you first join a new company.

Take each day as it comes, your confidence compounds after each day, each week and each month you work.

Little did I know, after the 5th month I had this realisation and confidence boost:

"Wow I can really be a great designer here and I feel like I can start to flourish and unlock my potential. I can do this!"

To a new starter joining

What clicks is a realisation of self-belief, I know that I’m good enough to be here, I have a better understanding of the projects and processes at Meta.

Think of it like when a kid learns to walk, there's immense praise and support even when they take their first steps, remember to celebrate every small step and win you make.

You’ve built that relationship up with your team, you understand how they like to work, there’s that chemistry and bond, the tension is released.

The sooner you’re more confident in yourself the easier things become. It’s very important to be humble as a person, but remember you need to believe in yourself as well.

Personally going into the office if you’re not remote helped me a lot. Putting real faces to people’s names helped, building a more personal relationship with people, joking around and having fun.

Things I’ve Learnt About Myself

I never thought I would be a traditionalist when it comes to remote work, but damn I really value the office experience when joining a brand new team and company.

I am pretty clear and good at setting boundaries and switching off from work.

I need to get rid of my design ego when showcasing my work, I’m too hesitant about asking for feedback.

I expect and demand a lot from myself and set myself standards that can be pretty damn hard to achieve.

The value of friends and a great team is so important to me.

As long as I’m learning and feel like I’m learning I don’t mind putting an extra shift in.

I get frustrated if I feel like I’ve got no value out of a meeting or I’ve not used my time in the day that effectively.

I lose motivation on a project if I can’t see the fruits of my design work being executed.

Getting to know team mates on a more personal level is wholesome and fun.

Challenging moments

You're so focused on your execution and vision pieces of work, your time and energy dwindle. Day to day you don’t really notice this. Watch out.

A lot of days I feel like I’m not learning anything cutting edge or new, which is something i I’m just using my existing skillset, my current Figma skills.

I wanted to learn more about prototyping, when I was asked why not try and reach out further and try this piece of work, my heart and passion had completely faded with my energy levels dropping.

The next 6 what I’m hoping for

Celebrating more. The first 6 months I didn't celebrate many of the small wins. Day to day you get sucked into the hustle, but there's a lot of wins throughout the first 6 months.

Having a design mentor outside of Workplace. Things are quite different immediately outside the Workplace team and there’s a lot of opportunities to learn here.

Get closer to the product I’m designing, the lack of talking to customers, seeing customers use the product in real life has been a real missed opportunity.

The opportunity to work with another designer on a project. Having someone to bounce ideas off, push a project together, motivate and push each other.

Talking and speeches, more opportunities to teach and help others.

Pushing me to explain my design rationale and thinking and work this muscle more.

Unleashing and unlocking the opportunity now we’ve got a full house of XFN partners.

More hackathons.

Wrapping up the wrap

The first 6 months have been a whole array of emotions and feelings, presenting me with a lot of first time experiences. There's a lot to be grateful for and I've enjoyed the experience. I can confidently say I've grown a lot as a person and reflecting on this it's been awesome.

I feel like I’ve only just started to unwrap and uncover some of the potential I have as a designer.

Understanding more clearly and definitively of where I want to go and what I want to do next is something I'm building a clearer picture and understanding on.

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