What do free ice cream, cheesy puns and George Michael’s Careless Whisper have in common? They are all part of the wonderful welcome we received from the colorful group of people that make up the Altitude Group.
In all seriousness, we’ve found that this team is the intersection where intelligence meets creativity. On our first day we experienced the expected nervous jitters. Do you remember your first job? After every introduction the thought of “I hope they like me” ran through our heads.
Except for Ryan. He assumes everyone likes him.
We were told in the initial interview that this would be a very “hands on” experience, and we quickly saw this materialize before our first lunch break. We didn’t just sit in on brainstorms, we were actively encouraged to participate and contribute to actual projects. Coffee-runners need not apply, the Altitude Group internship gives an actual taste of the real world.
We’ve seen bathroom stalls bigger than our cubicle, but we quickly made a home of our shared digs. Every good real estate agent knows that location is everything. It forced us to get to know each other in a short amount of time, despite Nneka’s best efforts to ignore Ryan’s bad jokes.
There’s a few cons to our location: we sit too far from the team, and being too close to the fridge means that a smelly apocalypse is always imminent from long-forgotten food stuffs.
We are, however, close to Herm’s office, and the onslaught of puns that come out of his office. If we weren’t so busy working on other projects, we’d probably meticulously note them all and try to get it published.
Despite the highs and lows of our cubicle locale, by the end of our first week there was a moment when we realized that we work here.
The first two weeks have been a truly unparalleled experience, and we can’t wait to see what the next eight have in store for us!
-Ryan and Nneka