With the sawing of another door desk, I was welcomed last week as the newest member of TeachStreet’s class and teacher community. As TeachStreet is the first tech start-up I’ve ever been a part of, not everything was altogether familiar on my first day. In some ways I felt a bit like Forrest Gump in the scene where he is on the bus going to his first day of class. I am pleased to say, however, that unlike the kids on Forrest’s bus, the TeachStreet team welcomed me with open arms. And thankfully, the seat at my door desk was not taken.
Pic: grantmac
One thing that became immediately clear to me upon arrival is that life at TeachStreet will be fundamentally different than it would have been if I had taken a job at a bigger company. How? Well in more ways that I could say, but here are a couple things I likely wouldn’t have gotten across the pond over at Microsoft.
1. My interviewer would probably not have ripped apart my resume. And I don’t mean figuratively. In our first discussion Dave literally tore my resume in half. In his defense, he was writing something down for me and didn’t have any paper, but still, it certainly was a first.
2. Don’t think I would have gotten to use a power drill. It’s not every morning that you get to see your business manager / CEO teacher with a grande drip in one hand and an electric saw in the other. Dave you are quite crafty with that thing, by the way. You thought about teaching a do-it-yourself arts and crafts class on TeachStreet?
As for things I’ve learned so far, well, I will spare everyone the full list, but I will say that high up there is learning the subtle distinctions between plant genuses. I’m still no botanist, but after seeing the plant on Fred’s desk the other day, I now know the difference between fica and mistletoe. Apparently the same rules do not apply when standing next to fica. Sorry Fred, it really was an honest mistake.
Anyway, there will be more to come, I just wanted to share an inaugural blog post and thank everyone for the warm welcome. I believe there is a bright future for TeachStreet and I look forward to being a part of it.