The work culture varies depending on the place. Some places are strictly conservative and demand that one dresses in a certain way, or talk in a particular fashion when speaking to a supervisor. Then you have the other places whose culture is a bit more lax and allows their employees, even the interns to express disagreement with their supervisor’s decisions when there is rationale behind it. Where you won’t be judged to allow music to play Et al. collaborative is such a place.
Now before you get your knickers in a twist and start sending that cv and cover letter to et al. collaborative. It is a lax work culture but it does not mean that is a lazy work culture. My supervisor, Manu, operates on a different plane than your typical boss but he still expects you to work hard and bring your best to the table every day. It’s not freedom from work but the freedom to work giving your boss one hundred percent every day.
I’m not sure of how it is in other places but Manu is the sort of person who checks in on me when he has something that he thinks might be a great addition for the ongoing academic portfolio project, recommending me to look at magazines and architecture books for references. He trusts me enough to not check up on me every few minutes, knowing that I’m expected to maintain this trust and keep producing good work. He’s the sort to figure out when someone’s messing up and would quickly see to it that they’re not.
No one here is dressed like they’re working at Sterling Cooper, mind you, but the rule of thumb is to dress business casual. I always dress in a dress shirt, with a dark blue vest and matching dress pants for the occasion. It may be an internship but I like to treat it like I’m already someone out in the industry, dressing to impress, except for the first day. I came in dressed in my hoodie and jeans though no one seemed to notice or comment on my raggish appearance that day. I did have my jacket on during that day.
In the three weeks since I started working at et al. collaborative, my work station has shifted around a lot. On my first day, I was put into the side room to work on organizing and archiving student portfolios, by year, semester, class and name. Once I had finished organizing and acquiring any digital storage devices (CDS, floppy disks and thumb drives), I would start up a folder and start organizing everything on a special folder set up on both my Macbook or the iMac opposite Manu’s and near Jose’s computer. By the start of the third week in my internship, I do alternate between my Macbook on Mondays and the iMac when Daniella, the other design intern, isn’t there with Meigan.
I work out of a studio apartment. It’s very big but very little open space due to all the furniture and tables lying around, like the conceptual table that I mentioned before. I don’t mind it so much since I spent most of the work time from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, or 7:00pm on a Wednesday, sitting down and doing what I’m supposed to. Minus the occasional moment of standing up and stretching your arms every two hours and the hour long lunch break that I’m allowed to have. On the first week, I had the luck of being given a plate of ceviche de tilapia, thanks to Manu’s cousin who was staying over. Otherwise, I visit the local restaurants like Oasis or Crif Dogs for lunch.
When we’re focused on our work, we are focused on our projects. Jose is working on checking emails and doing his 3d modeling. Manu is taking calls and handling his personal projects. Meigan and Daniella are coordinating together updating et al. collaborative’s marketing material as I’m doing layouts for the book “Collaboration: An Academic Portfolio.” Jose provides the music, which either switches back and forth from Latin American music to Action Bronson.
