So far, so good! (aka - how my first week at Hookt went)

Well, it has been a week since I first started my job at Hookt and so far, it has been a really good experience! Let me elaborate why:

1. I love the office. Sure - it's a very small office, probably less than 1000 sqft in size, and it shakes too every now and then (because of the train below it) - but it offers a certain feeling of "warmness" that I don't feel in big offices. When I was being interviewed by my (now) manager, he told me that being in that small office was all about getting to experience the "experience" that it has to offer - and now I know what he meant by that :)

2. I love the commute. It's very close to the Waterfront skytrain station - and by that, I mean it's actually inside the Waterfront station! I live in a condo just below the New West station and so all I have to do is to go down the elevator, take the train, read some news, and then 30 minutes later, I am at work!

3. I love the location. It is centrally located, right at the heart of downtown Vancouver. There are 3 food courts that are very close to our office, we are right by the water, and of course, the best thing is that if ever I feel tired, stressed out, or if I simply need some inspiration, I would just step out of the office, do my long walk around the harbor for a couple of minutes, and then I would go back feeling refreshed!

4. I love the work. Everyday, I look forward to coming in early as I feel this eagerness to conquer hard challenges at work. I feel very excited about engaging myself and others in coming up with solutions to all sorts of problems and it feels very fulfilling to be able to come up with a good one. Sure, I am kind of scared also about tackling big problems that I have never seen before in my entire life - nevertheless, I love the feeling of it as I feel like I am constantly being challenged and nothing feels sweeter than being able to squash that challenge! Level up! :)

5. I love being in control of my work. Being autonomous and empowered with how I want to do my work is probably one of the biggest thing that makes this work very exciting. I am constantly discovering new ways of solving problems - not only the technical ones, but also, about managing my work and the expectations of other people. Sure, I sometimes feel overwhelmed about the amount of work that I have to do but learning how to manage those is also a skill that I have to learn.

6. I love the uncertainty of things. Being in a team that develops a product that has yet to prove itself introduces a lot of uncertainty, not only on whether I'll still have a job a year later, but also about whether the product itself will be successful or not. However, with this risk also comes a very big opportunity for me to largely shape the future of our product (and no, I don't mean that in a generic job description kind of way) and of course, the potential to make something really useful that millions of people will possibly use. I want to make a very good product that a lot of people will use and Hookt gives me the opportunity to do just that.

7. I love working with the people in our team. I really feel the genuine interest that they have about the product as well as their desire to make it really good and quite honestly, it is contagious :)

Well, that's that! :) See you tomorrow Hookt office!