New Beginnings

I am coming near the end of my first project at work. I have really enjoyed this project and look forward to seeing what my next project will be. I should hear sometime late this week. I was pleased at the options and would honestly be happy with any of them. My top three all deal with public health, access to care, and issues of poverty. From my experience with my current project, the topic is less important than the team you are working with. And luckily, I have had a great team. I can only hope my next team gets along as well and is able to have a fun working environment. My current project showed me that while having subject matter expertise is helpful, the type of work we do is different enough that we have the opportunity to come up to speed on an unfamiliar topic under the guidance of more senior analysts.

I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work on a topic I had no familiarity with. I have been amazed at how much I have learned and how far the team has come in understanding the ins-and-outs of a complex project. It will be nice to bring the project to a close and release the report publicly. It is nice that each project ends in something high-quality and tangible that indicates the amount of hard work that goes into each engagement.

We are currently at the part of the project where we are identifying what we will say in the actual report and trying to figure out the best and most clear way of laying out that information. Some people can get bogged down in the editing process but I find it interesting and enjoy that a variety of stakeholders have a chance to weigh in and improve the product. It is interesting to see how different readers see something different and having to figure out ways to make it more clear to people with no familiarity with the topic.

Suffice to say, I am still really enjoying my new career and can imagine being in it for a while. I only hope that my next engagement can be half as fun as my current and that things will continue to be great.