BowTiesAreCool

Thursday 12^th July 2012 – Today I met James (who monitors the sm2 system and gives presentations in front of potential clients to advertise the product. In the presentations he has to give facts from the sm2 software therefore uses the software daily.) He showed me the sm2 software and demonstrated it’s potential. He also taught me basic social media skills about blogging on Tumblr and tweeting on Twitter and how they can relate to each other. In the afternoon I met Matt (who is in charge of keeping customers happy and making sure they understand any changes or developments in the company.) He gave me a 2 hour task to create and present a PowerPoint presentation all about Tumblr. He gave me pointers but I mostly worked individually to create the presentation. The general impressions the judges gave me were positive.

Wednesday 11^th July 2012 – Today I met Mal and Richard who are both at the top end of the technical side of the company. Firstly I had the opportunity to sit in a stand up meeting (where they contact partners from all around the world and discuss what they are doing), next I had the opportunity to sit in a sprint planning meeting (where Mal and his team would organise what they are going to do and fix in the next 2 weeks). The final meeting of the day was another stand up meeting (but this time it was between the main heads of the technology sides department). These experiences helped me to understand the importance of teamwork within a company. In the Afternoon I was given the task of converting 4 word documents from the old Alterian formats into newer SDL formats after Alterian was acquired by SDL last year. I found this task the most challenging of the week but still managed to complete it and received great feedback from Mal and Robert.

Tuesday 10^th July 2012 – Today I met the whole team of Global Operations. The Team included Amy (sm2 manager), Pete and Sarah (head of the Global Operations team). First of all I talked to Amy (sm2 manager), she gave me a detailed introduction to what sm2 is and who uses it. She then explained how to make and sell and what he job is. Amy’s job is to create a fair and company suited deal to the customer for usage of the sm2 software. Amy also deals with the legal parts and contracts as part of the deal and will always support the sale of the product. Next I learned how to use sales force to sell the sm2 software usage and finished a deal (with Amy’s help). In the afternoon I had a short meeting with Sarah (head of Global Operations). Sarah explained what the other 2 parts of the Global operations did. For example web content manager allows a company to pay a fixed license fee and then pay monthly after that to use the software. CM & A allows companies to send off emails and texts that are focused on a specific market allowing the advertising to be more efficient and direct to the potential customer. Finally sm2 is a piece of software that searches through lots of social media websites and picks out information about specific key words. They can use what people think of products to judge how profitable it is.

Monday 09^th July 2012 – Today I spent the whole day with Mike Freyer (who works in Human Resources and is my mentor for this week). First of all he explained to me what the company roughly does as a whole and we watched a video click to help me understand. Next he told me about health and safety in the Alterian building and what to do in emergency conditions like a fire or a medical emergency. Next he showed me how to work the printer, copier and shredder. I would use these every day if I worked in an office and I have learned how important they are. Next I learned the importance of the right to work. This is a way of proving you can work in a company for example you need a passport, a driving license and to have signed a contract and policy. These are all filed in a large cabinet so that the information about everybody is easy to get to if it’s needed and is a copy of the computer information.  I also learned new communication skills during today by using the Microsoft Linx communication tool on my laptop and the email system.

 

 

To conclude my week of work experience here I would say it has taught me a lot about office life and what technology is used during your work day. I also learned independency skills by having to find my own lunch on most days and from the set tasks but also communication skills and team working skills from the meeting and from using the communication technology at Alterian. I have truly gained a lot of experience and has showed me that an office job may suit my skill set and personality.

In part one I have explained my Monday to Thursday of the week!!

Soon I will reveal my thoughts of Friday, my awesome presesnt (with pics) and my final thanks!!!  Again I would just like to thank everybody at Alterian/SDL Bristol base for there awesome company and guidence through my week there!! especially Mike Freyer who organised my week awesomely!!! cheers!!