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Hey there reader(s), it’s Grant Spanier, Digitaria’s newest UX intern and one of three summer interns at Digi’s (new) Minneapolis office.
I’m a Minnesota kid — I grew up an hour north of the Twin Cities. Currently, I’m a senior at the University of St. Thomas studying advertising, graphic design and Spanish. I came to Digitaria by way of the Intern Game, a game show style internship competition.
Not exactly the most conventional way in to an agency… but hey, I’ll take it. As Guy Kawasaki said, “It doesn’t matter how you get your job. What matters is what you do with the opportunity.” I intend to make the most of this.
My passion for advertising/marketing/digital runs deep. I’ve been at a small startup agency for the last year or so, working on several projects and stretching myself waaaaay too thin across roles. Thus, starting at Digitaria sort of feels like getting called up to The Show. The Big Leagues, per se. And I have to admit, it’s pretty nice to be here.
I had a lot of expectations coming in as a lowly intern: brewing coffee all day for the office, avoiding direct eye contact with my superiors, working 95 hour weeks entering data. Luckily, my fears were a far (really far) cry from the reality I’ve experienced.
For starters, the office is equipped with a CONSTANT STREAM OF COFFEE. That’s no typo, folks — scout’s honor. The office Kuerig is plugged right into the wall, providing an at-will caffeine surge, should anyone so desire. You have no idea how giddy this makes me. [Note: Intern Hannah (Project Management) has been acting as my official Coffee Mom, limiting me to 3 cups a day, scolding me and constantly citing my irresponsibility. Don’t tell her, but whenever she gets pulled into a meeting I sneak a quick sip of dark roast in the kitchen.]
Second, the people are really, really nice. And It’s not just that “Minnesota Nice” shtick. They genuinely care about their work and about developing us as interns/people. They actually give a damn, which is both inspiring and refreshing.
And data entry? Nope. No way. I’m certainly not above tasks like that, but thankfully we had the chance to touch real work from day one. Our first week was a whirlwind of conference calls, strategy sessions and mobile app mock-ups — we even got to attend a client meeting! We didn’t hit the ground running, no, we hit it sprinting.
I’ve got a feeling the pace is only going to get quicker from here. And I can’t wait.
/grant
