Thank You, AS

I'm often curious to see other people's personal websites and am disappointed when I notice that their websites are dated or unmaintained. The pot calling the kettle black, huh? My personal website has become the most neglected project I maintain but I plan on changing that. I intend on writing more often, hence this post.

I'm known for having a pessimistic view on education and while that hasn't changed, I've started to appreciate the college experience a bit more. I'm starting my 5th year of college and I'm about to hit my third year working at CSUN's Associated Students. Soon after I started college, I took some time off and then was a part time student for a while because I simply wanted a break, something I hadn't had since what feels like middle school.

Because of my time off from college, I was still a freshman when I saw a job opening for a student web developer position posted in the computer science Facebook group I was a part of. I filled out the application and submitted it on a whim but I didn't expect anything to come of it. I had already submitted an application to a previous department on campus but I never even got a confirmation so I figured this application would be the same way.

Shortly after, I got an email to schedule an interview with my future boss, Kevin. The email stated to have a portfolio so I worked on my website really late into the morning the day of my interview. Now, what really pisses me off was that my portfolio was never even mentioned nor looked at during the interview. God damn it. I could have been sleeping instead! But. Whatever.

Maybe about a week later, I was hiking with a friend when received the following email from Kevin,

Dear

Thank you for your interest in the Web Design Student Assistant. I am delighted to offer you the position if you are still interested...

Notice how there's no name after "Dear..." I didn't know whether to get my hopes up or not so I sent a reply asking for clarification. I got nervous when I didn't hear back from Kevin soon; I thought maybe I came off as if I were mocking him. Turns out my reply wasn't sent until I came down from the trail. Apparently, trees and bushes don't make reliable Wifi hotspots. Who knew?

Shortly after, I got the following response.

Yes, it was!!! I misspelled your name and accidentally erased it rather than correct it.

Sigh... After knowing and working with Kevin for 3 years, I can look back at this and know for a fact, that this is totally something he would do.

In my three years with AS, I have made a lot of friends and have learned so much from my coworkers. Working in an office with graphic designers has taught me so much about what makes a good design and I've been able to apply that knowledge to designs I've worked on myself. I've also been able to experiment a lot with different projects and learn what's best without being too worried about breaking everything. What sucks the most is that I've been in the office for so long that I've seen many people come and go; frankly, I miss a lot of them (some more than others) and all the fond memories I have with them.

• Watching friendships get brutally destroyed over a game of Munchkin
• Browsing Imgur late at night laughing at the stupidest of posts
• Playing Borderlands 2, FIFA, Minecraft, Rock Band, UFC, and Yu-Gi-Oh in the office after-hours
• Pulling off pranks and getting IT involved because they think I broke something
• Playing Cards Against Humanity after-hours
• Changing the browser's default font to Comic Sans on one of the graphic designer's computer (she found it funny)
• Going to Disneyland for an office retreat
• Printing out a flight ticket on our large poster printer (on accident)

I still have some time before I graduate and leave AS but as I was reflecting on my college experience, AS has definitely made me hate college a little less. I'm thankful to my boss and all of my coworkers who have made this experience more fun.