Yesterday was the end of my second week of employment with rtCamp, the company that gave me my first job out of college, where I worked until I left for my gap year.
Upon returning from my gap year, I was of the mind that I should go back to studying. I had decided on doing an MBA from a decently rated university in India, which required me to give a few entrance exams, which I did.
And failed at.
Well, I actually did well relative to my preparations, but I could have pushed harder and done better. I can blame the fact that I don’t deal well with hard deadlines, or that I am very prone to procrastination when I have a lot of time on my hands, or that I didn’t pace myself properly while preparing, or that I didn’t fully buy into the idea of going back to studies. The bottom line is that I was the reason I failed.
So there I was, contemplating my life decisions, equal parts sulking and despaired, when I decided to switch to plan B – work. I was a couple of weeks into considering my options when rtCamp reached out.
Going back to rtCamp seemed obvious. I was familiar with the job, the people, the industry. I knew I would be welcomed back, and that I would be compensated well.
I wanted to go back as a freelancer though. This way, I could have more control over my time, keep my options open in case something more interesting came up and most of all, put me in a zone where I had a gentle (?) pressure to be productive.
We spoke, we negotiated. It worked out.
My official title is “Digital Marketing Manager”, which I find accurate, yet reductive of the role that I understand I have been hired to play. But rtCamp has always done a terrible job of managing their titles so I’m not too mad 🤷🏻♂️
The company has grown and evolved since I left in mid-2018. I think the main driver for this change has been their new hiring strategy and concomitantly, their new hires. They are different in a couple of important ways – first, they are all veterans in their respective roles, second, they have interesting lives outside of work.
This combination of expertise and character brings a different flavour, a diversity of perspectives, a positivity and purpose to the company. I feel motivated to do better, to be better, to push myself, or be left out.
Another change – my job role is much more defined this time around. Or, I am much better equipped to define it. The truth is probably somewhere in between. Regardless, I feel challenged every day I go to work.
My work is in an area that is new to me, but also new to the company itself – B2B marketing, on the upper end of the market. It’s one of those things in which I constantly feel like I don’t know how much I don’t know.
Anyway, I have been working hard and taking one day at a time. So far, so good.