Reading Time: 3 minutesTwo weeks have passed since I first arrived at Angry Ventures. I still think to myself everyday “what the fuck just happened?” when going to work. For me, it seems surreal how much I have grown in the last few days. It has been all about growth. They have been awesome – and kind of made me feel anxious too… Well, let me put this in a context.
My name is Raquel, I’m a recent graduate from a degree in Management, and I spent the last year trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. During my college years, I can say I learned a lot about what I liked to do but most of all, what I didn’t like.
When I look to the past, I like to think that I’ve developed a growth mindset and started seeing signs of potential growth in every project I had. That feeling of embracing a new challenge would really pump me up, and I would embrace all of them with the promise of a huge amount of learning.
Up until now, I have been involved in quite a few projects, met great people (some of them became mentors or friends), and learned a lot about myself. However, after all that, I still didn’t have a clear idea of what to do next. That made me feel lost, blocked, and doubtful about my own capacities.
After reflecting a lot, I got to the conclusion that… It was OK! It was OK to feel doubtful about myself, but above everything else, it was OK not to have a crystal-clear vision of what to do. In fact, it was already pretty good to know what I didn’t want and a thing or two about what I did like. That was already a good start.
How I found Angry Ventures
I read somewhere that if you’re always committed to learn and grow, most likely you will feel lost a lot. Understanding that this a good thing was a game-changer in my mindset.
After realizing this, I started focusing on the few things I knew I liked and began searching more information about it. Among other things, I got to understand I want to work in a place in which I can grow at all levels, in which I can make a real difference and see it in action.
I became more aware of small leads that could be related to what I wanted. I knew, no matter how scary it was to even think about it, I had to leave my comfort zone (of course, duh!).
And that’s kind of how Angry Ventures appeared as an option… I started searching more about it, and the more I looked and read, the more it made sense to me… Truth be told, I wasn’t even sure what Angry actually did but I felt it just made sense.
So, I decided to follow my gut feeling and applied, without any real expectations.
An odd proposal and… my first meeting
The first conversation I had – you can call it a job interview, though it felt nothing like that – was a confirmation of what I thought: this a completely different place from every organization I knew, there was no “box” I could include Angry in, and it still all made so much sense to me. It was scary and exciting at the same time.
During that very same conversation, Fernando (the person with who I was talking), said: “I’m having a meeting with a client in half an hour, and for you to know how we work here, I think you should come and you’re welcome to participate, ok?”.
My answer was “OK”. So… just like that! I had a quick briefing, and I went.
“If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try”
After all that, I ended up leaving the office without having a clue of what had happened. I went home asking WTF repeatedly in my head. Still, precisely because I was so scared and excited at the same time, I returned the next day, and eventually started coming every day.
So, now let me just ask you something. Do you know that quote that says “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try”? That’s exactly what I thought. Apart from an onboarding, I was not presented to any particular ground rules, no one gave any particular assignments, and no one told me what to do.
There is always something to do, projects to develop, and ideas to be thought and put in practice, but it is up to you to know in which ones you want and can add value. You have freedom to create and try, which makes you accountable for everything you decide to do.
Here, everything has been a constant learning and a “figure it out” kind of process. I feel anxious every day and find challenges every day too. I’ve also found people who I can learn with and who have been helping me out. I don’t know for how long I will stay, but I can definitely say that I have grown more in these two weeks than in the last months altogether.
I literally learn something new every day.
What more can I ask?
