Lauren Maffeo: Media To Technology
In episode #11 of My 2.0, guest Lauren Maffeo, Civic Tech Service Designer at Steampunk, shares her transition from a career in content and media to design in technology.
Since high school, Lauren was focussed on an education and career in journalism, and did a major in media studies. She oriented her internships around digital news writing. As she was finishing college in a period of recession, she saw the ad spend drop from news to technology. And her options to pursue a full time career as a journalist seemed low. After completing her masters in media theory and communication in London she spent a year working as a freelancer in web reporting for startups in London. And then moved back to the US, working in a content-based company in Silicon Valley, followed by a Research Analyst position at Garneter, working on tech trends, and AI. Her most recent transition was to Steampunk involving work that focuses on human-centered design in technology.
As Lauren transitioned from media to technology, she didn’t understand all the concepts but was curious and eager to learn more. She thinks journalism has hard, immediate deadlines which are different compared to the technology world she operated in, that uses Agile methodology to deliver projects. While deadlines continue to be important, the provision of a roadmap in her technology projects allows to focus on the long view with the ability to be flexible in the short term.
Lauren’s transition was over a period of 2 years. Marketing was a natural progression from journalism but she knew she didn’t want that. She was looking to combine her user research experience with product management, including integrating feedback from the end users.
Lauren often felt stuck in her transition. And she applied to a lot of jobs, outside of her regular work hours, which seemed to be a full time job itself. She says the working world is not always honest about the time that it would take to get something that’s the right fit for you and your skill sets.
In terms of developing rituals and habits to get through transition, Lauren says she maintained the ones she already had. She made sure to get her required sleep, to continue running, long walks during lunch time.
What she found most challenging about transition is that she didn’t know how long it would take. And it took longer than she thought. She also felt she didn’t have all the skills required in the new job. But she focussed on understanding what the new job required from her, what her core skills were, and designed a path to build that bridge.
She says it would have helped to have known how long the transition would take. And while she was sure she wanted to do something different, she wasn’t going to leave for anything. She is also a strong believer of things working out the way they are supposed to.
Some common transition related myths she would like to debunk are:
She doesn’t think transitions should happen quickly.
And it is useful for us to learn how to now just evaluate the skills required of the new job, but also assess the culture fit in the new company.
As someone who is an example of bridging STEM with liberal arts, Lauren feels that not only is technology all-pervasive now, but also that it is no longer a niche in education but instead the combination of allows us to not use/build technology in a vacuum, and instead allows us to think the bigger picture clearer.
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