Sunday, January 30, 2011

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

So I haven't posted in a long time. Sorry about that, I have been working hard at my new job and find myself with less to say these days. In August I finally said goodbye to the world of custom furniture, parting ways with Duff Thury Studio Furniture and joining the corporate world. It has been a drastic change, from constantly creating new things and keeping one person happy to being clean, keeping 30 people happy, and not worrying about getting hurt.
I enjoy my new job, it is a surprisingly good fit for my skills. I am an associate technical designer for Target and I work on patio furniture and garden accessories. I basically do something similar to engineering which in itself is weird since I have a BFA in sculpture. But I can think like an engineer and my background is such that I can figure out how things are put together and how to maybe do it better.
Oddest for me is the time spent in meetings. I admit I have sat through several meetings in which I didn't know what was being talked about. I'm not up on all the processes involved in moving the retail machine but learning them, slow as it is, is actually pretty interesting. There are a lot of moving parts and variables and it takes a lot of people to actually get that resin wicker chair to your local Target store.
One of my many new tasks involves writing product standards. As a result of the research I have been doing the last couple months I now know way more about Garden Boots and Grilling Tools than I would have ever expected. I do enjoy the destructive testing involved in the process although I wish we had more tools to destruct with!
I'm heading into development for 2012 patio stuff now and am really excited to be working with the design team on fun new stuff. I have a feeling that although this is getting to be the busiest part of my tenure at Target so far, it is also going to be a lot of fun. Part of development involves a trip to Shanghai for two weeks. I am both excited and reluctant about going, it will be weird being away from home for that long and I will miss Josh and Shatner, but it is such a neat opportunity to travel for free and is an important part of my role.
I had to make a huge decision when I took the Target job. I had an offer from Kidzibits, a local shop that makes museum exhibits, specializing in kid's exhibits (hence the name). The team there was really wonderful and the atmosphere was amazingly relaxed yet productive at the same time. It was really hard to make the decision but I am glad I had a choice at the time; having two employers making offers at the same time is a privilege I hadn't expected and it frankly made my life easier. I ultimately decided to go for Target because it was time to try something less physically demanding, so far I feel like I made the right choice.