arfink Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 And I'm freaking out ATM. I am taking a contract position with a small company called ICATT. They are going to have me editing and doing document layout for government contracts. So training documents and reports and such for places like the DOHS and whatnot. I know I can do the task, but I'd be working from home and collaborating with others via email and telephone and needless to say I'm nervous. Deadlines at this company are fairly tight and I would hate to mess up right away. My first deadline in Thursday. I need to get a document edited and laid out prettily. They still haven't given me any materials to work with, and I am budgeted 8 hours to get it done. EEP! Pray I don't have a heart attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyAnn Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Yay! Prayers for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthephysicist Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Big congrats and prayers! You'll do great!And Brian beat me to the cheer smilie haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolmom Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clare~Therese Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 You can do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKolbe Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 about time, slacker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Very PROUD of you!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfink Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Well, I'm gonna have to learn a new piece of software for this job, more than likely. And I have about 24 hours to learn it. That's why I'm tensed up here. But hey. I think if I get myself some caffeine I can pull through this. Definitely. Just got to channel the "COME AT ME BRO" for a bit here. Yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissyP89 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 This post is rambling. Be warned. Hope you don't mind a little unsolicited advice ... I'm working in media and work with a designer on a regular basis, so maybe some of this will help you. Deadlines ain't nothin but a day on the calendar. Don't let them intimidate you. Your job is a lot like mine -- lots of phone and email collaboration with little face-to-face contact. Learn to be explicit in what you need both in writing and over the phone ... it'll help you so much. And don't be afraid to speak up if something is going wrong. Remember that your boss wants your job done well, and if (s)he is a decent person, (s)he will be more than willing to help you succeed. Keep in touch with your boss/client as you're in the design process. Maybe send drafts. This will cut down on problems, and will give you the opportunity to correct things before they turn into huge errors. One good idea is to take your deadline (in journalism, we tend to call them "hard deadlines" or "drop deadlines") and make an earlier "soft deadline" a few days before the project is sent in. This way, you'll have most of the work done, if not all of it. If there's an issue, you'll still have time to tweak. For example, my last deadline cycle went this way: COVER IMAGE AND ALL CONTENT COMPLETE (soft deadline): June 4 DEADLINE FOR AD PLACEMENT: June 11 PROOFREADING COMPLETE: June 14 PRINT DATE (drop deadline): June 15 MAGAZINE MAILED: June 20 By setting my personal deadline 10 days in advance, I can really take my time making sure everything is correct and to my boss' standards. It also gives me time to harass people who are late, and even get a jumpstart on the next project. One last thing: you will make mistakes, especially early on. Unfortunately that's the nature of the beast. Every single person in my newsroom can tell you horror stories about the stuff that slipped through when they first got started. But we all survived. I just finished my first year and those "oh my goodness (don't blasphemy) WHAT DO I DO" moments still happen now and then, but I'm getting better with handling them. Moral of the story: be patient with yourself. Try not to stress. And have fun. Good luck, dude. Message me if you ever need to vent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle_eye222001 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Good you got it I suppose. What I mean by that is time will tell if it works out. You don't have much to lose, so go for it! If they are a reasonable company, you should be able to make it. Prayers it works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfink Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 My collaborators are really dragging their feet on this first assignment. Getting nervous all over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissyP89 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Call 'em up. Stand your ground. You need to make sure it gets done, even if you have to apply a little pressure on the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfink Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 [quote name='MissyP89' timestamp='1340218296' post='2446773'] Call 'em up. Stand your ground. You need to make sure it gets done, even if you have to apply a little pressure on the others. [/quote] So I did that. Turns out the people I am most closely collaborating with have kind had a doozy dumped on them by management. They were budgeted 8 hours to do this in- close to the end of their 8 hour "shift" yesterday management decided there were another 4 interviews that needed to be shoehorned in to the project. Now they're being forced into an unpaid overtime situation and my involvement with the project is being delayed. All this without changing the deadline. So basically I'm watching my available time drip away helplessly. This may not end well. Please pray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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