After my spring semester at the University of North Texas ended I had a choice, to either spend my summer internship in a big, cubicle-heavy, office in Dallas, or work for People Pattern at their World HQ in Austin. I was a little skeptical about heading that far away from my Dallas/Ft. Worth comfort zone and my home city of Denton, but the CEO & Co-founder of People Pattern, Ken Cho, gave me the hard sell on his company. I had a good grip on social media and podcast production but didn’t know too much about audience analytics. Ken assured me that as long as I was hungry to learn, I would pick things up as I went along. I was excited to start getting my hands dirty with data. I was sold but I had one last question: how did they feel about the World Cup? Turns out, the People Pattern people are soccer nerds too.
I packed my bags and was there two days later.
When I first stepped into the People Pattern HQ I could tell it was a little different than your average company. Upon arrival I signed a chalkboard wall with everyone’s name on it. I got to work and was then hurried off to lunch with the team to celebrate one of my new colleague’s birthdays. It’s little things like that that really help you acclimate to a new place.
Every day at People Pattern is different. I have learned a lot doing work that actually mattered. People Pattern’s marketing team kept me busy updating the new operating system for sales and contributing my Twitter chops to the People Pattern social media accounts. I had the opportunity to get involved in the company and learn how it operates by sitting in on meetings, presentations and pitches, which expanded my knowledge of sales and marketing. For my final project I created a presentation educating the company on a new sales program. At first it was an intimidating task, but under the pressure of a deadline, I got it done. I also got some hands on experience with the People Pattern platform and got to run some Twitter data on my favorite and least favorite World Cup stars.
Ken has given me some sage advice. He told me to “evaluate your current professional situation in three dimensions: People, Impact and Growth.” He called it the P.I.G. model. He elaborated to say that:
- People: You want to work with bright, fun, and trustworthy people. Your colleagues should give you new perspectives, challenge your conclusions, praise your accomplishments and pick you up when you’re down.
- Impact: Your day-to-day job must directly impact the business. If your analysis is not used and/or you’re filling out TPR reports all day, you need to reassess your current situation.
- Growth: You must have an upward path for career advancement within your organization. If you are an inside sales person, there must be a clear and measurable criteria to move into an outside sales rep position.
If you don’t have one of these three dimensions, it’s time to move on. It’s that simple. This advice is not only for an individual, but serves as the foundation for a good company culture.
These 6 weeks here in Austin with People Pattern have been a delight. I’m proud of what I’ve learned and made an impact on the company. There’s not much in the world I would trade for my experience, the friendships and the responsibility that I have gained in my time at World HQ!
Editor’s Note: This is a part of a series of blogposts by People Pattern’s rockstar summer interns. To learn more about what we do, feel free to reach out at hello@peoplepattern.com or request a demo below.
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