I decided to pick some of the more fun interview questions that people try to avoid, and answer them here for you. Click on each question to expand or collapse the text as needed. If you have an especially rough one you've gotten and would like to see me answer, go ahead and message me here and I'll do my best.

If you really want something to read to fill up the time until your next coffee break, I also have a reflective and more in-depth writeup of my job experiences and how I feel about what I would like to do going forward.

Could you tell me about yourself and describe your background in brief?

Short answer, probably not! I already wrote a long form blog entry about this, so I would be lying if I said “sure!” Still, since you've asked nicely, I’ll try.

I’m an affable married lady, who likes and has cats, who enjoys indie video games and cheesy sci fi and fantasy shows. I love reading, and history; my initial experience in college was working towards a major in English and Implied Linguistics. I am the oldest grandchild in my generation and was often the one put in charge of the kids when the adults wanted a break, so I can think on my feet a little. I know some Spanish, and some Japanese, and I plan to keep learning anything that interests me, as long as my brain lets me. I worked as a lifeguard, and ran a department for five years at a large convention. I’ve lived on both coasts of the U.S. and still don’t know how to whistle, no matter who tries to teach me. I love singing in my car over singing in public and am the only person on my mother’s side of the family who doesn’t know how to play guitar.

I’ve been interested in HTML and Web Design since my first Angelfire page. When I learned that using “marquee” would make text fly across the page, I wanted to be using it at all times. I’m so far grateful that even the Wayback Machine can’t help me find that old page. I’ve drawn a few webcomic pages for friends in college, and those can still be found if you hunt for them. In 2020, I was able to afford to go back to school to formally study and develop these skills. I plan to continue to build and rely on them professionally as long as the technology allows for human input.

What type of work environment do you prefer?

I like a collaborative environment, where we can discuss ideas and share expertise. When it’s time to put things together, I’m best when I can go to my space and work quietly. I like to make my space comfortable and a little silly, and be able to go make tea in the break room if I need a stretch break. Currently, I’m interested in opportunities that allow me to work from home at least some of the time, as I’ve worked hard on making a good and productive space for myself there.

I value my home time as well and will take an approach that leaves work at the door when the day is over. I’m not against putting in extra time for a short sprint, to reach a concrete goal, but I prefer slow and steady growth with occasional checkpoints over moving fast and taking risks.

How do you deal with pressure, or stressful situations?

Stress and pressure are, to me, temporary states, and while they are real and have impact, I try in those moments to refocus on what the goal of the moment is. Is there someone or something in danger or in need of immediate attention? I know that I won’t always be able to pretend that those feelings or circumstances don’t impact me, still, staying as calm as possible allows me to think through the moment and make it pass quickly and with the least impact.

Do you prefer working independently or on a team?

I do like my time to work alone, but I like having a team to check in with and compare notes to. When I worked at Constant Contact on the Campaign Design Team, we were all independently working on templates, but we had a Slack to collaborate with. Especially with creative work, it’s helpful to see how another person interprets a design or a client's needs, and it’s also important to have those human connections throughout the day.

When you’re balancing multiple projects, how do you keep yourself organized?

I prefer to set “halfway goals” to check in with myself on how a project is going. When I was in school, I used an app called Todoist to organize my coursework. Every Monday, I would dedicate time to review that week’s goals, and add a task to the appropriate class. I would “schedule” items to be due a day before the actual date, so I had polish or troubleshooting time. I set up Todoist so that each class was the header of a column, and so I could see at a glance which class had the most work at the moment, and decide what to start the week with.

What have you done recently to improve your skills and knowledge?

Recently, I’ve revisited my personal website and am revamping it to utilize templates, instead of a collection of static pages. I took a Python class at UMass, which helped me know that I could make improvements in that way, but my main purpose was to take something I was very proud of, and measure my current skills against that past work. It has helped me learn better project habits as well, and taught me new ways to conceptualize a design.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

I can be insecure in my own abilities, which is a very human thing and in a way, inescapable. I think it’s healthy to be cautious when attempting something new, as long as you still attempt it. I’ve learned that if I sit inside that insecurity, it can become braver than me and so confident as to become reality. The cure for a lack of knowledge is experience and time, and if or when you fail, fail often and learn from it. I consider this perspective a strength, that I know I may not always do the best job possible, but I will show up and do my best, and I will find enjoyment in the learning and personal growth from the experience.

What is your greatest achievement?

I’ve become a person on whom others can rely, and is sought out when one of my friends is in need. I can bring fun and joy, and a sense of safety in times of chaos, and I am never afraid to speak out or defend myself and others. I try to be a person that does more good than harm, and teach that through both my actions and words.

How do you handle constructive criticism?

Criticism? I’ve never met her!

Still, we can say we appreciate criticism in any form, for what it teaches us, but it’s not really enjoyable. I don’t enjoy being corrected, but I think it’s important, especially when I’m doing something that I’m new at. I like best when someone asks me the reasons for why I’ve done something, instead of correcting me with the assumption that there was no thought process to my actions. Having that discussion feels more like a partnership and I’m able to contribute and go back to working without feeling like the situation has become hostile.

What motivates you about a project?

I like making things, having a finished product to work towards. In my hobbyist endeavors, every skill I’ve learned has been due to a desire to make something. I wanted the little rainbow narwhal, so I bought the Wobbles kit and learned to crochet. I love Stardew Valley and wanted to have a wall art with lights of the Christmas tree, so I got the Stardew Cross Stitch book, learned to cross stitch, and asked my partner to show me how to solder. When my sister lived in Chicago, I wanted to make her warm things to wear, so I asked my friend to teach me knitting. When my partner got a 3D printer, I wanted to make custom sized storage for our home, so I learned how to edit things in Bambu and OpenCad. Having something to work towards also helps me know how successful that skill-building has gone and if I need more practice before putting time into the goal project.

Give an example of where you’ve been able to use your leadership skills.

Ah, so this is where I get to tell you about my time running the Accessibility Department at Otakon. I had been an attendee for many years, and got recruited to work the event by a friend. He had started to have trouble with his health, and was running the Department by himself, which he was able to recognize would not go well. I joined his team and myself and another volunteer ran the booth in the convention’s registration area that first year. In part thanks to my help, his boss recommended I be placed in charge of the team and allow him to step back and help in a part-time capacity.

Over the next four years I grew the team to 6 regular staff members and cross trained other departments to increase awareness. This was a volunteer position that entailed monthly meetings and a helpdesk email in the off-season. I was careful to recruit people to my team that showed reliability and empathy, and the ability to be calm while also relating to someone in distress. By my 3rd year my team was planning staff meetings and presenting me with notes and policy debates that allowed us to anticipate and develop better guidelines for our guest’s safety and comfort, while also keeping the organization’s capabilities in mind.

I retired after my fifth year and one of my staff took over the role, while another got hired out to another convention to recreate what we had done for them. Seeing those people grow and find their passion for what we did, and see the ways in which they carried it into other parts of their lives to become more successful was more fulfilling than I had anticipated.

Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer.

I’ve interacted with a few people who weren’t having the best day. The one that comes to mind is a woman I helped during my first year in the Verizon Wireless Call Center in Hanover, MD.

She had gotten a $3,000 bill, due to roaming charges during a trip overseas, and had already spoken with an agent, been promised a one time grace credit to clear the bill of all international charges, and had been paying the base amount of her bill for a few months by the time I spoke with her. The original agent had submitted the credit to be approved, and when it was denied, had never followed up with the customer to have that uncomfortable discussion. She had been firmly told by the collections department that she would have to pay her bill in full and any credits would then apply to future balances.

Not only were there charges on that first bill, but her next one had delayed charges, as often happens with international travel. This bill was even higher, and due to the past due balance on her account, she was being routed to collections instead of billing where I worked, every time she called. She was manually transferred by a collections agent and after several months of this, was both crying and yelling on the phone. She was threatening legal action and stated she would keep calling back until someone fixed her account.

Regardless of who is at fault in these situations, I know I’ll never get anywhere if the client is not feeling heard and has calmed down enough to help me take apart the knot and see what options we have. I had to take extra time to reassure her, which was very hard, considering she had heard the script many times, and I had to make sure she felt she was talking to a person who was going to put in the time needed.

Credits above $50 went to a supervisor, if it was above $250 it went to their boss, and if it was above $500 it went to the person in charge of the entire call center, for review. In order to fix this situation, where the account notes stated explicitly that we had promised to fix the balance per policy, I had to issue several credits exceeding $500, and meticulously document them so that they were not refused due to a miscalculation. I had to call her back several times, give her my supervisor’s name and both our extensions, and had a folder with printouts of her last six bills on hand to show the various managers who would come by and question the credits when it came to their queue.

I was intimidated, very honestly, because I had only been there about six months and didn’t know many people, and was quickly becoming known to people with very nice cars and crisp suits. I still felt that, to a large company like Verizon, their integrity was even more important, since their ability to get away with things like this was so much easier. If the customer had taken them to small claims court, she would have won, as in those days Verizon would write those cases off. It cost them more to pay a lawyer for the day than to pay an award to a customer. I had to stay calm with her, and stay focused and clearly state my case several times to my management team, and eventually she was cleared and able to use her account fully.

I worked in the call center for 4 years and would occasionally check on her account. She went on to open many more lines and generated more revenue than the credits she’d received, and I took personal pride in turning her impression of such a large company completely around. Now, Verizon sends an automatic text when people start to get roaming charges, and I know that’s not due to my actions, but I like to think I contributed to management discussing the need for one.

I personally think it’s important to have integrity and transparency with every client, and do your best for them. You have their trust and it’s usually when that trust is abused that people become difficult.

Do you have any questions for someone interested in working with you?

I would be curious about what hobbies that person has, and what they get into in their spare time. I like to know about people, it helps me feel comfortable if I know where their sense of humor rests and what’s important to them. We’re human and it’s okay to have that sense of humanity. Most of my favorite coworkers have been people that are different from me, but I think there is a level of trust that builds when we see what we have in common.