5 Recent Graduates Share Their Biggest Takeaways in Their First Post-Grad Jobs at SmartBear

  Juni 10, 2019

As a recent college graduate, I have been reflecting on what I have learned in my first post-grad job. From my experience, SmartBear is a great place to start your career with many opportunities to learn, grow, and develop a professional skillset. I talked to four other recent grads here at Smartbear and compiled a list of our biggest takeaways this year. Read on to find out!

1. Your Team is With You Every Step of the Way

During my time here at SmartBear, I realized just how much others care about my success. No matter how many questions I have or how many times I ask for someone's help, people always make time to assist me. As a recent graduate, it's extremely encouraging to have such a supportive community in the workplace that wants to see me learn, grow, and succeed. When you have such a great team behind you, both in your career and personal life, you're more apt to take on challenges and push yourself to try new things. I'm lucky that I am surrounded by motivating and supportive teams here at SmartBear.

- Julia Zanette, Marketing Specialist

2. Building Strong Team Relationships for Growth

Since graduating in May 2018, I have been given an incredible opportunity to jumpstart my career. I started working here at SmartBear in December, and since then I have seen five of my team members get promoted into the next level of sales. These teammates had all started in the same position as I am currently in, only a year prior. One of the most important characteristics about SmartBear is the opportunity for internal growth. Seeing the growth of my peers is extremely motivating. It doesn’t stop there though. Since their promotions, they have been incredibly helpful by giving me tips and pointers on what helped them excel within the organization. To me the biggest takeaway since graduating has been understanding the importance of a supportive team and the strong relationships that can come out of your first job out of college.

- Michael Pinkerton, Sales Development Representative

3. Take Risks and Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

After graduating with a Marketing degree last May, I was confident I was going into the Marketing/Advertising field, until the opportunity within Sales was brought to me. The biggest takeaway I have learned post-grad is to not be afraid to take a risk and go out of your comfort zone. That applies to starting a new career but also day to day work and projects you may take on. I have learned a tremendous amount about myself through starting my career in Sales and at SmartBear. I took a risk in an unfamiliar career path and was fully prepared to learn and ask as many questions as possible. SmartBear has been a perfect place to do this. There are endless resources here and people who are willing to help me grow and excel in my position. The culture at SmartBear lends to both career and personal development which makes for an incredibly supportive environment. I plan to continue building my career at SmartBear and aim to make next steps within our Sales Program.

- Eleana Cardarelli, Sales Development Representative

4. Taking the Time to Reflect to Reinforce Learnings

In college, we learn that the angle of incidence must equal the angle of reflection. In life, this law is mirrored by the sentiments of author Ann Patchett, stating, “Coming back is the thing that enables you to see how all the dots in your life are connected.” From the time I started working, I found it was imperative to take time every day and think about what went well and what I can improve. It’s very similar to what we did (or what we were supposed to do) in college: after class, take time to review the notes that we took from that day’s lessons. It truly reinforces the practice of critical thinking. It helps us build on each personal achievement as well as provides the opportunity to learn from any setbacks. For each incident of daily success (or failure), ensure that you take an appropriate amount of time to learn from the occasion. The greater the magnitude of the event, the greater the amount of reflection time. After all, the laws of optical physics are very much analogous to the laws of physical outlooks on life. Take time to reflect.

- Elliot Landon, Associate Sales Engineer

5. You’re Not Alone on Your Path of Personal Development

I earned my degree in International Business, Marketing, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my degree once I graduated. In school we were taught the breadth of the marketing field, and I knew I wanted to get exposure to a variety of marketing functions before deciding on a specific area, which I’ve certainly been gotten here at SmartBear. But I’ve also realized that I don’t have to figure this out on my own. There are plenty of people here that are eager to help me think about my career path, including my manager, coworkers, and more. Everyone can empathize with being a recent grad and feeling unsure of the future. As a result, I’ve been given opportunities to learn about new things outside my core responsibilities because I’ve simply expressed interest.

- Amy Huie, Marketing Specialist

We’ve all had great opportunities to dive right in and learn as new graduates at SmartBear. And with graduation season upon us, there is plenty to discover for yourself! Check out open opportunities here to get your career started.