Working for larger tech companies is a lot different than working by yourself. For me, working for larger, more successful companies meant learning to work across teams and divisions, while interacting with lots of stakeholders and influencers.

Early on in my career, as a freelancer, clients hired me to complete work that could be done by myself. For instance, I have designed videos for clients over the years. After being briefed by the client, I'd go to my desk, open a video editor and get to work. However, when you work for a company like Internet Archive, things are done differently.

Instead of being a lone-ranger video-design person, at the Internet Archive, a video design company could be contracted to do the work. Instead of creating the video itself, I'd take part in conversations around ideations and other creative aspects of the video-production process. That's the part I really enjoy!

Throughout the development of the Internet Archive 25th-anniversary campaign, there were more than 1,000 deliverables: website pages, graphics and design assets, social media, newsletters, event materials, marketing and promotional assets, copywriting, images and photography, wireframes, videos, banners, developer tools, coding, and the list goes on and on. Many of those deliverables, I contributed creative feedback or user testing.

Having a voice in so many of those conversations kept me thoroughly engaged. Most importantly, my teammates valued my feedback and ideas just as much as I valued theirs. And that's what hiring managers and recruiters value. Companies want to know how well you interact with diverse teams while driving creative conversations that produce results.

Beyond the creative input I shared across those projects, different ideation meetings meant making new connections and friendships with people across Internet Archive's global landscape. Not only is that good for future career prospecting, it's an opportunity to find your tribe.

I find working across teams and divisions give me profound experiences I could not have working all by myself. That's what makes my work fun!