I Suppose 2020 Wasn't All Bad

Oh, 2020. How glad I will be to see it end.

But.

2020 was also a year of new possibilities. Had it not been for COVID, I would not be working at Metal Toad. Before the virus, almost all the available jobs I searched for required in-person capability. As a current college student and junior-level designer, work-from-home options were virtually impossible. Because it wasn’t likely, it wasn’t on my radar. It wasn’t until the virus hit that I began to exclusively look for remote working opportunities, which led me to Metal Toad.

Look at all the opportunities that has brought with it.

For the past couple of months, I have been working with the team to create content for and promote the ISV interviews. In these interviews, Joaquin speaks with leaders in the M&E cloud industry to discuss the changes they’ve seen throughout the past year and what they think will influence the future. These people work all around the world — literally. From Spain to the UK to Ireland to Sweden, I’ve spent hours sifting through and editing footage of global interviews. I’m exposed to thought leadership from all kinds of perspectives, influenced by vastly different cultural experiences, and I love the many viewpoints from which I get to learn about AWS and the innovations in technology that affect our daily lives.

I was also able to attend highly impactful virtual conferences in 2020. Before COVID, attending Hubspot’s Inbound and AWS re:Invent would have required a plane ticket and time off from school. Now thanks to the surge in remote experiences, I was able to gain insights from some of the world’s greatest leaders in marketing and technology — all from the comfort of my home. That experience would not have been an option a year ago.

So while 2020 was certainly not the best, I am grateful for the silver linings. We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got, and it’s turned into some pretty unusually awesome experiences. A year ago, I would not have pictured myself working with content from all over the world, nor attending international conferences. Thanks to remote working and learning, that’s now part of my daily experience.