​My Jezuba Experience: Talia

As I applied for the position at Jezuba early summer, I thought to myself, ten hours a week - easily doable! Then, of course, life happened. I started a new job, joined a “recommended” summer physics club, and drove my not-of-driving-age sister to her driving-intensive ballet schedule. Suddenly, the ten hours dedicated to Jezuba did not seem to be enough. 

I’ve been stuffing website development into odd hours - when the sun bounces off the screen in a hot car, early mornings before I run off to work, at night after dinner is cooked and dishes are cleaned, even during times of procrastination as I avoid reading on Fourier transforms for a physics meeting. With my days off early in the week and the lag time in the back-and-forth emails from teammates living in different time zones, it’s easy to think there’s not enough time. But with 7 days in a week and 24 hours each day, I know that there is enough time. Sure, I’m busy, but I’m not that busy. Even as life continues its hustle, I’ve learned to find the time to sit down, put on a chill playlist and focus on my tasks, the way I have been for Jezuba. 
 
I’m not trying to say that you can always find the time even if you try. I’m also not trying to say that anyone should feel bad for relaxing. After eight hours on my feet at work without electricity and handwriting slips (thanks, Hurricane Isaias), or even the hours spent on developing Jezuba's site, I’m more than ready for some Netflix. For me, it has always been a question of reprioritization, the choice between “I have no free time” and “I fell down a Twitter rabbit hole for an hour”.
 
Maybe I lost my point here, but what I am trying to convey is that I realized through working for Jezuba, once I get past that first hump of inertia, that’s when I get my work done. One reply to an email can get me going for hours.  This summer, given more or less flexibility in my schedule, has allowed me to adapt the strategy of enforcing mini five seconds tasks, which helped ignite my productivity and confidence.  But despite the pages coming together, sometimes I worry that my progress is meaningless. Am I actually contributing? Making an impact? I then remember that we live in a digital world. Jezuba’s website is our handshake to the world, and just like my dad taught me, a handshake should have a firm grip. Our website needs to be the reliable vehicle in which my fellow team members can use to drive communication within their projects, push for advertisements and results, and connect to the bigger community, making the social impact we wish to see.  
 
Although I didn’t work on any specific projects like everyone else, I had my own window into each project and the team member behind them. Starting from the initiation of an idea, to the collaboration, then the sales, and finally to the end destinations of the proceeds; the big picture view is inspiring, and as a web developer, I get to decorate the projects with the micro-level decisions such as font size and positioning.
 
I am now back at Wellesley, and it’s going to be a strange semester, to say the least. Alongside my flip flops and Tide Pods, I’m planning to bring these fresh skills back with me.
 
Talia O’Shea
Web Developer

credit: Getty