Job Shadow

   While in Seattle, I was so fortunate to spend a day at the Gensler firm located on Sixth Avenue in downtown Seattle. It was an absolutely wonderful experience, and I would not change one thing about the entire day.

   The morning began with meeting Chelsea, a LEED certified designer in the firm.  She started with a tour of their office space. It is a beautiful space, and I am sure that clients are as comfortable as I was when I visited.  Chelsea was relaxed and friendly, and immediately I felt at ease. She showed the break-out rooms for small meetings, the living room that was used for meetings, or when the people working need a little more relaxed space could work. I toured the design library space, the kitchen, and the working spaces. Chelsea pointed out some of the projects, and models that people in the office were currently working on. A hotel project in Tahiti immediately caught my eye.

   After the tour, Chelsea took out the materials from the project she was working on. It included all the materials, as the project was ready for a client presentation that afternoon. I saw the plans, elevations, color schemes, and materials she had chosen to show the clients. It all was very inspiring, and I could definitely see myself doing this type of work.

   After Chelsea, I met with Jennifer. She is a Test Planner in the Gensler office. She showed us the project she was working on, and how she takes the program from the client, and tries different spaces to see if all the needs can be met within the space. She does this through bubble diagrams, and trace overlays. It was so educational to see her approach, and something I will take from for a long time.

   Jennifer passed me along to Kara. She took me to a project they had recently finished that she had been working on. It was so exciting to see the space, and hear about Kara’s job at Gensler. Kara is a design coordinator, which basically means that she is the one that plans all the components of a project, and makes sure they are all in sync.  She took us to the Glumac office space there in downtown. I t was such fun to see a completed project! I learned a lot about details, and things I hadn’t even thought about while I was with Kara. She definitely opened my eyes to job possibilities that I did not know about in the design world. Kara took me to the Seattle Convention Center for a wonderful, healthy lunch, and then we headed back to the Gensler office.

   Once we were back in the office, we saw a presentation from a furniture design company from London. It was a good experience, as I had never sat in on a presentation of this type. Their aesthetic was very clean and modern, and they had many good features to their designs. I especially appreciated the green aspect to their designs.

   Finally, I met with Stephanie de Villa and Savannah Barker. Stephanie is working on a project with Princess Cruise Lines, and talked a little about that. But what was really interesting to hear from these two, is how they go about getting new job opportunities in a sector of business they don’t currently have a large market share in. I heard how the developed a focus group, and things they did to try to obtain business in the restaurant and boutique sector. I am sure they will be successful at this, as they were both talented resourceful women.

I really could not have had a better Job Shadow experience. It was an inspiring day filled with inspiring people. I hope to be part of this exciting design world soon!