From joining a fully-remote distributed team for the first time to embracing the Digital world while adding value within the Data & Engineering department, Maggie has had a full year filled with challenges and learning experiences.
Given the current global context, we think it’s relevant to share the candid opinions of the team that have to constantly adapt to an ever-changing environment.
Maggie is a Senior Data Scientist who joined our IMWT team this year. While applying her statistics and data science skills and expertise, she has also emerged into the digital SEO world. We reached out to Maggie in order to better understand what the transition has meant for her and how she made it work so seemingly easy.
It’s commonly known that the beginning is the hardest. What was the hardest thing for you to overcome when starting at IMWT?
Without being really long in the Digital Marketing World, I have great pleasure in my experience of learning, growth and development working in the Digital SEO area. I didn’t expect this to be this good when I came across it the first time one year ago. Now I am still a fresh learner, I keep saying this statement to myself every day so I know I am still new and should stay curious.
It was a special time when I joined IMWT in March 2020 during the Covid Safety Period. The ordinary daily life in Australia was ruined and the normal public commute was restricted, the majority of working people despaired about their career prospects. Naturally, I was concerned with IMWT’s business performance under this economic circumstance. I am really glad it made it through the hardest April and May and recovered very quickly afterwards.
What motivated you to pursue a remote job?
I had met my colleagues Freddy, James and Ana in person long before I joined IMWT so I was confident they were easy-going and friendly people to get along with. And I knew they were willing to spend more time on communication just to make people comfortable with working remotely. All people in IMWT look warm-hearted, satisfied and enthusiastic. I think this team culture makes newcomers less stressed about remote work.
What are your best tips on working remotely?
I am trying to create the most comfortable work environment at home. This includes putting snacks within reach, not dressing up formally and playing favourite music on the speaker. They don’t distract me from work, instead, help me work efficiently over extended hours and not feel exhausted.
There are still a lot of misconceptions around working remotely (e.g. remote workers are less productive, more lonely). Which do you think are the most common? Did you have any before starting working remotely?
I think the misconception with remote work is a lack of social connection. Some people consider only body contact and in-person conversations as social connections. However the truth is the lack of social connection is not only seen in remote work, it can be seen in the group that attends the office as well. This happens to people who do not have their ‘favourite buddy’ at the workplace or don’t feel recognised by their colleagues.
What is the best thing that you’ve learned so far at IMWT?
IMWT is really strong in interpreting the client’s abstract concept/expectation to a solid roadmap and taking actions to hit the target. The productivity and creativity is not seen elsewhere in a large-sized corporate (probably also thanks to the agile team size). With this team process, we can add much more efficiency and creativity to deliveries.]
What is your best tip on becoming a successful SEO?
Not to be risk-averse and be willing to experiment. There is no such thing as a rule of thumb in SEO practice. Every case is different and strategies should be customised. The reduced performance is temporary but the learnings from experimentation are permanent.
