fastfive with Andrea

What was your first ever job?

My very first job was collecting eggs from the chicken shed for pocket money. There was a particularly vicious rooster that didn’t like the cut of my jib so I always had to remember to wear the tall gumboots to avoid the inevitable peck attack during collection. I mean, I was stealing their eggs so I can’t really hold a grudge but they had to pay the rent some how right?

At 14 and 9 months K-Mart was the first job I had where I wasn’t paid by my parents. After failing the aptitude test the first time due to my lack of long division skills I tried again a few weeks later after learning them and passed. Never having to long divide anything in the role or since, these skills have been subsequently overwritten with the first season of American Gods. Initially I was nothing but a simple Checkout Operator but I slowly moved my way up the ranks to Closing Call Announcer and ultimately to one of the most coveted roles in the store, Audio/Visual Sales Assistant.

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

Don’t trust advice from people claiming to be you from the future. However if you must, then:

• Try not to compare yourself to others too much. Accept that learning never ends.
• Pay more attention to cars when riding motorcycles. Cars don't pay attention to you.
• Listen to your heart… yeah nah.. just generally keep doing what you’re doing. Everything will be fine.

Who is your favourite person/brand to follow on social media and why?

Not really the social media type but I do watch a heap of YouTube. I enjoy the political discourse of FriendlyJordies and Vox have been making some excellent videos but my favourite would have to be Kurzgesagt. Derek Muller is pretty great on Veritasium too.

What’s your favourite app or game and why?

TripView, Gmail and Reddit are my most used apps. I think Trello did an excellent job of getting their UI to work on such a small screen. Don’t really play games on my phone much but the most memorable have been Monument Valley and Spaceteam. Being a space nerd I can’t neglect to mention Planets, Exoplanet and ISS Spotter.

What do you love most about your job?

Working with people to figure out the core of a problem and then working forward from there to a solution. The best part is when this leads to experimenting and learning new things.