7 Things I Learned a Year Post-Grad


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I woke up this morning to the realization that I made it. A year ago at this time I was entering the workforce in a post-grad panic, and learning to navigate the discourse of corporate America. Being one of the only girls in a room, learning to do a job I never imagined I’d find myself doing. Insurance software, if you can imagine. For the past year, I had the riveting and utterly soul sucking job of teaching people how to use software that they don’t want to use. 2019 was a crash landing into the real world, leading to harsh mental and emotional discoveries about the realities of life outside of academia. Those lessons, which sometimes feel like trauma wounds, are what I am sharing with you today.

Here we GO…

  1. Just because they are your boss, doesn’t mean they are right

  2. Being pleasable does not make you a good employee

  3. The job description is a rough draft of the work you’ll actually do

  4. Find a friend in every department and resource them

  5. Pack more snacks than you think you’ll eat, and offer them to others

  6. You will never fully love your job if you don’t associate with the work

  7. Your job/boss shouldn’t give you panic attacks, speak up and find help


The first year after graduating college is a really precarious time. On one had, you feel lifted and expansive with your newfound knowledge and prospects of the future. On the other hand, you have the mental/emotional feebleness of a newborn fawn walking on its wobbly legs for the first time. Prone to injury, navigating your way through the first few steps of the real world. Now, I look forward to the possibilities of another year with stronger legs. A new chapter with new opportunities, lessons to learn, and stories to inevitably make into deer analogies. See you next week ;)

Angie StefanecComment