Making Connections with People

I really do enjoy having conversations with others. Some might say I’m a people-person. Regardless of how well I know the other person or how much I relate to them, I like to find ways to get the conversation rolling and catch any topics that we both find interest in. I am almost always interested in hearing from other human beings themselves about how they perceive the world. Bill Nye once said that, “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” Sometimes I even go onto Omegle.com, a site where users from all around the world can video chat with each other at random. I always find it much more valuable to hear from people themselves rather than reading or watching something that is telling me how people supposedly feel.

My first job was a barista at Starbucks. It was a very challenging job that was more or less stressful depending on the day. While a big part of the job was making people their morning coffee, another important part was making connections with customers. Before working there, I wasn’t exactly the most easily sociable person. I wasn’t quite the loner, introverted type but certainly not one to talk to random strangers. Working as a barista forced me to talk with hundreds of completely random people and make a connection with them, regardless of how little time we interacted. I ended up working there for about 3 years and was able to gain some skill with conversation. After having worked there, I learned how I can make a connection with strangers, no matter how small.

While at working as a barista I learned how to make connections with people face to face. Right now, at Make School, I’m learning how to make connections with people through building websites. Making a connection in person and through a website in many ways are completely different. Making a connection in person is rather straight-forward; there is a greetings of sorts, a topic of conversation, a few side comments, and maybe some questions. On a website while there are mostly obvious, front-facing contents that the user interacts with, there are also dozens and dozens of obscure, hidden design elements that influence the user. Everything from shapes, colors, and text to the flow of the page or the interactions with the buttons, all of which influence the user’s experience. On the flip side, there exists some small similarities between connections with people face to face and through a website. Both leave impressions based on behaviors, aesthetics, and the contents of the interaction. I am still getting used to trying to make an impressions based on one’s quick interaction with a website.

With the goal of technology being making human’s lives easier, it is a simple choice in today’s age to join others in developing software that do just that. Technology is the much of the reason why society is constantly evolving and progressing. Technology, such as the internet, is also a dominating medium in making connections with others. Despite the fact I am not able to make as much of a personal connection with others with website as I would when interacting with them face to face, I am able to make a connection with others based on tools I can build that make their lives easier or just even just more enjoyable. I want to build tools that empower people and allow for them to live a better life by giving them an opportunity to take advantage of the benefits technology offers. That is why I am in pursuit of making connections with others.