Week 1: Culture at Comcast

Walking up the Suburban Station stairs before my first day at Comcast was a bit intimidating. This is my first time working in a big city, and the excitement and energy in the train station each morning makes sure I’m ready for the fast-paced days I’ve been having. Once I get settled at my desk however, the “small fish in a big pond” feeling fades away. I work on the sales and marketing floor in the Comcast Center which hosts around 60-70 employees. In addition to the familiar faces, I am meeting new people around the floor everyday. The office is open, inviting, and talkative. There are white boards everywhere and no real cubicles. It’s an office set up for idea generation and conducive for conversation.

I am in constant communication with my team members, but not in a traditional way or in a way I even expected. My manager and my teammates all work remotely. I’ve been told that they’ll come in from time to time, but I’ve yet to meet my boss who, ironically enough, works out of Richmond. Throughout this past week, I have two, one hour long calls with my team each day. One in the morning to go over the agenda and one in the afternoon for questions, training, and daily progress reports. This system definitely has both pros and cons, and I’m still figuring out whether or not I like it as a work environment. The built-in calls are great because there is extensive time carved out in the day for me to ask questions and receive the guidance I need. So far, the calls have really been about me and bringing me up to speed regarding the work and projects going on. At the same time, this system can be a little tough especially when I have essential questions in between calls. I write them down and report back in the afternoon, but it would be much easier to just walk over to their desk and have them work with me then and there. I am able to text and email them throughout the day, and there are similar teams on the floor who might be able to shed light on a question I have, but the communication can still get lost in translation without the face-to-face interactions. I really love the sales and voice analysis work that I’m doing and the energetic company culture is great, but the communication aspect of the job has been a little tough.