allerlayAnd then suddenly everything was different, so it didn’t feel right to continue blogging as if nothing had happened. It would be strange to blog without mentioning the coronavirus. At the same time, it is arrogant that I, as a layman, am commenting on a topic I know nothing about. I prefer to leave that to others who either think they know better or actually know better.
However, I would like to share my thoughts today, so after that, I can devote myself again to topics I understand something about?
Switzerland won’t be the same again
The last time I was in Switzerland was precisely one year ago. When I got on the plane to the U.S. at that time, I didn’t know that I would get married in the following months and not return for more than a year. If I had known that, I would probably have brought a few extra bars of chocolate and cookies.
Although I’m rather pragmatic and seldom have fears, it is still an oppressive feeling to know that I will return to a completely different Switzerland in a few months. In the past, after I visited the U.S. for several weeks, the feeling of coming home always came up very quickly. But something tells me that it will be different on my next visit because I can’t imagine that the crisis won’t leave any marks.
Three months at Scope
It doesn’t seem like that long, and yet I’ve been part of the Scope team for over three months. I have been self-employed since 2014 for a good reason: I love taking responsibility and freely plan my time and work.
Before Scope, I had tried to work part-time a few times. It failed because of the structures. I had become too used to my freedom – it was difficult for me to return to employment.
At Scope, I found what I had been missing since my time at Tink.ch. I like working in a team, identify strongly with the product, and can contribute myself and my skills.
Of course, there were uncertainties and question marks: How will this work with the different time zones?
I start at 7 AM, which s 1 PM in Switzerland. This mutual work time allows me to have zoom meetings with the team or with customers. They can contact and reach me via slack, e-mail, zoom, or by phone.
Meanwhile, it has become clear that the time difference helps me to be more productive. My colleagues get off work when I take a short lunch break. After lunch, I have time to devote myself to tasks that require concentration. In other words, tasks that are not time-critical and that you have to do, but which you can hardly do during the day without interruptions.
It will be awesome when I can finally meet the team in person. I hope that will soon be possible once everything has returned to normal.
New newsletter on web accessibility
Like I said before, ever since I joined Scope, I have not had much time to write content and blog posts for my website. But there is a solution: I am enthusiastic about Scope and what they offer, so it is only a logical step that I use the software myself. I will be onboarding myself and start sending a newsletter on web accessibility. You can sign up here so I don’t just curate and write content for me and my husband.