Field notes from my new job

I’m the new guy at work. It’s refreshing, humbling, and motivating.

I’m writing this at the end of week 1; after many onboarding sessions, meetings, and getting to know the team, the business, the brand, and many other things.

It’s exactly what I was expecting: challenging in a great way. It’s nice starting something brand new. Fresh start, fresh ideas to bring to the table, and a new perspective on how other teams and orgs work.

New year, new job, same old me.

Let’s jump in.

This week I started at Vanta, a trust management platform that automates security compliance and risk management (it’s the GRC space: governance, risk, compliance).

While I have been on the administrative side of ensuring software we use at work is complaint (think things like pen testing, SOC 2, ISO27001 etc), I have not been deeply in the weeds of the GRC space, so this stuff is very new to me. I may be doing Community work, but that’s just a piece of it. I have lots of learning to do that goes way beyond the Community of it all. I am knee-deep (maybe higher than knees, actually) in learning and enablement. I’m confident I’ll be a GRC expert in no time.

Instead of pretending I have it all figured out, here are some new job field notes; just some random thoughts as I wrap up my first week:

1. The vibe check: Positive! It’s nice when people are approachable and are eager to help. At any job, there’s lots to learn, so it’s nice I have friendly colleagues around me to help me dig in and get started. And the mascot's a llama (named ilma by the way), so that makes things just a bit more fun, playful, and unserious, as far as I’m concerned.

2. Old lessons, new context: I’m back in startup world! Moving fast, working in ambiguity sometimes, quick changes, rapid growth, a high level of cross-functional collaboration; it’s part of the experience.

3. The chance to build: A big part of what drew me to this role was the opportunity to build something from the ground up. I like getting into the weeds of building a community program early—creating the space, chatting with early community members (our customers), and designing a visual identity that feels intentional. It all goes hand in hand with building a top-tier customer experience.

4. Growth, humility, and learning: I’ve been reminding myself of this all week (and if you’re reading this and you also started a new job recently, this is for you too). These first few weeks, give yourself some grace. Dive in, but not so deep that you lose track of where you are, what you need to do, and why you’re there. Being new is a growth accelerator. It force humility and sharpens listening. Be diligent, but don’t rush it; take the time to do it and get it right.

5. Onboarding done right: After all, it’s the first impression a company gives to its new hires once they’re on the other side (onboarding covers everything basically. the product, its people. the brand. the operations. everything). It’s been such a fantastic introduction. Thorough, engaging, and collaborative—just what I look for in an onboarding experience. In many ways, we’ve built our own lil community as a new hire onboarding cohort. It’s been fun.

After a solid week 1, I’m feeling motivated and ready to dive in more.

Thanks for reading and for being here. I don’t take for granted that you care what I have to say. Or even if you don’t care, and you’re still here; thanks for being a fan anyway. ❣️

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