As some of you know, I posted previously that I just started a new role with Expedia Group.

I accepted a role as a Developer Educator (DE), which means I will be writing and maintaining lots of engineering documentation, API refs, and tutorials.

I had been feeling for a while that I needed a new challenge that felt more like me. This new role felt perfect for my next learning adventure.

Little did I know

In my first week on the new job, I was given 2 mentors to ramp me up on the platform and the new role. To be honest, this is the MOST mentorship any company to date has given me! It was awesome!

But, a few days into the role, my primary mentor pulled me aside to explain that she and her fiance wanted to move back closer to home in Europe. (She is Romanian.) She told me she wanted me to know asap so that I wasn't shocked that she only had 2 more weeks with me.

In essence, the previous Senior DE was telling me she was leaving and passing the baton over to me.

Eeeek! AAAAH!!

What did this mean?

Well, one of the main things this previous Senior DE was in charge of was the Backlog Board and she was also kinda our Scrum Master.

Suddenly, I was in charge of maintaining our Jira Sprint board, the backlog, and more!

Not my actual team's backlog, yo! Got this from google somewhere...

Even though this meant an increase in responsibility I had not anticipated, I found myself excited at the opportunity. I have been Scrum master before for smaller projects and I missed this area of responsibility.

The truth is, there is nothing like being left in charge of a Backlog board to REALLY get to ramp up on your new product.

Do you feel ready for the added responsibility?

Yes!

I will probably make many mistakes and learn a lot. And that is what keeps a job interesting! 😄