Alix Pauchet interviewed for her position as a digital media tutor over Skype from her time abroad in Australia. Her interest and dedication to the digital media tutor program was apparent from the start. As an Architecture major Alix’s experience in design tools was a great asset to the program. During her time as a DMT Alix created Photoshop image cleanup workflows to share with artists and architects alike, she also worked to convert a large number of .html pages generated in Dreamweaver into a WordPress framework to simplify course web site updates for a faculty member in English and American Literatures. Alix also assisted in the initial collaborative work to attempt to support the computer labs in Johnson for Architecture and Studio Art majors. Here’s what Alix had to share about the program:
“I loved working as a tutor…I remember first joining the team well into the summer, and feeling very welcome. For a job that requires so much autonomy (working alone on projects, finding solutions via trouble-shooting and googling answers), I found that there was quite a bit of interaction –with students and professors who needed our help, between tutors, etc. I enjoyed feeling helpful, but I also enjoyed learning about what all these people were working on. Most students and professors I helped were happy to tell me about the project they’d been working on and needed help with, and more often than not, I’d learn something new (conversation topics ranged from Shakespeare to ballet, and I even discussed aquaculture in New Zealand for a good 45 minutes with an exchange student).
I’m now working in Paris for a residential architecture firm, and I use the skills I acquired as a DMT on a daily basis: I do design work on Autocad and Sketchup (software I learned how to use while working in Johnson, with other architecture students), but I’m also in charge of internal ‘communication’ and making presentation documents for clients– and for those, I use Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign all the time. I would say that the most useful skill I developed as a DMT, though, aside from learning these software, is the problem-solving mindset that is necessary to work in a fast-paced professional environment. When something isn’t working out the way I want it to, I go through each step methodically, until I figure things out. I wasn’t this organized before becoming a media tutor :)”
