This morning, Forbes once again named Adobe onto their list of Best Employers for New Grads, and this year we came in at no. 3! Starting your first job right out of University can be intimidating and exciting all at once. That’s why we do everything we can to make this transition seamless and enjoyable for our new hires at Adobe—and make sure they have a ton of fun along the way.
As we welcome a new group of university hires to Adobe, we asked a few employees who embarked on their Adobe career in 2018 to share their favorite memories and lessons learned from their first year.
Jaya Dodeja, Member of Technical Staff
Bachelor of Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology
What was your first month like?
“My first month at Adobe was the perfect balance of some initial industry-level technical training and knowledge sessions about how the print business works. I was amazed by the technical training I got. The fact that it was not purely theoretical helped me to develop the art of writing clean and well-structured code. It also helped grow a positive team culture in all of us from the very beginning.”
From what you’ve experienced at Adobe, what piece of advice would you offer new hires?
“Be honest and have a good relationship with your manager. I can absolutely assure you that your manager is out there to help you as much as he/she can.”
Elissa Welsh, Experience Designer
BA, California College of the Arts
What is your favorite Adobe memory from your first year?
“Traveling to the New York office with the Fresco design and product team. We did a full week of user studies and had groups of artists give us their impressions of Fresco. It was such an inspiring week for me because I got to see people using a product that I’ve contributed to and give us their thoughts so candidly.”
What do you see in your future at Adobe?
“It’s really inspiring to see women in senior and leadership positions. There are interesting new products, initiatives and projects happening at Adobe, and I hope to be a lead and an inspiration to other young women in the future.”
Jeff Merrill, Marketing Manager, Experience League
MBA, Brigham Young University
What is your favorite Adobe memory from your first year?
“I spent a good amount of time working on Adobe Summit, and it was a great experience to see all those months of planning come to life. Our focus was on customer needs, and seeing customers enjoy themselves at the Experience Maker Awards or interacting with them and helping them learn at the Adobe booth on the showroom floor made it all worth it.”
How has Adobe supported you through your first year of work?
“Every relationship that I’ve built here started with me reaching out to someone, or them reaching out to me, and having them completely embrace me as a part of the Adobe team. I’ve been humbled to work with so many great, supportive people.”
Richard Zhang, Research Scientist
PhD, UC Berkeley
What was your first month like?
“The first week, I attended the Adobe Research retreat and met folks from Seattle, Cambridge and India. A few weeks later, I attended CVPR (a top computer vision conference) and presented my summer internship project. Later that summer, I presented my PhD work at the SIGGRAPH Thesis Fast Forward session and won the best presentation award. Shortly after, I visited the Seattle office, and Oliver Wang and I conceived of the project which would become “Detecting Photoshopped Images by Scripting Photoshop.”
From what you’ve experienced at Adobe, what piece of advice would you offer new hires?
“Find mentors. My mentor has been exceptionally supportive. For example, back in March, I was confused and worried about a small point a reviewer made on a research paper I submitted. In retrospect, it may not have even been that important. Nonetheless, at 12:20 am, my mentor spent an hour helping define what experiments to conduct and how to best address the concern.”
Gaurav Verma, Research Associate
Bachelor of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
How has Adobe supported you through your first year of work?
“I am thankful to the senior researchers here at Adobe who provide valuable guidance as I navigate through the early days of my career. The Adobe Research team is full of smart and nice people and I am thankful to Adobe for fostering such an environment.”
What do you see in your future at Adobe?
“I believe there’s a lot for me to learn, both in terms of general business practices as well as the things that are specific to my field of work. In my future at Adobe, I imagine myself making progress on both of these fronts. I joined Adobe with a desire to do impactful work, and that desire continues to grow stronger than ever. I also hope I will continue coming across really nice and smart people who make this a really wonderful place to work!”
Interested in joining the Adobe team? Check out available career opportunities at Adobe or read more stories about Adobe careers.
