My First Month at NSR

The month has come and gone, and I have been working hard. It has been a great experience so far and I thought I would catch you up.

I have settled nicely into an 8-hour work day, drawing on my experiences to know myself and know how much time I'll need for any given task. It has felt nice to wake up every day and get straight to work.

A lot of my job concerns staying informed. I've been reading more news articles, Twitter feeds, and emails than ever before, learning most specifically about the maritime satellite telecommunications (satcom) market; my main focus for now. Thankfully, I was kind of training myself for this as I've spent the last year working to keep myself informed about space, and the industry thereof.

My main task has been focusing on the addressable market for maritime satcom. Here, I've been working to understand the composition and distribution of the maritime business worldwide, namely who the big operators are in the fields of merchant shipping, cruise ship lines, and the like. The object is to understand the potential user-base that exists; essentially, how many potential customers are there for maritime satcom.

It has not been easy to find. As is normally the case, there are no extremely convenient sources from which all of my questions can be answered. There have been some great resources, others not so great, and some which only work when you combine them with others, and a dash of skepticism.

If you've ever done a research paper before, tried to find the best flight you possibly can for a variety of departure days, or tried to combine three coupons through Amazon to get free shipping, then you'll have some idea of how I've been spending my days. 

It has been a great learning experience. I can already see my knowledge coalescing, my understanding of the market not only becoming clear, but becoming defensible. I love this part of learning, when you become more of an expert on matters, but still remember the harsh reality of how little you knew before. It keeps you modest, but it pushes you forward. You step into the spotlight, more confidently offering your opinions and insights, while still keeping your eyes open to knowledge you may have missed.

And having a paycheque doesn't hurt either.

Now is a time of transition for me. I have begun the journey from student to professional, hopefully from extremely without funds to being able to support myself and pay my bills.

On top of that, I have applied for my French visa, as I plan on moving back to Strasbourg very soon.

The coming months will become busier and busier, with work coming together and offering more challenges to take on, working magic with my finances and reconciling student debt, and preparing to move myself and my life across the ocean.

Through it all, I must always strive to not lose sight of those aspects of my life which are important, but not as distractingly insistent as work, money, and stress; namely, friends, family, and my own personal self. It can be easy to become lost in work, trust me, I'm an expert, but without keeping yourself open to the rest of life, it will pass you by. I'm very glad to have found a sense of balance and I plan on continuing to work on that for years to come.

Thanks for reading, hopefully that gave you an insight into my adventures lately.