The Benefits of Coworkers: Better Taste in Music

I am sure that I've learned a lot about engineering and leadership, but more importantly I now know who King Gizzard & Lizard Wizard are.

Skills? Professional Development? Mentorship? No Thanks, I Want the Jams.

Sometimes you can't wear your headphones and tune out from the world around, sometimes you have to work with your colleagues, and sometimes even talk to them. In these collaborative moments the silence is deafening, only broken by the occasional read off of a measurement or short confab about the placement of a VFD. What are you to do? Listen to your own thoughts? No thank you, I'll have a collaborative Spotify playlist.

The playlist that started this whole thing was called Rocking Around the Panel Shop, which was a playlist between myself and one other employee, and we filled with our especially eclectic but wildly different music. But as new people joined the team (mainly those in the field of electricity) we would whare the playlist with them, and they too added their strange music.

Yeah but what's the point?

Comradery and Connection, that's the point! As with any business people come and go, and sometimes you don't text old coworkers as often as you like. The playlist is the anchor that can hold those connections together, you might here a song that reminds you of a coworker who taught you how to troubleshoot a 4-20mA sensor (single ended) and think "I should drop them a text!"

Side Note: You should probably drop a text to that coworker you're currently thinking of as you read this

I've always made it my business to make new employees feel welcomed when they start, and I think inviting someone to share their favorite music is a great and low pressure way to make a new employee feel more comfortable. I also believe that it allows the team to be welcoming in terms of who the person is as a human rather than just as another work resource for the team.

And the best thing of all?

You are now a cooler person with a wider taste in music! Look at how hip you are now with all of your niche and interesting music tastes. I certainly think you are a better engineer now. So please, go an make a shared playlist, make people feel welcomed and part of the team, and then steal those cool music tastes and make them you own!

A special thanks to the following for broadening my music tastes:

• Mason Scholl - Too many to count
• Dan Poole - King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
• Jared Tatman - I know that you will be parked out by the lake, that's where you'll be.
• Brady Whisenhunt, MSEE - Metal and Dungeon Synth? Truly an aficionado of notes and sound
• Ellison Beezley - Orbitr <- All of you go listen