The culture at my site is kind of a mixed bag, and I have already learned a lot while trying to settle into a professional environment. SDEV is a relatively small organization with only about 12 employees, and they work extremely hard to participate in lateral leadership, meaning that there is not really one true person in charge, rather each of us steps up to take leadership roles in the areas we are passionate about while others take the lead in different topics. My executive director explained to me that the culture of work here isn’t super typical; they try hard to dismantle structures of power and expectations of perfectionism in the workplace because they are rooted in white supremacy and a form of capitalism in which we’re almost inhuman. If that makes sense. Different people at my site are comfortable with varying levels of professionalism and sometimes it is hard to keep track, but I really appreciate the work culture here and have learned aa lot about what it make be like to work in a professional environment in the future.
