My very first email

Shift over AI, my shiny new friend, and make space on the virtual sofa my for my trusty old compadre, the email.

Like most people who can be bothered to read a post like this, you probably know the digital job market is a bit of a mess right now.

Over the weekend, while thinking about where I fit into all of this, I found myself wandering back to how I ended up working in digital in the first place.

Honestly? It was probably an accident. Or curiosity. Or both.

Before I worked in digital, I did all sorts of jobs. I (half) trained as a hairdresser. I (half) trained as an accountant, I worked in a melon-packing factory (no euphemism involved).

I managed a music bar—which, for the record, was far more stressful and involved way longer hours than anything I’ve done since. It was also one of the most fun jobs I've had.

I worked as a freelance journalist, which nudged me into SEO copywriting, which eventually pushed me, in a strange roundabout way, toward UX. Mostly because designers rarely think about content, so I started framing and prototyping with the words actually in place. I’m not a designer; I’m a UXD, product designer, content strategist and researcher. I make things practical and functional. Pretty comes later. (And yes, that line is still blurry.)

But here’s the thing the hasn’t changed over the years: I’ve always been a nerd. Happily and proudly so.

This weekend I dug out my first ever email. And when I say “dug out,” I mean I physically rummaged in a cupboard and pulled out a printed copy (see photo). It was tea stained and forgotten, but I kept it because it was so exciting at the time! My first email exchange, sent between me and a friend back when we still wrote proper letters—the kind with stamps and envelopes and handwriting you could judge each other for.

We got our first computers around the same time, neither of us had a clue what we were doing, and I remember the excitement of hitting send. Would it get there? How? When? And yes, it makes me sound ancient. Digitally, I am. No apologies.

I’ve been around since the beginning. Digital feels like a baby I’ve grown up with. I remember my first mobile phone, and how you had to press each key four times to get the right letter. My friend Zach signed off one of those early emails with a line I still think about using in my work emails now:

“Your response is vital — fear not the hand of the computer for he/she cometh in peace.”

It’s the sort of thing you’re supposed to be embarrassed by. Evidence of age. Something best left in a dusty drawer.

But… screw that.

Because here’s the thing about both writing and UX: they don’t really change. People don’t fundamentally change. Motivations don’t change. Tech evolves, sure, but humans don’t suddenly become different animals. So when new tools come along? Learn the good bits. Use them.

Embrace them.

I still love to write. I still love working in digital. And even though the current landscape makes job-hunting feel like wading through treacle, I’m enjoying learning how to teach this stuff and how to work with AI where it’s actually useful. It’s just another tool, it’s complimentary, not a replacement.

And mostly, I think, it cometh in peace.

If you don't embrace it, you’ll be the next “old person” banging on about how everything was better in your day. Spoiler: everyone thinks that. It wasn’t. It’s always been same same, but different.