The Hybrid Way

Employee Spotlight
 

Evan Doran, Assistant Editor
Modern Machine Shop Editorial Team
Gardner Business Media, Inc.

Despite the title, this blog post will not be about cars.

Instead, I’ll be talking about how life at Gardner has been a collection of mashups (or hybrids, to sound fancy): from the work situation, to the projects I’m working with, to the very nature of the job.

Work at Home/Home at Work

I started at Gardner at the very end of August 2020. Getting hired during the pandemic was a shock — not least since I’d been searching for writing jobs in Cincinnati for quite some time. It was a bit of a hiring whirlwind at the office (and hiring has remained fairly steady since then, if our intranet updates are any indication), and my first supervisor started the same day I did.

Aside from a few early visits to the office to meet the teams I was joining (outside, of course, with plenty of social distancing), I worked from home. Having just finished a few graduate classes at the University of Cincinnati, finding spots to work from at home wasn’t a huge adjustment — but it was the first time I’d worked with a dual-monitor setup, and the laptop keyboard tripped me up more than a few times. Still, by the end of the year I felt confident in my ability to work from home.

My first time going to the office to work was this past May. After getting into a routine for working at home, this required a significant adjustment (my commute goes between 40 and 45 minutes most days), and I was a little afraid to spend a full day around people outside my small quarantine bubble for the first time in over a year.

So far, it’s been a good change. I’ve never had a cubicle before, but it feels more like a personal space at the office than I’ve had at any other job. Seeing new people has been a revelation. Even the ability to go out for the occasional Gardner luncheon feels like I’m getting away with something.

My dog has a few problems with my workspace being away from her hangout spots, but she’s always pleased when I emerge.

I’m not there every day — after all, the commute — but settling into a new routine that’s partially at home and partially at the office has let me enjoy the best of both worlds. At home: my dog, and whatever wildlife shows up outside my window (on good days, it’s a deer; on bad days, it’s a snake). At work: coworkers who I’m finally getting to know, now that we’re not trapped behind laptop cameras. It’s a good mix!

Today I’m Doing What?/What I’m Doing Today

When I first started at Gardner, I was told that I didn’t really have a job description. I would be doing Assistant Editor duties for both the Editorial and Digital teams, which were each settling into their new forms, and I would also be floating among Gardner’s English-language brands.

This resulted in a whirlwind tour of brand guidelines, how-to guides and manufacturing terms. There was always more to learn, and I’m glad I kept up well enough that people wanted to keep me on. Things eventually began to coalesce just as we started to plan the return to the office: I moved to the Editorial team full-time and passed the MMS (Modern Machine Shop, for any readers new to Gardner lingo) social media duties to our new digital editor.

It’s been strange finding some artifacts from my cubicle’s previous inhabitant, but I’m tucked in just the right place to be able to say hello to people passing by while still finding some quiet.

I’m doing a lot more long-form content now, in addition to the editing duties I picked up during my first few months here. The job is still somewhat of a hybrid thing brand-wise, with writing duties for MMS and occasionally AM (Additive Manufacturing). There’s still a lot to learn — I may know my mills from my turning machines, but then there’s suddenly a mill-turn — but my feet are finally under me.

Productivity software has turned the many importance flags of my email into a list I can parse. I can find the detour when the road I use for my commute closes. I can recognize most of my coworkers. Work life has never been better!

Creative Professionalism

I make no secret of the fact that I went to school for creative writing, picking up professional writing along the way after dipping my toes in the water during a summer internship. It’s more of a secret (albeit an open one) that what we do at Gardner is a cross between PR and news.

What does that mean, and why do I find it a nearly perfect balance?

In short, we find the information about what’s going on in manufacturing — whether through press releases, trade show demonstrations, case studies or shop visits — and write about it in the most positive way we can. We won’t sugarcoat flaws or downsides (there’s no pretending metal AM isn’t expensive, after all), but we are in the business of helping our advertisers pitch their products to our audience. Keeping the audience’s trust just means being honest and staying away from sounding too “corporate.” That’s where the creativity comes in handy.

One of my latest tasks: creating several articles based on information from our 2002 handbook. Distilling these into condensed versions that don’t overwhelm the reader has been a challenge, but a welcome one.

Manufacturing is complicated. Writing about manufacturing adds another layer of complicating abstractions. But that’s where the joy waits: sifting through those abstractions to find the best way of phrasing something, the right choice of words that would help anyone — from seasoned shop owners to apprentices and students starting to learn the trade — understand what makes the latest machine or process so special. No puff quotes, no putting down competitors: only the facts, with the voice of Modern Machine Shop bestowing them some conversational warmth. That’s where we need to be, and it’s a place I enjoy searching for.

Need more information?
Evan Doran, Assistant Editor
Modern Machine Shop Editorial Team
Gardner Business Media, Inc. 
513-527-8800 ext. 7282
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About the Author

Evan Doran

Evan officially joined the Modern Machine Shop team in April 2021, but has been working with the brand since August 2020. A Cincinnati native, he will be glad to talk to you about the Museum Center at Union Terminal, Graeter’s Ice Cream or the joys of the Cincinnati Public Library system. He holds a degree in Creative Writing and Professional Writing from Miami University (the one in Ohio, not the one in Florida), and has a graduate certificate in Professional Writing from the University of Cincinnati.

Evan is a rather indoorsy person, enjoying fantasy novels (especially Neil Gaiman, Jo Walton and Terry Pratchett), video games and tabletop games from Ticket to Ride to Dungeons and Dragons — but has been wondering about how to explore the mysterious outdoors. He writes often, has a handful of short story publications and is absolutely trying for more.