Roast #20: The Barista Series, Part 1
Barista Rumors: Brian signs with WV Partners (idk... think NFL free agency)
Hello friends,
It's been a while — well, specifically close to two weeks.
Some of you know, and some don't, but I've since started a barista job at Partners Coffee in the West Village.
In early January, I got laid off from my software engineering job at Carta. It sucked, but I wasn't too sad as this wasn't my first layoff, and I was somewhat excited about what doors this layoff would lead to. The last layoff allowed me to transition from a product marketing role into a software engineering role, which led to a happier and more content me.
I was already planning on leaving Carta around June, and I was thinking about taking a few months off to work as a barista before returning to tech.
So yeah — my barista plans got pushed up a few months. 🥲
I started sending out resumes and applying. That process was a lot harder than I expected. I started my search by reviewing the postings on New York Coffee Jobs.
I exhausted that list after about an hour. Once I finished off that list, I stopped since all the other stuff on indeed/google jobs/ziprecruiter seemed super spammy or not interesting (ie, Barista at Macy's location).
From sending out the applications and working through the responses, I realized that getting a barista job would not be easy.
I wanted to be picky
I wanted to be selective in which cafe I worked at. I jumped into this career tangent mainly for learning purposes, so it was important to me that wherever I worked would be at a place I could build a good barista foundation at.
I also wanted to work at a cafe that focused on specialty coffee. Both preferences slimmed down the pickings as there are probably only a handful of third-wave chains able to offer comprehensive training.
I preferred not to work at a mom-and-pop shop since I knew those environments wouldn't be optimal for my first barista role. I wanted more hand-holding, and those shops couldn't give it as they needed someone already trained to run their shop.
Job Seasonality
The first large hurdle I encountered was that I was applying during a time when most shops didn't need additional help. It made sense that there was some seasonality to the job market and that cafes only needed a little help during the winter because people were less likely to venture out during the cold.
I directly messaged a couple of target cafes, and they all said to get back to them in a month when traffic was expected to pick up.
I had no service experience
My barista resume could’ve been a quarter of a page long. I added spacing and whatever I found relevant to try and get it to look longer. 🥲
During one of my interviews, they asked me to provide them with a time when I provided good customer service. The last time I did anything customer service oriented with an external customer was seven years ago.
So I shared a story about how my engineer teammates were my "customers," and I would provide "good customer service" by being patient and empathetic with my code reviews.
That definitely was the answer he was looking for. 🥲
But yeah — some of those interviews were pretty rough.
But it all came together in the end
I started the process with Partners on January 18. I interviewed shortly afterward, and then close to a month went by with no response, and I kinda assumed I didn't get the job. I was a bit bummed out.
In early February, I got a follow-up e-mail asking if I was still interested in working with them. I absolutely was, so I responded, leading to additional interviews with the store manager at the time. I went into the West Village location, and it was such an extraordinary experience seeing the inner parts of a cafe — there was an entire downstairs section!
And a few days later, I got a formal offer. 🥲
The journey since:
I'm starting my fourth week and pulled my first espresso shots on the bar yesterday.
I plan to write about my n00b perspective on being a barista, and I'll share those in different future posts.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you's:
The entire team over at WV Partners. I feel I've bugged almost everyone with my questions, and everyone has been patient and understanding.
Flavio, for the continued support. It was cool briefly catching up before you jetted off to Brazil (Have a good trip!)
Gian at “A Passage Forms” for being open to working together on a collaboration. 👀
Brent at @purehappinesscoffee for always taking amazing photos of @thoughtfulcoffee, and including us in his fun projects.
The few customers who have bought something from my Shopify store. It means a lot, and the support keeps me going!