Up at 5.30am. I had to load the car with a load of stuff we are going to store at Harry and Margaret’s house while we are selling ours. I set off at 6.20am and got onto the M6 at about 6.30am. There were already several miles of traffic tailing back on the southbound carriageway. Luckily, leaving Birmingham was a lot clearer.
I got to Chester at 8.30am and unloaded the car at Harry and Margaret’s before heading in to work. The flexitime system they have there is a real boon. As long as I get in before 10am, it’s fine. I felt knackered all day though.
After initially feeling nervous about being chucked straight into a project at work, I was getting really into it this week. Apparently most new developers spend the first two or three weeks just reading documentation, and familiarising themselves with the company’s web framework, working practices and standards, etc. I think I have probably learned more, by having some work to do.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
End of the First Week
The first week went a lot better than I could have hoped for. My work on the project has gone well, and I do not feel as out of my depth as I assumed I would. Also people do seem impressed with the stuff I’ve turned out so far.
My first week living with the in-laws went ok as well. I am going to get too used to having my dinner cooked for me every night. I really missed Lou and the kids though, and it felt really good to get home on Friday evening. I set off from work at about 4.30pm and got home about 7pm. Jamie and Caitlin were in the bath when I got in, so I was there in time to help with that and read their bedtime story.
Also this week we put an offer in on a house in Blacon (Chester), and it was accepted. Now we have to get a move on with our decorating to get our house on the market.
This weekend was a blitz of preparation and painting. We did the kitchen and upstairs hallway, but it all needs another coat, and all the woodwork still needs doing. After working late on into Sunday evening, I decided not to travel back that night because I felt too tired to drive. Early start then, for Monday morning.
My first week living with the in-laws went ok as well. I am going to get too used to having my dinner cooked for me every night. I really missed Lou and the kids though, and it felt really good to get home on Friday evening. I set off from work at about 4.30pm and got home about 7pm. Jamie and Caitlin were in the bath when I got in, so I was there in time to help with that and read their bedtime story.
Also this week we put an offer in on a house in Blacon (Chester), and it was accepted. Now we have to get a move on with our decorating to get our house on the market.
This weekend was a blitz of preparation and painting. We did the kitchen and upstairs hallway, but it all needs another coat, and all the woodwork still needs doing. After working late on into Sunday evening, I decided not to travel back that night because I felt too tired to drive. Early start then, for Monday morning.
Day 2
I was to be drafted into a project which had been running for a couple of weeks, with just one other web developer and a senior developer (responsible for the complicated stuff). Happily I discovered that the page I was assigned to updating required mostly cosmetic html and style sheet changes. There was also some database driven stuff, but nowhere near as complicated as I had feared, so I was able to get on with it.
I also had to attend a short project meeting, which was a first for me. It showed me how projects are run and managed, and I was impressed with how organised it was compared to the way things ran at the last job. I was introduced as the new Web Analyst Programmer. The other Web AP was described as a web expert (I later found out from him, that he had only been there a couple of months and was hoping I would be able to help him out with all the stuff he didn’t know how to do).
I also had to attend a short project meeting, which was a first for me. It showed me how projects are run and managed, and I was impressed with how organised it was compared to the way things ran at the last job. I was introduced as the new Web Analyst Programmer. The other Web AP was described as a web expert (I later found out from him, that he had only been there a couple of months and was hoping I would be able to help him out with all the stuff he didn’t know how to do).
Day 1
The first day was a gentle introduction to life at my new workplace. I was one of about ten new starters and we spent most of the morning sitting through an induction session. Many idiosyncrasies of the company were revealed, including the value and importance of car parking spaces, an extremely harsh internet and email usage policy and a very cool flexitime system.
Just before lunch I was dropped off at my new desk, and introduced to my Buddy. All new starters are assigned a Buddy to look after them during their first week, and to show them the important stuff, like where the local sandwich shop is. Your Buddy is also given up to ten quid to pay for lunch on the first day, which is a pretty cool idea.
The afternoon was spent getting my PC set up with all the necessary software, and just reading through company literature. The sheer size and complexity of their web site and framework was a surprise. I could tell it would take a long time to get my head around it.
Just before I left for the evening, my new manager told me that they were going to do something radical and throw me straight into a project on my second day. I went home feeling quite nervous about it.
During my interview for this job, I had demonstrated massive gaps in my knowledge of asp.net coding, and was surprised when they actually offered me the job. I had considered turning it down, because I was so worried that my skills would be inadequate. Then I reassured myself that they had assessed my capabilities and offered me the job anyway, and that they would probably provide training and support. Then they chuck me straight into a project, and I felt like it would be a case or sink or swim.
Just before lunch I was dropped off at my new desk, and introduced to my Buddy. All new starters are assigned a Buddy to look after them during their first week, and to show them the important stuff, like where the local sandwich shop is. Your Buddy is also given up to ten quid to pay for lunch on the first day, which is a pretty cool idea.
The afternoon was spent getting my PC set up with all the necessary software, and just reading through company literature. The sheer size and complexity of their web site and framework was a surprise. I could tell it would take a long time to get my head around it.
Just before I left for the evening, my new manager told me that they were going to do something radical and throw me straight into a project on my second day. I went home feeling quite nervous about it.
During my interview for this job, I had demonstrated massive gaps in my knowledge of asp.net coding, and was surprised when they actually offered me the job. I had considered turning it down, because I was so worried that my skills would be inadequate. Then I reassured myself that they had assessed my capabilities and offered me the job anyway, and that they would probably provide training and support. Then they chuck me straight into a project, and I felt like it would be a case or sink or swim.
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