First Week

I just made it through my first week at the new job. It always unfolds differently than you predict. Before starting, I had imagined myself being completely, drop-dead exhausted from the new routine and information and sensory overload. Considering I had two back to back nights that didn’t get me home until after 10 pm: an evening class and then a professional development event I was presenting at – I was doing pretty well. I was taking stock of things Friday night and thought how much I underestimated the capacity of my wonderful self. And then Saturday afternoon hit and all the grandiose plans of items I was going to accomplish this weekend had to be mostly rescheduled. But much more in alignment with the norm and what I expected.

Now it is Monday and I just popped down to NYC for the day. I really wanted to write that as it sounds so smart. But the truth of the matter is that although I tried to recharge and rest up this weekend, it was all thrown out the window this morning having to catch a 6 am train (which was a 5 am wake up). It was a sleepless night. I really need to find a new alarm clock that I know works 100% of the time. Even still I had scheduled a taxi pick-up so knew I had a check and balance so should have slept better than I had.

It’s been quite awhile since I was last in NYC . Popping up on the busy city streets outside of Penn Station, I was struck at how different and unique New York is. And everyone was so…. New Yorkish. It was a whirlwind day before I found myself back on the train full of suits… and all predominately using Think Pads. Just what I have personally and now for work. Although the work laptop I had to leave at work as I found myself packing up Friday afternoon only to discover the laptop and not the docking station was locked (as I was incorrectly led to believe). And no help as everyone had gone for the day. I need to get that resolved tomorrow.

Work last week was mainly an overload of meeting people. The company has hundreds of employees and the Boston HQ is spread over 8+ floors. And I have to say the engineering world hasn’t shifted too much from the days I was in it – comprised I would say by about 80-90% white young to middle-age men. All with pretty much the same names – Jims and Johns and Joes, Mikes and Matts and Marks, Bens and Brians and Bobs. And no cheat sheet! No master list with pictures, job roles and seating assignments. I may have to do some recon and buy one of those pens that are cameras and make my own master list.

There’s so much – my job being one that crosses several departments and is throughout almost all aspects of a project from working to the land the gig to following up with clients after the project is completed and everything in between. So a lot of my time right now is absorbing everything and making sense of it all. Understanding what are the key items and what are the “wouldn’t it be great if” items. There are a lot of opportunities and a lot to achieve which makes it hard to turn the brain off at times. But I’m settling in and looking forward to what is to come and finally mastering the names of my cohorts in crime.