I've started to write this whilst I wait for the recommended 30 minutes to elapse on the latest self-learning course. I figure it's best to close the task as near to the allotted time even though I finished the reading the slides and the short PDF, twice, in ten minutes. This course is just one of 74 that have been assigned to me, based on my role, via the learning management system. I have a feeling that part of the test on a new hire is the ability to overcome the wall of documentation without throwing the towel in - so far so good.
I started on Monday, sat in induction meetings all morning, got my badge, account+password (the windows login at least), and a brand new laptop which is to follow me around and be locked away at night. There were four other new starters, but none of those are in my department. One of the guys said he hadn't been employed for 10 years - this made me feel better for my 2 year absence!
Since Monday afternoon, I've been mostly picking this short courses, and introductions to the various policies, laws, tools, systems, and other tough to stay away to stuff - there is a lot, and because none of it is 'hands on', it's pretty easy to drift away whilst the robotic voice gives you some information that will unlikely aid you in the future.
I get it though, the sector is heavily regulated, and the company needs to cover its backside. Each piece of material has a due date, logs your start and end time, and no doubt goes back to the manager in the form of a nice chart so he (in this case) can see if you've managed to keep your eyes open and click on the next one.
Free tea and coffee though, this will help!
From my position in the office I have a pretty reasonable view of the windows and can see the renovation work going on at Nottingham Castle to the west, a clock tower close to the market square to the north, and the clock tower at the train station to the east - not bad at all.
Not far away, although the blue sky has been edited in :P source
The floor is very open plan but quiet enough at present, although this may change in the next week or two when the schools are back at 100%. One thing I was dreading was the one temperature doesn't fit all thing going on with open plan offices. And yeah, I have a faint cold draft above my head. At lunch I walked home (timed at 8 mins) and brought a hoodie back for the second half of the day. The dress-code can kiss my ass - If I'm cold then they will get little work out of me.
So far the people I've met have been very welcoming, as you would expect in week one I think. My boss, who wasn't at the interview, seems decent enough. I had a meeting with him yesterday and we spent a lot of the time talking about football and our children, who are of similar age. He's asked how the reading is going on, and made it clear that I should take regular breaks as to not suffer 'death by LMS'. And I've happily followed his advice and stretched my legs by navigating the spiral staircase down to the front of the office to check out the canal for a couple of minutes.
My last post was Sunday, and whilst the Steem downtime was partly due to this, the other reason for last nights non-entry was that I was just too tired. I did my Splinterlands quest, wrote the Fantasy League entry for Acidyo, logged an actifit report that had been in the making for three days, burned through 10 accounts sat at 100% DV, downvoted a couple of posts, and had nothing left in the tank to do anything else.
For the past couple of years all my content has not been scheduled and has been produced on the day (unless it's taken multiple days). I'm not sure how well that is going to work for me during the week any more. Stats posts take time to put together, and if I'm offering data then the comments/replies can take just as long as the main Post. Hopefully I'll get used to this 9-5:30 malarkey and have some energy left for the evening so I can put out some data related posts, and not just free-write on my 'busy' days at work.
Alright, 'Fire Safety Plus' is about to start - time for a coffee...
Aha! Made it home to tidy up the spelling mistakes and find a photo. I've just remembered that on the turn of the month I should be offering a report - that will be tomorrow I think.
Cheers
Asher