I had a great first day at work. Officially, my title is Linux/Windows Administrator. Practically, I am helping a relatively small IT group wherever they need it. After a brief orientation, I went up to my new office, caught up with my new boss, got Windows 7* installed, and started familiarizing myself with my surroundings.
I've got a great team to work with, and they've each got a unique and complementary set of skills. The pile of stuff I was handed this morning is almost entirely related to bolstering the company's security stance. A cursory look, however, shows that the team has managed to really stay on top of things. Over the coming months, I'll be streamlining all kinds of security-related processes when I'm not helping the team with system administration duties. Basically: this is a dream come true.
I took a bit of a pay cut, but when you consider all the benefits of having a job this close to home (and without interstate taxes) it's worthwhile. The small size of this group and the growth speed of the company means that this is a genuine career opportunity, not just a paycheck.
For those of you not in the Greater Kansas City Area: today was filled with cold temperatures, massive rain and biting winds gusting over 30 MPH. In the morning, the bus schedule agrees merrily with my work schedule. It stops running homeward around 4:00 or so, well before the end of my work day. Due to her medical issues, my wife needs her car. My car is currently out of commission in more ways than one. Homeward, there is no Plan B, and this photo doesn't do any justice to my aqueous, breezy journey. I was way under-dressed for this evening. It felt like a blustery, October day. I was, as you might imagine, dressed for the average May rainstorm, which usually doesn't call for any special gear.
* Windows 7 is one of the slickest operating systems I've ever used. I'm anything but a Microsoft fanboy, so that's saying something.
Great news on the job! So happy. Plus now you might start posting regularly again. :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new job! I'm so glad you found something, not just a job but something great.
ReplyDeleteCommuting again will feel good, at least when it's not cold and storming.
Incidentally, I have Windows 7 at work now too, and I was all set to hate it, but I agree with you: overall, it is pretty damn nice. Especially after Vista, it's an absolute breath of fresh air.
I, too, look forward to more frequent posts from you.
Congrats. I'm in a similar industry and the push for cheaper, outsourced labor to satisfy stockholders has me sweating my position after 17 years. I doubt I make it to 20, or even 19 years. So I have been watching your posts carefully. I am glad you have found a good job. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteTerrific, Noah.
ReplyDeleteI've just started to set up a pair of Dell/KACE KBoxes at my office for OS deployment and software distribution. First priority was to put 32- and 64-bit Windows 7 images on them and run them out to my half-a-dozen test workstations and notebooks (lay-offs a little over a year ago left me with an abundance of available test machines).
I'm optimistic about Win7, although the big test will be when I start rolling out Autodesk Civil 3D and ArcGIS to the test boxes and start running heavy operations on them.
Rick: Hang in there, man, I really think the tide is turning and you're going to see things pick up for all of us Bitchasers and Byteheads!
I saw my first Win7 BSOD (not on my machine) today. Also, win7 has some interesting quirks on a heterogeneous domain with mixed server and workstation versions. It's not "perfect" per se, but what is, really?
ReplyDeleteYeah, LOL, with only eight of my twelve servers running Win2K8 server and only my six test workstations running Win7 I haven't got enough boxes in play for the KMS server to activate any Windows 7 workstations!
ReplyDeleteGot a long road ahead and maybe some bumps (BSOD's) and ruts (software incompatibilities) in that road but it's as nice an adventure as bicycle commuting!
Just getting caught up on some blog reading. Great news that you started a new job. Even better that it feels right on the first day.
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