The Job

Amazingly, I was able to get a full night's sleep Sunday! I think I have had so many first days of work in the past 9 years, I'm kind of burnt out on any nerves or jitters. This is my 9th job post-college. 14th job overall.

My commute was pretty good but I discovered that A) google maps is still insane. For the shortest route, it had me driving down 3A/Hancock St. when I could have just been breezing down Newport Ave. and B) there is construction holding up my commute. Helllooo Newport Ave! The offices are pretty decent. Rather than having cubicles, they have these islands of 4 work stations in a huge cubicle island throughout the building. I kinda like it - it's better than being isolated in gray walls. I share my island with two other people. One is the person who I was hired to replace and we spent my first three days in training. And there is another guy who will be there as back-up for me along with his own job duties.

As I was being given the grand tour, I noticed that a lot of these workstation islands are empty. Later in the week, I heard a lot about restructuring and people leaving. Someone even said that they have no idea who their boss will be. So, this is either a fortuitous time to come on-board as a a temp to perm hire. Or I will never go perm. It's too early to say obviously but I've had both scenarios happen to me. I was transitioned to a perm placement after a week then I spent four and a half years at a company. Years later, I was let go from a possible perm position after three months. I guess it's good not to think too long-term and just enjoy having a job for my own sanity.

The job itself is a lot of Excel analysis and learning how the company calculates commissions, accruals, and forecasts. The computer I was working on had Excel 2007 which I had just used at my last job thank goodness! No one else is installed on '07 and they curse the mere existence of the upgrade so woohoo leg up for me! Also, they use Oracle and Hyperion plus a reporting plug-in that looks a lot like Crystal Reports but apparently is homegrown. So system-wise, I am in hog heaven. The people are really friendly and helpful. But again there is an undertone of anxiety and uncertainty. Today, it was just me and the other guy in the 4 person work station island.

Oh yeah, they have a Keurig coffee maker so I am psyched about many free coffee options!