After two months of blissful free time on the east and west coasts, I have finally shed my responsibility-free college student skin and emerged with a fresh, clean corporate casing. I've been getting many questions about how work is, so I figured this means was best to avoid repeating myself. Also, I'm curious to see how my opinion changes as time progresses, so here it is, my digest after one week of work:
The Good:
1. The people! So far, I've really liked most of the people I'm working with, and my floor, along with the whole campus (of ~10,000 employees) is incredibly social. The amazing tradition that made my day: On my second day, my "buddy" or trainer brings in a box of donuts, leaves them on my desk, and sends out an email to my entire floor telling them to come meet me and grab a donut. It was great, I had people stopping by all day to introduce themselves and I got a great sense of who does what and where I fall in the big picture. Also, while walking around campus, people greet complete strangers all the time with simple "hellos" and "good mornings". This is a stark contrast from most research facilities. This lack of social barriers environment is my kind of place, where you can (and I did) meet new people simply walking back from lunch.
2. The work! The reason I was most excited about this position, and still am, is that it's real engineering. On my first day I sat in on a meeting with my team, and it was four people with laptops, sitting around a table and problem-solving. This casual brain-trust method of trouble-shooting is all too familiar from countless group projects in school, and it is my favorite aspect of engineering. Also, it seems like my position has a good balance of time spent on the computer, on the floor, and in the lab, which is perfect.
3. The routine! I'm a person who loves routine, and although I'm guaranteed to get tired of it, for now I like having a regular pattern to my life. It's especially nice after 8 weeks of sleeping in and not using my brain at all.
4. The clothes! After years of seeing awesome dress clothes in shops, I finally have a reason to wear them, and I couldn't be more excited. I've always hated how restricting and hot jeans are, and finally I don't need to wear them anymore, dress pants kick ass. And as superficial as it is, I feel powerful wearing them. Except the shoes, I've yet to find a comfortable pair of clack-clack-free heels, but I'm working on it.
5. Being one of the biggest Merck sites, we have lots of awesome club activities...a team for basically any sport you could want to play (including softball, which I'm getting back into!), and a great way to meet your coworkers.
6. Summer hours! I almost forgot...we have this amazing schedule where you put in an extra hour each day from M-Th, and go home at lunch on Friday! Its great because it gives me time to come home, gym, nap and then go out like college days.
The Bad:
1. The biggest, and only con so far, is the commute. I love my new place and wouldn't even consider living outside of the city, but that means I pay the price with a 1-hour train ride every morning. However, I am making the most of it- I've subscribed to the NY Times (yes, the hard copy, I'm old fashioned), and read that every morning, and do the crosswords on the ride home!
The Interesting:
1. While this isn't good or bad, it's definitely worth mentioning: there are lots of young, married people. Either I'm really bad at judging age, but for the most part people my age or a couple of years older were all married, something that struck me as odd. For all you working kids, is this trend specific to industry or company, or is it some general corporate feature?
Anywho, that's my work, one week in. I really hope the excitement keeps up and the 6 am wake ups don't ebb away at my vivactiy. Also, this website is due for yet another name change. Suggestions?
Peace, love and the working world!
Kiran
Stock Market Crash
16 years ago
