So really my fear is based on the loss of my old job (which was full of lovely, talented people and a great environment) in the face of an unknown future. But moving on has been the right decision. It has allowed me to advance my career and re-evaluate my professional worth - both of which are Good Things for anyone to do. In turn, the university is going to have to face questions about how it employs developers - questions it can (understandably) avoid while it has people in post - also a Good Thing for the industry as a whole.
If movement is good, why isn't there more of it? That brings me back to fear and for the moment the first day. I know that one way or another I'll be uncomfortable on my first day and that is mostly due to my history of first days. I'm expecting the next one to be better and I'm looking forward to being involved in making them better for others when I'm the experienced one.
My first first day
My first job was as a lifeguard in a place which shall remain unspecified. Memories from that day involve arriving around 5.30am (eugh) and pretty much immediately being sent to set up some giant trampolines on my own. I later discovered that there are supposed to be six trained people involved in setting these things up. Fortunately I was rescued by some more experienced colleagues.
My second first day
My second job was at Unilever. It was a great job but day one was a mess. I was sent to the other side of the country, where nobody knew who I was or why I was there. I ended up interviewing people about a project I knew nothing about all the while wondering when I was going to wake up from the crazy dream.
My third first day
This was the first day working on the University of Bath Helpdesk, although the strongest memory was of the interview. I'd been sitting with a friend (who already worked there) fixing a laptop for him. The supervisor came over, saw what I had done and asked if I wanted to cover the next free shift. I was thrown straight into the action, with a small amount of shadowing an experienced colleague to show me how things worked.
I actually remember very little of this day so it must have been pretty smooth overall.
My fourth first day
My first day as a developer. I was shown to a small office which was about big enough for one and a half people. I was the half. Over the next few days I managed to cannibalise a working computer from various contacts around the university, including some flatscreen monitors from the dawn of time (the desk wasn't big enough for the more common CRT monitors). I managed to borrow a chair from a generous colleague in another office (he had two) then I was shown around the various systems on which I would be working - of which I understood exactly nothing.
Oh and the office let in the rain.
Not that I'm knocking this job. As I'll write about in another post I feel incredibly lucky to have had this opportunity!
No real conclusion here. I suppose the direction I'm heading is that if we want to improve our industry we want to encourage people to be the best they can be, which will likely mean enabling people to move around easily. One problem to overcome is the fear of moving and one of the things to fix there is the inevitably-scary first day. Each environment is different, but some basics (meeting people, first day activities, desk, computer, access) are going to be consistent and we really should have this nailed as an industry by now. So much of fear is the unknown - simply sending out a basic itinerary of the first day should help quell that.
