First Week Finished

Today I finished my first week at my new job. To say it's a change is an understatement. I don't walk to talk trash about my former position. Indeed, I've had to rewrite this post three or four times because it kept turning into a bitch-fest about my last job, and I don't want it to be that. I like all the people at my last job, and I wish them all the best. But I almost feel like the new place was constructed consciously to alleviate the weaknesses of the old.

Both organizations are remarkably flat, and that serves as their greatest virtue. But management in the new place has a clear role and the team is confident they will fulfill it. The old place, not so much. I'm sure the new place has it's quirks. Every place does, but so far I'm a fan.

I'm also more exhausted than normal at the end of the week. Right now, I'm writing that off as the extra stress of the first week on the job. I'm trying at every moment to make the best possible impression, even working overtime. The overtime isn't strictly necessary, but it doesn't hurt, first few weeks on the job, to be one of the first guys in the door and one of the last guys out.

That might not be all of it though. I did some reading about Agile/XP teams and have found more than one person saying not to be surprised if you are more exuasted than normal after a day of working in that environment. Counter-intuitively, even though the overall atmosphere at the job is very relaxed and casual, the pairing means that a person is less likely to slack off. Each side of the pair keeps each other honest and on-task.