Back in the Rat Race

I fought against it for as long as I could but in the end it was inevitable and I have now returned to workforce. This is, as you would imagine, rather unsettling. For one thing I'm expected to turn up, five days a week at the ridiculously early hour of 9 o'clock in the morning. It's barely human. On top of that they appear to expect me to be productive for the following 8 hours solid. They might as well put me in a thread mill and crack a whip.

Actually, it's not that bad. The offices are modern, bright and airy. Critically, they are air-conditioned. there's nothing quite like stepping in from the blistering Australian Summer into the rather more fashionable temperate climate that pervades The Bank.

The work environment is supplemented by my colleagues who are a congenial bunch. They are both smart and cheerful. This is important because we're all working with third-party code (think "legacy system") that is really poorly written. Some of the code is quite shocking and it's important to remain positive in such circumstances.

There's also signs of a moderate Friday-post-work-drinks culture. My first week there was also the last week before Christmas. So on Friday the whole team (c.30 people) were brought out to dinner and drinks by the offending third-party software vendor. This was a great opportunity to meet and get to know my new workmates. I'm really impressed so far.