I have successfully completed a week at Clear Ink. I have already slipped back into a programmer's way of thinking.
Everyone has been extremely nice and it is going to take some adjustment. I am a member of the technologists' team. We reside in the back of the office, in a very dark area that I refer to fondly as "the cave".
I was planning on using Windows as my work machine's OS, but everyone else on the team is using Linux, so I figured when in Rome... I have to admit, Linux has made huge strides in progression since I seriously played with it last. The interface is snappy, fairly intuitive, and pretty customizable. However, it still took me (and the help of three people) over two days to get the hardware up and running correctly.
But.... we have the coolest chairs. Aeron Chairs - they are extremely expensive chairs. I am pretty sure Clear Ink bought them off a failing dotcom. I think the base price is about $750 per chair. I am telling you, they are the best and absolutely customizable to make it the PERFECT fit for you. I need to save up for about a decade before I can bring myself to buy one - but they are oh so worth it.
I am learning an interface called Free Energy, written by my boss, Leon Atkinson. The very simple website is here. It is incredibly powerful - very similar to other PHP frameworks like Cake, Zend, etc. but extremely customized for the things that Clear Ink creates and maintains. There is a feature that I learned about on Friday that alone would of saved me about a month of real life programming time if I had it back when I was programming for Impression Design.
At work, I have Michelle who helps me with the hardware/user requests, and Eddie has been helping me with all the programming and server locations. Leon patches me in on what client does what. It is like trying to bottle a tornado with the amount of information that is tossed to me. I got a request in on Wednesday that needed an update done exactly at 11 AM. Eddie was at Autodesk, Michelle was out sick, and Leon was at Sun Microsystems. I got the request done, but let me tell you, it was a wee bit stressful.
On Friday, we also had Clear Ink's Christmas party. They basically rented out a restaurant in Berkeley named De La Paz - with an open bar, great food, and a very fun band. Unfortunately I caught a fairly serious cold and was so doped up on DayQuil that I didn't think I would be able to stay awake during the day while at work. I came home to pick up Allison and we had an enjoyable time. I felt like I was about 6 bottles of beer into a good buzz with all the decongestants but I was even able to dance I think a few times with my lovely wife.
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2 comments:
Oooo... fancy chairs! Maybe you can work one into your retirement plan.
I am glad you are enjoying your first weeks at Clear Ink. It does sound a bit stressful though. Hope you keep enjoying it! I am sure they are already in love with you!
Why do you and Allison always have the worst colds? It is your superhero weakness, huh? I guess every superhero has one.
Congarts - Congrats. I am glad to see you are actually using those brain muscles, unlike when you were over at CLF. I was afraid you might lose your techie skills and then I would have to find a new best friend with super computer skills. You know chicks dig guys with skills.
I just got your email even in the midst of battle you still find time to help a brutha out. Thanks for the map networking 411. JB's got super mad skills. That is me just throwing out my street slang.
Hey Allison I need help with my blog. Please oh please tell me how to post pictures to the slide show... We just got our wedding pics back and I do not know how to put up a damn slide show... Am I just retarded - do not answer that we already know the answer.
Ok guys gotta run L, sends her luv.
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