First day at IBM

First day at work... Not knowing what to expect...

Today, Monday 26 Feb, was the worst day weather wise so far -- it rained constantly and it was around 8 deg. Cels. I first had to go fill out some paper work at another IBM location from where I'm based. Jono dropped me off around 8.45 am and I signed in at this museum-like large area -- high ceiling, wall sized windows and dinosaurs almost expected around the corner... It was still amusing talking to American (native) receptionist (look and the accent). The guy who took me through my paperwork was pleasant and efficient just the right amount. I could tell (and know) he has done this many, many times before. After filling out and signing a dozen forms I headed to my work location (555 Bailey Avenue, you can see it on google maps/earth). I'll send out GoogleEarth bookmarks to everyone later when I know where I'll live and also I don't have GoogleEarth here at the moment.

SVL (Sillicon Valley Lab) is quite a large facility consisting of a number of buildings arranged in a rough circle with space inside -- a little similar to the Pentagon, with Cafeteria located roughly in the middle to the side... The buildings are four stories high, with the first floor being underground from which it's possible to access all buildings without going outside.

Before the dotcom bubble there used to be 3000 employees, however a lot of workers lost their jobs after the burst in 2000 so now there is around 2000. Plenty of parking space and, of course, access only using access card or through reception. That's pretty standard everywhere now, so that wasn't that different. Once my manager got me at the reception he took to me to get the photo security swipe card done. There is a special security office -- you could tell that security is taken seriously here.

I didn't expect IBM to give me laptop, but they did as that is the main work machine that you can take home. This means I won't have to buy a PC -- at least initially. Admittedly it's not the latest model, but it does the job and reasonably small. Now comes the odd part, the other equipment. The keyboard is about 15 years old and the two button mouse looked about 20 and the first one didn't even work! The second mouse did have something close to a scrollwheel -- it was similar to a light switch -- pressing up would scroll up and down would scroll down. It works, for now, but I did request a proper scrollwheel mouse. The monitors are these 10-15 years old 20-21" IBM CRT monitors. Luckily I got 21" and even though the colours are a little faded it seems to work fine with 1280x1024 at 90HZ so it's big enough and doesn't heart the eyes. Eventually I might do what Jono has done -- he bought a 19" LCD for work -- you can get them here for just over $US100.

IBM's explanation is that they want to save money so they rotate and keep using all equipment until it completely folds. It was ironic to me, but hey, they are paying me good money so not all is bad.

The office I share with a guy from our team, Steve. He worked as a tester for something like five years. Initially I was concerned that I was going to be testing for my 18 months here. I talked with my manager and conveyed to him that really my ultimate aim, at least at this time is to be a product developer. He explained that IBM wants interns to start at that level to get to know what's involved and how to use the applications and get a solid start. After sometime I can move around to an area I'm more interested in. IBM doesn't want to trap interns in working somewhere they don't for the whole term, but it does want exposure. Anyway, I've asked an pretty much everyone did several months of some kind of testing. Also, in what's involved I might be writing a testing tool in java so that could be fun. It's a nice easy start anyway. The manger told me to take a couple of weeks to just get myself familiar with all the products and how they work because the testing team that I'm in is systems integration, which means they care about how all these product fit together, rather than testing functionality of an individual products/applications.

So in the end, I'm ok, I just made clear to everyone what I wanted to do in the end and I think that was a really good idea. Always say what you really (think) want to do earlier rather than later -- that's my motto.

In the end I did no actual work... I did carry two monitors on a trolley (they call them carts here, trolley means a tram/train/bus) . Swapped a dead monitor for a good one from one of our team members. The other monitor was for me. [This is not very story-like... oh well no time to organise thoughts]

In terms of internal communication IBM uses their proprietary internal messenger, called Sametime. Everyone uses it a lot, rather than mail because it's very easy to post logs etc into it and it's instant messaging so easier than talking over the phone or bringing the whole machine/PC to someone else to help you.

Oh yes, the facility is something like 20-30 years old and still has the old set out of having offices instead of open plan. So it works well for me as it's quiet, warm (thermostat is set to 70F = 21C). I sit in a corner office so I face the window and there is generally a lot of natural light as opposed to some of the offices situated closer to the center of the building. Shelves and draws seem to be the same age as the facility and have the grey colour of early 1980's. But I got used to that quickly.

That's pretty much it for that part.

Had dinner today, pretty much the same as yesterday -- chicken breast and white rice. I bought the chicken breast from Costco, which is similar to MoreWilson's. So I got about 16 chicken breasts, they are packed in convenient packs of two in a plastic belt so when you freeze all 16 you can tear away two at a time very easily. No need to sort it! However, the store (never shop always store) needs a card which you need to pay $50. Obviously, we used someone's card when we did shopping on Sunday... I skipped that experience (maybe I'll post Sunday ... or not). Supermarkets and shops... there are many many different labels and none of them are the same as in NZ. But hopefully I can find one or two places where I can stock up on my supplies.

Tomorrow after work I should be looking at a flat. We'll see, as it sounds ok but the girl, Alla, seems odd to some people. She works at IBM only in the other facility and Stefan (intern who's arrived about three weeks before me) gave me her contact. Her room mate will be moving out on Wednesday... Aparantly there is no couch as Alla got rid of her couch because her roommate had her own furniture and now it wont be there. I'll live without a couch, but eventually I'd need something. Apparently it's possible to get almost free or completely free stuff, but the problem will be picking it up. The truck may cost as much as $60... we'll see. The room could be unsuitable so this is wondering into the clouds again too much...