I’m completely exhausted after my first week at ThoughtWorks. I gave 110% every day and by the end of the week I was thanking the Internet Gods for a short work week. There is so much to learn and on Tuesday I found myself sitting atop a mountain of Agile information that would make even the most seasoned project manager gasp at the sheer volume of what this company has written. And, as I stare agog at what I need to learn a little Gandhi voice inside my head keeps whispering: Do the best you can; no more, no less. When you do less you aren’t living up to your potential and when you do more you are in danger of burning yourself out.
Knowledge aside, the common question of the week was: where are you coming in from. At first I thought it a little odd and said something hesitant / clever like ummm, the NW part of the city…, but quickly realized that ThoughtWorks brings in people from around the world to work on projects, and asking the where are you coming from question is so much easier than playing the name that accent game.
My team is fantastic. At first I felt a little small amongst all the big brains who have been on the project for three months. However, as the week progressed I felt less intimidated and more at ease with people who actually think like me. It’s hard to explain this unless you’ve been there, but I feel like I already know everyone I am working with and that we only need to build on the synergy that is already there. The only other time I’ve felt this in my life was during my second year at Acadia when I met the people who not only changed my life, but whom I still adore and think about often.
I’ve got a lot to learn and I’ll certainly be giving it 100% this week. The one thing that has really impressed me is that even though I’ve been thrown into a massive project with not a heck of a lot in the way of training, I’m getting help and support from my team. It’s like dozens of gentle hands have reached out to support and prop me up as I make the transition into this new and exciting world.
ANOTHER new job? I haven’t been by in a while, so didn’t realize you were posting again. And a new camera to boot – nice.
Hey Doug! I’ve been completely out of the world of the internet… shockingly so. But now it’s part of my job to stay connected so I’ll be posting a fair bit more (the camera was my reward for the new job). You’d actually get a good chuckle over who my consulting gig is with. We’ll have to catch up over beers.