Well, survived my first day in my new job. It’s always an interesting experience starting a new job – new people to meet, new systems and software to learn. I’m very much a pioneer in my outlook, and am happiest when forging ahead with new things, so in many ways the first few months in a new job are my favourite. The real satisfaction comes from completing projects, of course, but I just love learning new things and starting new ventures.
The applications are really interesting too – it’s a GIS company, so there’s lots of mapping and route finding code which I’m getting to grips with. Takes me back to my undergraduate days at Imperial, when I wrote a GIS tool called GERMS (Generic Environment for Reviewing Municipal Statistics) for my friend Phil. Actually the really interesting about that project was the data structure I used, rather than the graphics bit – but then again the really clever thing about the “RouteFinda” software is the memory management (anyone can find the shortest route through a graph and draw a picture of it – doing it quickly with a small memory footprint is the real challenge). It is weird how you can not understand something, but know that you will understand it after having put in the hours thinking about it. It almost begs the question why we can’t just instantly understand things. I guess it’s the brain making new connections between the neurons and what-not.
Anyway the other people in the office are all very nice, and there’s a really good work atmosphere. I think I’m going to enjoy it. A lot! 🙂