End of Week One

So I have come to the end of week one.  So far so good.

I drove to Bracknell on Monday, getting there just after 10am, and maybe because I was a little later than a usual day, it took just over an hour.  I met my boss, picked up all the required bits - phone, laptop, badge - and had a fairly good day overall getting setup to be able to connect remotely.

For the rest of the week, I have been at home wading through the induction and onboarding information.  It is the usual mix of videos, speech and text that is online training, and I have to say, so far it is pretty good.  One generic video about "my career in NN" is probably the best two minutes of inspirational (yes, I know, not a word that one often uses in a corporate setting) messaging I have experienced in a very long time.

I am now starting the proper education phase.  They have a program of work with stages of qualification, and I am currently leading up to the White Belt phase.  There is strong wish in the organisation, according to colleagues, for everyone to be white belt.  This gives us a basic understanding of the NN approach and point of view about the key topics in IT, so that we all talk with one voice, and present the same message.  Again, as far as online training goes, it is pretty good and I am learning stuff, rather than being distracted to file my nails or something.

I have started to get a bit restless to be honest.  I would rather be driving somewhere every day and getting stuck in, but a conversation with a colleague, also ex-Starfleet and a month ahead of me, said he had had similar conversations with other recent starters, and everyone has the same feelings that they want to get stuck in and make a difference, but that the organisation, and our managers, understand and expect that we will first be tucked away, getting ourselves up to speed.  The mantra is, know your company, know your business, know your role.  I quite like that, and as long as my boss is happy, then I am fairly content to bide my time, and get this "basic training" out the way.

This weekend is fairly normal, though Maggot 2 is on a birthday sleepover at a friend who is also the captain of his team, so he will be off to training tomorrow with them, and then on to watch Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium as part of the birthday celebrations.  It may be a match, Maggot 2 was typically vague on the matter, so I may go along anyway since I do enjoy watching them play a match.  Last week the game was postponed because the manager of the other team refused to play us, and had written to the FA to say as much.  It probably has something to do with the 13-1 drubbing of another Worthing team the week before, but not totally sure whether it gives the right message to the boys in either team.  Hey ho, life in the junior ranks is, as I am finding, always eventful.

Have a great weekend, and speak next week.