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A week has passed

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Well, its been a week since I wrote my introduction (and a few hours since I posted it). Below is a synopsis for how my first week went. But first, a few impressions.

After I came to Microsoft as a writer, I found that my real passion was coding. I can't describe how nice it is to be writing code full-time again. Don't get me wrong; writing can be fun work, and the team I was on was incredible. But it is nice to be paid for doing what you truly love.

Speaking of teams, I think one of the best things about working at Microsoft is the bright people you can interact with. You do get a few people that are burned out or what have you, but for the most part everyone is very professional, experienced, and mature. Everyone on both teams were a joy to meet. They all have interesting stories, and are working on interesting things. At this group, any time I needed anything, someone was quick to provide the answer/let me in the build lab/loan me a network cable/etc.

Tuesday (today): I started in on the middle-tier object (C#), which will later be exposed as a SOAP interface using WCF. That way I can later write some thicker clients.

I also had my 1-on-1 with my manager (Mike). I told him my motivators (why wait until he figures out what they are), and my career goals. We chatted about how I can achieve them and where each team member stood in relation to the different goals. 1-on-1s are very productive meetings with your manager, usually two or four times a month... but don't wait for your manager to steer the conversation. It is your opportunity to get the answers you need to stay on top of your career and the goings-on around you.

I finally decided to place a work item for my office temperature. It was extremely cold here. I'm not kidding! I would find myself shivering. Within a half an hour, a technician was on the phone with me. "Ah, I see the problem. You're office is set to maximum cooling." Well, he bumped it up, and it has made a huge difference. As I found out during the 1-on-1, there were two people in my office previously (each with two machines & two monitors), and all 6 heat generators needed the extra cooling.

Our current Opteron support leaves a bit to be desired. I know it'll improve... but Powertoys don't work (not 32-bit or IA64), the Intellipoint & Intellitype drivers don't install, and I've been having issues installing Sharepoint (necessary for VSTS) and VirtualPC. Oh, and apparently VS doesn't support edit-and-continue C# while on 64-bit OSes. But it is soooo fast, and I don't relish reinstalling everything.

Directory update: Apparently HR denied the admin's request to change my manager & title information because... my title was changing (?!). I'm sure Sandi will prevail.

Monday I learned more about an upcoming morale event at the Product Unit Manager's (PUM) house (brunch at a nice house and an XBox tournament). I offered to bring my 360, so that we would have 3 of them hooked up for a tournament. Earlier this year, the group went to do paintball for a morale event; something I had tried for five years for my last team to do. Did I mention what a great group this is? :)

My email name was finally updated to reflect the new team, though my title and manager still haven't propogated through the different directories [don't worry; our excellent administrator is on the case]. You see, there is a Tom Matthews in Microsoft that is a sales manager. To prevent too much mail going to the wrong people, I have the team I'm on suffixed onto my email name. So it shows up as Tom Mathews (Windows SDK). Doesn't always work, but it has helped.

I setup a database to store all the different things I'll need, linked a server, setup some views, populated the lookup tables, and started working on a mockup website. Met with the manager to go over the loose developer spec, and identified the parts we'll each flesh out.

Thursday & Friday I started to read the specifications in earnest for what I'd be writing. I also started checking out Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation. I installed Visual Studio Team Services, though I haven't yet resolved the 64-bit issues. I also setup a SQL Server 2005 server, and an internal source code control server that I'll be needing to integrate with.

Wednesday I still wasn't feeling well, but I was so excited about the job I decided to come in, lock the door, and spend the day installing 64-bit XP. That was an interesting chore, since the SATA drivers provided by the motherboard company were incorrectly setup (files were in the wrong locations). I finally got everything working just before heading home.

I also spent a few hours to tape up around 40 photographs that I've taken & printed. I've always enjoyed photography, and find its a nice creative outlet. I'll have to go in this topic later. I forgot how many photos I had, as I had taken them down during an office move earlier this year and didn't put them back up, knowing that I was going to be moving yet again. It feels good to have them back up. Someone swung by, and it took them a bit to realize I was the new hire because I was "so moved in" and didn't have my nametag on the door (this showed up next week).

Tuesday I was out sick with a really nasty cold.

Monday was mainly spent unpacking. MS Move provides crates to pack everything up in, and will transport everything for you. I had taken home a number of boxes of breakables, science gizmos, and other personal stuff, so unpacking and finding a new place for items was a fun, randomized experience.

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