A Day, A Week, Hemant, A Year

Before I left The Co-operators, we implemented a system that we had been working on for quite some time. Without getting too deep into the technical details of the project, I’ll just say that it was going to serve as the backbone for managing the company’s client information. To use a more trendy term, it was the guts of the Customer Relationship Management system. I was glad that I was able to see the deployment of the system prior to making my move back to Saskatoon since I had put so much work into it. Two years have now passed, and about a week ago my old Project Manager contacted me with some exciting news.

Guess what…. Our CIF won an “IBM Innovation Award for Best Use of Information as a Service in an SOA Project”. The award will be presented at the upcoming IBM Information On Demand (IOD) Conference in Las Vegas. Add that to your resume.

I am incredibly happy for The Co-operators Information Systems department since I had been a part of it for six years, and know that there are some great people there . Speaking from experience while being on the CIF (Customer Information File) team, I know that a lot of hours went into getting that system out the door, and the award is well deserved. I also appreciate that after two years management remembered my contributions, taking the time to let me know of the accomplishment. Now I just need to convince them to fly me to Vegas for the celebration.

IBM’s all-new, global Information On Demand Innovation Awards honor best-in-class applications and solutions from among IBM information Management customers and the customers of our business partners. This prestigious Awards Program recognizes organizations that are using IBM-based solutions to significantly improve efficiencies and gain competitive advantage for their organizations.

This past Saturday was the company Golf Tournament and Family Fun Day. The event was out at the Rosthern, Saskatchewan Valley Regional Park. The format was a Texas Scramble (best ball) with around ten foursomes in the tournament. The weather was looking fairly questionable since Saskatoon and area was hit by a massive thunderstorm the night before. Even though Saturday looked quite gloomy as well, the rain did hold off allowing the day to be enjoyed by all.

My team ended up finishing at four over par which was good enough to claim second place. This got me a ten dollar gift certificate to SportChek. I could have used that in the morning since I had just bought some golf balls at that very store prior to the tournament. I was also about ten feet away from winning the “closest to the pin” contest on the ninth hole - I blame the wind for this.

Following the tournament was dinner and a Bocce tournamnet (which I didn’t participate in). Steak, chicken, hot dogs, corn, and veggies were grilled to perfection and everyone stuffed themselves silly. The steak was incredible. Following dinner, Jeffrey, Rachel, Ryan (Cey), and I went to the park where we were extremely excited to go down this big, fifty foot tube slide. There was a faint smell of urine in the slide, but that didn’t hold us back. When we got down and our backsides were slightly wet, our poor decision was fully realized.

I took some pictures with my little point-and-shoot, and you can see them here and here.

I knew before I started my new job that it was going to be ‘fast paced’ - that’s pretty much how it was sold to me. I found myself excited to be part of a team that would constantly push the limits of my brain and leverage the cutting edge technology that the world is constantly bombarded with. It’s not that my previous job was a cake-walk - the last year consisted of pushing out a system that high-priced consultants said would be impossible. Six months of sixty hour weeks and a huge team effort, we were able to successfully implement the system. I knew I was ready for the next step.

After my first week at the new company, I knew what they meant by fast-paced. In daily stand-up meetings (where we actually do have the meeting standing up - a part of the Extreme Programming methodology) it was not out of the ordinary to hear people saying things like, “we managed to get it working at 3:00 last night”. And these people don’t say it as if it was a bad thing, or in a comlaining tone. They like it. This was one of the main reasons I wanted in this company - they only hire developers who are genuinely passionate about technology. Everyone is always running around. My team lead will usually stop by my office to see how things are going. After talking for about ten minutes or so he’ll finish his last sentence while running out of my office cause he has to be somewhere else. Seriously, this happens every time.

With my previous company, I never had any code I wrote actually go into production for at least three years. Not that it wasn’t good enough or anything, but just because the projects were so large and controlled. At my new place, I had stuff go to production in less than three weeks. We release software patches and upgrades weekly. And now, I have a major issue assigned to me that has to be ready for 6:00 pm Monday. For a guy who is still trying to figure out where scratch pads are stocked, that’s quite a bit of pressure. But it does feel good to jump right into everything and get something accomplished.

It is definitely like night and day between the two companies. I don’t think one way is better than the other, but they are just very different. It will definitely be cool to be doing things that are pretty much the same, but just in a completely different manner.

So after two weeks of unemployment, I was back at work today. I was told to be at the office at 9:00 am to start my orientation. I was on the road by 7:00 am and rolled into Saskatoon at about 8:30, finally arriving at the office at around 8:45. The drive was not too bad - a totally clear morning giving me a chance to see the sunrise at exactly 8:03. The flat prairie landscape makes this an easy target.

The first day at the office was a typical first day on the job. Filled out some forms, went over some HR policies and other general company information. I was shown to my office where I had a guy show me some of the systems I have access to. I’ve never had my own office, so this will take a little getting used to. I think I may miss the cubicle setting - I really like being able to just chat with my neighbours. But I guess having an office has its advantages as well.

After getting some of the basic things out of the way I met with project lead and we went over some of the stuff I had done in the past and what type of stuff I would be doing at the new place. We didn’t get into any real details, but I’m sure it won’t be long before that comes. After a presentation / lunch, the lead took me around the office to meet everyone. I think the company is up to 99 people, so this took a little while. It was good to see everyone and put faces to some names. I think I remember only about 5% percent of the names.

The rest of the afternoon, myself and my ‘buddy for the month’ tried to get my development environment up and running. We ran into a few snags that we couldn’t get solved before day’s end. Around 5:00 I noticed everyone starting to file out of the office, so I decided to pack it up around 5:15.

I was on the highway at about 5:30 and got back to Wilkie at seven bells. I was pretty tired after the long day, but hopefully I get used to it in the next week or so. Thankfully the drive is a quiet one, giving me some time to chill and listen to some music. It’s now ten bells and I think I’m gonna hit the hay. Three hours at home and it’s already time for bed. I guess the next month will pretty much consist of sleeping, driving, and working. And to top things off I’ll be leaving around six in the morning so I can be at the office by 8:00. The good news is that the new company looks pretty solid and everything should work out just fine. I’m a little anxious to get started on some real work, but I’m sure that will come in huge waves pretty soon. Just gotta think ahead to December and everything should be smooth rolling.