I haven't written much about my new job, and I've done that on purpose. Two reasons... first, I wanted to give it a few days, and second, not all that much has happened. So, here's the (not so) long awaited update.
I started last Friday, the 25th. Yes, Boeing starts everybody on Friday. Just like how you fire people on Friday, this way if they really don't like you they can let you go immediately. No, but really it's because the pay period goes Friday to Thursday, and it's always convenient to start at the front of the pay period. Friday was essentially all orientation training, followed by going to our place of work so we could meet people in time to go home.
Monday and Today essentially has been me sitting at my cube reading documents to familarize myself with all the systems and TLA's that I'll be dealing once I start doing "real" work. Interspursed with that is sitting down with my mentor as he shows me some things so I have a visual to go with all the text I'm reading. Figure 6-7 hours of reading technical documents each day. Needless to say, its a lot of info real fast, and not much is sticking, but I'm getting there. Speaking of reading, today's word of the day: Lethality - a measure of how lethal something is. I got my official badge on Monday, but I'm still without a computer logon - however the PC has been sitting ready since I arrived. I learned today that they're having difficulty with one of their systems in verifying my citizenship, and this is the cause for the holdup.
As the title notes, this is a Comparison. Since the other "big" company I've worked for is Sprint/Sprint PCS, that's who I get to compare my experience so far agianst Boeing. Hopefully it'll be somewhat interesting:
- Cubes: Sprint is the clear winner here. Bigger work area, nicer desks, more storage, better designed. Oh, better chairs too, and every cube came with a trash can.
- Phones: Duh. Sprint wins this, caller ID on all phones, lots of nice features, and no "hotel style" phones (like the first ever touch tone phones). I did manage to get one of the nicer phones, but still no caller ID - not that I care too much, I'd prefer e-mail or in person anyday.
- Cafeteria: Boeing, but only because I didnt work on the Sprint Campus. The cafe here is setup as a good meeting place for lunch, you can bring your own or buy some for a reasonable price and average quality. At Sprint, hardly anyone used the cafeteria in my building, most people ate out or at their desk. However, Sprint Campus has far superior food to Boeing, but a heftier price too.
- Orientation: Tie. Sprint's is by far more organized, and at no point do you feel lost - not that things are done in the best/most efficient way. Boeings is more applicative, straight forward, less commercialy, however there should be some HR rep to fill in the gaps between people speaking and get you to your desk afterwards.
- Dress: Boeing. Jeans, t-shirts, and anything up from that. Definitly a more casual environment, but dress how you want to be taken. Sprint's business casual 5 days a week with no denim, unless you're working at the rebelious buildings where you can get away with jeans on Fridays.
- Hectosity: Boeing. Things definitly seem less hectic, people set aside time to work with new hires and such.