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First week in my new job

The first week of the new job is drawing to a close, and I think I made a really good choice to move and where to go.

I like a challenge

So far it’s been really hard work, but that’s great, I love to be challenged and when your under pressure to perform you become more creative to solve your problems in smarter ways. It pushes you forwards.

I’ve been getting my head around the existing code base, meeting up a lot of really smart people and getting to grips with what I’ll be doing in the future.

One of the main reasons for my move is that I wanted to learn more, and gain a wider breadth of experience so I can move forward in my career and I’m positive that I’ll do that in this new position

Worst member of the band

This article on the ‘Software Craftmanship’ site by Oreilly is a great summary of how best to do that, by being the worst member of your team.

I’m not saying I’m rubbish (or arguing about who is the worst in a team) but that I’m not as good as the guys I’m working with, but that’s great. It means they drag me up to their level, challenging me with smart code and new concepts that I would not have seen otherwise.

And working at Econsultancy also means I’m surrounded by a huge bank of knowledge in all kinds areas of the internet. Usability, SEO and SEM, Best Practises and Internet Marketing, I’m interested in all these fields but I don’t have anywhere near the level of knowledge that these guys do.

I used to be the go-to guy about news on the internet at my previous two jobs, but now I find out news and breaking stories from my colleagues instead.

Of course it’s not a one-way thing, one of my ‘unique selling points’ or skills as a rails developer is that I’m great at html and css plus I know how to write good rails code, when it comes to MVC I’m all about the V. I bring my own views on how best to put together awesome ruby code and beautiful page designs whilst making them accessible and usable.

Farringdon Rocks

E-consultancy is located on Clerkenwell road, right in the heart of the digital media scene in London, we are just across the road from a number of Rails shops and surrounded by a very rich variety of shops and cafes.

It’s easy to get to and the choices of where to go for lunch are almost endless! I think where you work is pretty important, getting there should be hassle free and having such a variety of businesses around you really helps to make the area feel switched on and interesting.

It’s a bit of a culture shock from working in the city where everyone is in suits and lives on their crackberrys, but it’s a good one.

So far I’m loving all of it, met loads of interesting people, got a new Multi-Touch MacBook Pro, which is the fastest computer I’ve ever used. I can see this move being really good for me.