job update

I started my new job on Monday, so I've been there all of two days. These people are like the old Rational folks -- HAIR ON FIRE. Things happen quickly, and there are few barriers that I've noticed to getting work done. Nearly everyone in the company sits within shouting distance (not that anyone does shout -- it's fairly quiet; people seem to use instant messaging), making communications quick and easy.

First impressions:

• People are nice, but not terribly social. I'm going to have to get over being shy if I want to make any work-friends there. I'm making a little bit of progress on that front and need to do more. And I'll have to make a point of eating in the lunchroom from time to time -- at least weekly if not more often. That's where a lot of the engineers seem to gather and they're a little social there. (They still mostly talk about work, which is fine. They seem to have interesting discussions.)
• The product is complex, but a lot of the hard stuff seems to be reserved for admins. I'm starting to form a framework of the kind of work I'd like to do there. But that of course is dependent on what the real customers feel are their pain points, and any new work coming up. My two goals right now are to do some initial interviews about what people (especially those with customer contact) are hoping to see in the documentation and to learn the product.
• My boss is great. I'm getting to know him little by little. Yesterday, I was concerned about some issues with paperwork, and he agreed about some of the points. But he finally said, "listen, I'm thinking long-term. When I move on to my next position, I'm going to want to take the best people with me. Why would I want to cause you to mistrust me if that's my long-term goal?" Wow.
• There's also another boss, not actually my boss, but someone I both sit next to and will interact with a lot. She's done a nice job of taking me under her wing, but so far, I haven't leaned on her very heavily.
• Oh and I should mention that the place is incredibly diverse. Women are in fairly short supply, though they seem to have important positions there (except that there are no women engineers, and no women execs). The execs are mostly white guys except my boss. But in the rest of the company, we have folks from many different countries and with lots of different skin colors. In so many companies, the "diversity" is just non-white uniformity. I'm impressed by this aspect of the place.

So far, so good. No regrets yet. I'm looking forward to what's next.