be good at my new job

It was awsome! My boss said such great things about me! It’s so nice to be appreciated, I so miss that erywhere else in my life. And I haven’t felt appreciated at work for many years.
And they gave me a bonus, which wasn’t expected as they don’t give bonuses to new emplyees, but they made an exception. That feels good!
At first I was thinking: wow, the money is nice, I sure need it, but the background for the money is much more important: I am appreciated, I’m not going to be fired, my career is taking a good turn finally, I am gaining confidence, I’m in control of myself.
Then I thought: I was so desperately looking for a way to finance a trip to Ireland with my parents and children in the summer vacation (my parents said they wanted to travel at least once with each grandchild before they are too old, and offered to pay for the kids, but I had no way of paying for myself). Wow!
Another thought: I had’t felt appreciated, or had such good evaluations, for many years. I also hadn’t enjoyed my work in as many years. It’s no coincidence. I must like what I do in order to succeed. After almost having despaired of it, it turns out I can enjoy working in software developement. Great!

It appears that in my new job I’m considered some sort of a clever, experienced, knowledgable person! I used to think that about myself, but I’ve gotten so used to not be thought of that way, that I forgot I was like that.
And now they’re trying to move me to another team, because they need my expertise, and so forth. And I don’t want to transfere. The other team is doing some very interesting work, but I know I won’t like working with the team leader. I like my current team leader! And I think that’s very important to my well being.
I remember once, in a job that I had years ago, they once asked me to move to a different group and I agreed. They BSed me about how they need the good people, the strong workers… and I bought it (that was when I still thought I was one). I later found out that they asked other people first, and they didn’t agree, so they asked me… That move ended up making a serious dent in my career that I’ve only just overcome these days, at this new job!
But then, if they really press me, saying that it’s important for the organisation, I will be the un-cooperative troublemaker if I don’t agree. Not a great career move either.

I’ve been to my first ever SCRUM meeting. In SCRUM, meetings take place in the corridor, with everybody standing up. The idea is to be very efficient and not get carried away in smalltalk. These meetings are held regularly, so we are always up to date on everything that’s going on. I could understand only little of what was being said.
I got my first assignment, and as usual, my first reaction was panic. But I already know that panic aside, I can manage things, proffessionally. By now I’m not panicing anymore, I have some idea of what needs to be done.

So far I have:
- finished installing my computer, or just about.
- learned how to walk the short way from the main elevator to my cubicle (rather than around the whole floor).
- learned how to find my way from my cubicle to the main elevator.
- learned how to find my way from my cubicle to the toilet.
- learned how to find my way from my cubicle to the caffeteria.
- found that there are no utencils in the caffeteria, except some plastic disposable teaspoons, and that the coffee is as would be excpected – and I was just getting back to my mid-day coffee addiction. I should probably give it up again, maybe replace it with some organic tea.
- had a ramp-up meeting with my manager (who is an impressive woman) and listened to her explanations without losing concentration or interest, and asked some intelligent questions. That’s good, I usually have a hard time listening to technical lectures, I prefer reading documents. Maybe it was because I was genuinly interested.
So I can certainly say I’ve had a good start.
I will try to work as many hours as I can, and not spend much time on the internet. No 43t at work…