Workin' 9 to 5...

So the first day was rather interesting.

Turns out my concerns about the technical aspects of the job were right on. This is going to be one of the most technically demanding, and probably humbling experiences in my professional IT career.

I'm going to be a shadow for some of the hardware techs, for well over 6 months. The idea is that since I will be supervising connectivity issues, I should see first hand where these machines are installed, the networks they run on, and the types of office environments they operate in. I'm also scheduled in for months of software training, and a good amount of certifications.

Fortunately, the employer seems to understand the depth of this, and expects me to be unfamiliar with most of my day-to-day work...for some time. I'm happy about this, because by lunch I was beginning to panic!

I mean, sure I know what Structured Query Language is, and I have operated and maintained a number of databases, but sheesh...I'm no SQL Superstar. And more importantly, while I feel pretty comfortable being dropped into enterprise level networking admin jobs, I've spent very little time using the management software that can run a large scale network. (i.e. CA's Unicenter)

So yeah, this is gonna be a challenge. I'm hoping that the challenge just pushes me on further, and keeps me excited about the work. This is one seriously awesome opportunity, and considering the education they're dishing out, I'm really on the receiving end of a good deal.

On the downside, I was told that while I will be a service guy...I'm also too talented and charming to walk around in one of the snazzy polo's that all the service guys wear. Oh yeah, it's a suit and tie again.

They want me to provide a large amount of support for the executive side of the company. The sales and front end business is where I will be making a significant amount of my income here if all goes well, and I'm excited about that. I'm also pretty juiced up about the prospect of being the go-to guy for all the solutions. Hell, that was on my resume objective for christ sake. The financial prospects for being this polished IT guru for such a company is seriously cool.

But you know, I went to school, made awesome grades, studied hard, and worked my ass off so I could work in blue jeans and a Voltron t-shirt. WTF man???

Oh well, I suppose I should be thankful. I've been told I dress like a Republican Banker anyway. Maybe this is just who I'm supposed to be; a professional.

(Sigh)

It's so nice to be working again.