Tag: Work

Out in Redmond

Well, I’ve been staffed. I’m now out in Redmond working at Microsoft. It’s been good so far the first two days. The people seem cool and now all I need are my credentials and my badge. Then I can come and go as I need. Currently, I need an escort. Oh well… it’s only a matter of days until I’ll get my badge.

My New Rule

OK, time to be blunt: Don’t ask me specific things about Avanade unless I know who you are.

That’s my new rule. I don’t mean to be so harsh or blunt, but it’s a self preserving issue. Now, you can contact me asking me specific things about interviews, work environment, etc… via e-mail, IM, snail mail, what have you, but I will not respond. Why would I do this? Well, here are some reasons that I can think of:

  • I don’t know you.
  • I don’t know who you work for.
  • I don’t know if your desire for information is legitimate.
  • You could be a competitor.
  • You could be a client.
  • You could work for Avanade and see what I’d say.
  • You could want inside info on our internal processes.
  • Hidden interests are a dangerous thing.
  • Mainly, I don’t trust you.

Why do I even bother saying this? Well, I know that “avanade blog” or “avanade interview tips” are a couple of the highest hitting searches to find entries on this site. I also have been contacted in the past and I have done things that I no longer will do. However, I will say that I have been blessed with information from those much more wise than myself and am heeding that advice.

You might think that this is kind of a silly thing to do, but I see it otherwise. I don’t mean for people to think that Avanade is making me do this (they are most definitely not). I love working for them and I would speak highly to general things about the company, given the right situation and only giving up already publicly available information. Also, it’s not that I write about work on here that much, or with any regularity. I’m just not comfortable with it.

Now, when I was interviewing for jobs out of school, I didn’t know who I was going to be working for and I was sharing my experiences of the process with anybody who wanted to read it. I’ll keep those experiences archived here, but I just don’t write a lot about what I do. There’s a couple of reasons for that. Foremost is an NDA. You’d mostly be interested in what specifically I do and I can’t really talk about it. Secondly, blogging about work is just a mine field, in my opinion.

I don’t know why I’m even writing about this, but it’s been coming across my mind and I figure that if I write it down, I’ll move on. So, here’s to a topic that’s more interesting than this… like Buster the Pumpkin.

Vegas: Fly Back & More

Dinner. Flight. Waiting for Cab. Cab Ride. Bally’s. Check-In. Check Out Vegas. Hot. Long Sleeves and Jeans. Bellagio. Fountains. Paris. Night Shots. Sleep. Early Rise. Shower. Breakfast. Meetings. Lunch. Meetings. Break. Shuttle to Jillian’s. Open Bar. Open Food. Good Times. Good People. Shuttle Back. Imperial Palace. Blackjack. No More Blackjack. Back to Bally’s. Get Some Rest. Wake Up. Check Out. Figure Out What To Do. Walk to Wynn. Stop at Venetian. Get Back on the Strip. Eat at “The Buffet”. Walk Around in Wynn. Off to Treasure Island. Tram to Mirage. Walk in the Casino. Walk to Caesars. Watch a Silly Show. Back to Bally’s. Rest Our Feet. Play Blackjack. Have $40 Corona. Lay by the Pool. Meet Trevor and Ly. Get a Cab. Back at Venetian. Gondola Ride. Gelato. Off to Harrah’s. Catch the Monorail. Off at Paris. Get Dinner. Have Some Wine. Relax. Back to Paris for Drinks. Grab Bags. Cab to Stratosphere. Check-In. Sleep. Wake. Cab. Takeoff. Land. Home.

Ya, if those words don’t sum up what we did, there’s always the pictures.

Quick Start!

Well, this past week I have been in training at Avanade. They call this Quick Start and it is a basic rundown of all the things that you need to know in order for you to get up and running after you get hired. The basic format of the training is that they bring in about 35 people from all over the world to do their training at their office in Seattle. So, I got lucky in the fact that I didn’t have to travel to training. But, being able to meet all of these people from such different walks of life was simply amazing. Aside from the training, getting to interact with all of these people was really cool.

Also, as an added fun thing to do, Avanade treated all of us to Cooking School at Blue Ribbon Cooking School Tuesday night. So, we go out to the school, make our food, learn some new tricks, and eat good food. Sounds cool, huh? That was probably one of the cooler things that we did during training. The school was cool and the food was awesome. I have the recipies to cook them, but I bet I’ll be too lazy to make them. You can see pictures from last night on my Flickr account.

Yea, the training was cool. I meet some cool people and had a really good time. I don’t know how other companies do their training, but I can’t say that I was dissapointed with the training that I had this past week. But, now it is onto projects, getting my MCP and working towards my PMP. Mmm…

Learn a Little, Would Ya?

As many of you know I have a pretty cush job on campus. I have had this job for about a year now and have really enjoyed it. But, it has only been until recently that some aspects of it have been getting on my nerves. No, it’s not the patrons as you may think. They are the patrons and as much is expected of them. They ask questions, you give them answers to the best of your ability.

Where I have a hard time at my job is to watch simple questions go unanswered or wrong information be given to questions that are frequently asked of the lab assistants. Now, this really doesn’t apply for the lab assistants that have been there for a while, but there is one who just gets on my nerves a lot (I’d imagine others too).

It is not that he can’t answer the questions, they are really easy, but what drives me crazy is that he won’t spend the time to learn the answer to the question. You think you’d pick up on it after it answered for you. You think you’d remember it for next time. But, no. This just drives me wild. It even happened today, twice! I had to correct him in front of the patrons just so that they wouldn’t get all peeved when they realize all of the work he made them do. I don’t even know if he’d get it right next time. Now, he was trained on all of this, but training means nothing until you have to use it. Oh wait, isn’t that what training is for, to train you for your job? Gah!

Man, it just drives me crazy. Bah, I could write tons on this, but I just don’t feel it is appropriate or would help any.

Gosh, I haven’t written like this for a while and damn it feels good to vent, if only a little bit.