Totally frazzled tonight after the first day on the new job.
As much as I’ve tried to not base the general feeling of a job on the first day there, it usually leaves a lasting impression no matter what I do to prevent it. Well. It’s not even the whole first day. It’s the first five minutes. As in, “Do I have a machine ready for me or not?” I don’t mean that the machine has to be turned on and humming happily, waiting for me to arrive and offer me a cookie. What I do mean is do I have a machine that I can work on? Odds are I’m going to repave it first thing, so that’s a non-issue, but you wouldn’t believe how many jobs I’ve started that made me have to wait to get a machine.
The two that stand out the most in my mind are the one where I waited six weeks before getting a machine of my own. I guess they wanted me to start out on an abacus or something… whoever heard of a software engineer working without a PC? It should come as no surprise that that job lasted under three months… the other standout is a consulting gig where I had to use my own [personal] notebook because no other hardware was available. This same firm missed two pay periods without any warning and then was shocked when I turned down a job offer for a permanent position. Go figure: it’s criminal to not pay consultants on time…
My first day at MSDN I was greeted by two machines – one new and one old – and a 17″ LCD monitor. I was thrilled by this: made me feel quite giddy that I had two machines ready on the first day and I had an LCD monitor. I don’t know if this mentality holds any water but I had a great time for nearly two years there.
Today was my first day with the Tools and Technology group in Microsoft Game Studios. Oh. My. God. I had my greedy mits on more hardware today that I have during my entire tenure at Microsoft. And yes. That matters because it lets you do more.
One of the policies at Microsoft is that you can take a machine with you, as you transfer between groups. I opted to take my “admin” box with me… The admin box is where you get your email, where I read my blogs, write documents – it’s usually pretty stable where as test and dev boxes you can expect to shred a few times a day/month/year, depending on the group… anything I can do to avoid repaving that box makes me happy.
MGS had all my equipment waiting for me: a beefy Dell dev box with a rather sizable monitor, a hefty Dell notebook [with an extra battery and AC Adapter with a docking station] to work mobily, and an Xbox 360 Dev kit and for hands on game testing. I spent a good chunk of the day configuring the dev and 360 boxes; spent some of the night with the new notebook [Anna and Gopher are off camping somewhere on the peninsula so I’m not ignoring anyone!] which has a bigger screen than I thought: Wide SVGA+. BAM.
What does this mean for my own notebook purchase? I’m still considering the Lenovo T60p… makes me a Geek snob, sure, but pft on you! True, the T60p has a smaller screen, but it’s nearly 3 pounds lighter with more CPU power, more video RAM, and a larger hard drive. We’ll see… I’m going to lug the Dell around for a while and see how it goes – it’ll give me a chance to give the T41 a much needed rest :)
Yeah, I’m pretty giddy – if my history with the “first day hardware” impression is any indication, I’m pretty justified in feeling so! And I can’t even tell all y’all what I’m going to be working on. *smirk* Maybe I will, after it ships. *whistles*
And before anyone from Live asks, no, I don’t know anything about Halo 3!
of course you don’t know anything about 3 I don’t think even the Dev leads have a clue. all they know is what the box looks like (three bullet points) * new intelligent AI *real time rendering * great new weapons and opportunity’s
:)
I think you should get the new Macbook 13″ for $1299.. bump the HD to 100gb for another $150, and you have a core duo 2ghz capable of running windows and osx fr $1450. Lots cheaper (and cooler) than the T60.
Well, before E3, I woulda said “What’s Halo 3?” because it was easier :)
I’d consider the Macbook, but for a few things… 5.2 pounds which is only .2 lighter than the T60p. Video card is really slacking on the MB (64MB, shared). Dongles for VGA/DVI (sold seperately!). Smaller screen. Slower burner. Slower CPU.
Now, having said that, the weight is a push, the smaller screen would irk me – 1400×1050 is nicer than 1280×800 although they should look the same on their respective screen sizes. CPU/Burner is attributed to price – especially since the T60p is 2.13 which ya KNOW has got to be $400 right there when vs 2.0 – the video is the sticking point, for Vista especially. I see the T60p to be a competitor to the MBP and there it’s cheaper… what’s shocking to me is the deal that the MB seems to be. Ya know, for Apple users :)
So we’ll see. I’m already content to use the new notebook for an admin box here: email on the go and all… it’ll be interesting to see what quote Lenovo comes back with.