The new grind, part 1

The drive to my new job takes about 35 minutes. So far commuting hasn't been so bad. It's a good chance to listen to music, if nothing else. My biggest problem with spending so much additional time in my car every day is that sooner or later I'm going to get a flat tire or stuck in heavy snow storm traffic or side-swiped on the freeway. Those are things you don't need to worry about when you are reading a book on a bus or walking to work with an iPod, both of which are nice situations I had going for me at one time, in other states, in other lives. I probably needlessly worry too much. I think it runs in my family, the Finc family of Delaware that is.

Working for AdmnServer (the "i" is intentionally left out to avoid being picked up by search engines) relates more directly to my job with Minnesota Life (aka Securian) than anything I did at the Infirmary. Actually, as far as anybody from AdmnServer is concerned, the two years I spent in Mobile didn't exist, and it would be just as well if they didn't, at least professionally, as they seemed only to make me a lazier programmer and put more distance between me and any memory of the insurance business. Everyone who works at AdmnServer came directly from either a college or an insurance company. I fall into the latter category, with a little detour along the way.

The new employee training program and just about anything else at AdmnServer is much less structured than any other job I've ever worked. I received a half-hour orientation and maybe a collective hour of job-specific tutorials during the five days I've been at the place. Otherwise they just showed me where my desk is located, introduced me to my team leader, and told me to get started. The question "Get started doing what doing what exactly?" came up in my head a few times.

Despite all of the unclarity and lack of training, I had a relatively productive week. I'm learning (mostly on my own) some things that will look really good on a resume. Those of you with an Information Technology background will know what I'm talking about when I say I've been maintaining stored procedures in a Microsoft SQL Server database, altering some Crystal Reports, and performing system testing / QA on change control. That's one half of the job. The other half I haven't really started yet, but it will involve configuring the XML business rules in the AdmnServer system to match our clients' needs.

That's it for now. Next time I'll write about the food, the cubes, and the dress code (or lack thereof).