New job: First day

I've now been through enough jobs to have an idea of what makes a "good first day" or a "bad first day". All in all, there's no such thing as a bad first day, maybe there's memorable first days, but there's often so little expected of new joiners, as it's all internal process that dictates the first day. Despite this, I don't really have much memory of previous "first days". I want to say it's usually a mix of excitement and nerves. One job I remember not having a PC on the first day, another job I remember going out for lunch with the team.

This time around, I thought I would make of a concerted effort to break down the day. 10th of July 2023. 9 am in the foyer to meet with HR, only to find out that my onboarding application has not been entirely completed. We surmise it's probably a result of the licensing and the change in start date. As a result, there's some confusion around PC access and phone access. Initially we're told that the system profile has not been created, and will take 3-5 days before I can access my PC. Long story, cut short, I manage to access my workstation and email by mid morning. Initial observations, my email address is weird and my keyboard feels slow, will need to investigate this. 

Overall, the day is a mix of excitement and nerves, starting a new job, the commitment surrounding this and the attitude that is associated with being the 'new guy'. It feels odd walking the isles not knowing anybody. Trying to figure out the water dispenser or the coffee machine. Catching the stray look of somebody who realises that they've never seen you before. Then there's the nerves of performance/job expectations. Somebody who has been brought it to do a job, a new job, and also nerves around performance after almost 10 weeks of inactivity. The brain feels slow and gooey.

It's a different environment here, the office is larger. It's probably one of the busiest floors that I've worked on, there's a lot of faces, some that I will probably never interact with. It's a weird feeling being back in the huge corporate machine. I meet all the people on the team, some are familiar from the interview process. I find myself trying to access all the relevant systems, reaching out to all the key stakeholders. I tell myself not to get too carried away here, there's plenty of time to get set up. I just need to enjoy the first couple of days. It's been a good first day, looking forward to the rest of the week. I leave just after 6 pm, the floor is still busy.