TLDR – Working at Microsoft I’ve become a spoiled princess. Oracle is spoiling me in a few places and coming short in others. The commute is much longer than previous commute
Commute time
Microsoft was about 8 minutes away by scooter. I did my best to make it a 30 minute run to and from work. I left the house at about 0405 and was at work by 0445 working issues for a bit followed by shower then back to dominating the day. It took me a few days to obtain a badge here at work; meaning the first few days start time was 0800 am when the front desk of the building is on site able to open the door for me. I’ve been sampling public transit options so far I’ve sampled the following:
- LUAS @ 7 – Leave the house at 0655 for a 0700 train into City. It takes about 38 minutes to make it to O’Connell GPO. From there it’s about 15 minute scooter ride to the office. Made it work slightly before 0800 taking an hour
- Dart – Left the house at 0630 for 0700 Dart into the city. Dart took about 38 minutes to arrive at the Clontarf road stop. From the Contarf stop it was 8 minutes to work Making it to work a bit before 0800. Took me almost half hour to scooter down hill to the Dart station. Might not have picked the correct Station / could trim 10 minutes off of Dart, but still more than an hour commute
- First LUAS– The First LUAS of the day leaves Sandyford at 0530. With badge in hand I can get into the building earlier. Left the house at 0505 on the scooter for the Sandyford LUAS stop. took me 10 minutes to get there. Should be able to leave later next time. 30 Minute ride to the O’Connell GPO. From there it’s about 15 minute scooter ride to the office. Made it work around 0545.
- Next Week I’m going to try ridding a bike into work. – Expect that to be the quickest option taking 45-50 minutes.
Showers and Stuff
Had my first shower at the work Thursday morning. After arriving at the building I asked the security guard about showers. He said there were some in this building but they might not work due to moving out of the building soon, Confirmed they do not work. He told me Block B, a building 2 over, would be my best option. Ok, security knows these things, so I went over to Block B and found the showers. I sure was spoiled at Microsoft. The showers here are high school locker room style where you push a button to turn on the water for 20 seconds, then need to push the button again. At least the water is hot. In the locker room there are no over night lockers to leave you stuff in over night. I guess all my gym clothes end up under my desk while at work?
Also lacking in the showers, soap in the showers, towels to dry off with, Mirrors above a sink to work out looking pretty. The one nice bit in the locker rooms is a drying room with mesh lockers you can hang your towel and clothing in to dry them off when it rains. One plus and a bunch of negatives compared to what I’m used too at Microsoft. Guess I am going to need a Gym bag to leave under my desk and keep all of my kit in, and I’ll do more walking arriving at work and going home. When I get to work I’ll have to walk to desk to pickup bag before showering. Heading home I’ll have to head to showers to change then back to my desk to leave my bag then back to lockers where my bike will be parked in the bike garage.
Hardware and Desk
I lucked out on hardware here. Sean, who let me the first few days, pointed out a desk and said it was free. I sat down and made it mine. The desk came with a 37″ widescreen monitor that the team is “demoing” to determine if it will be the new standard. It’s one of two on the team. Cool I lucked with the best monitor here. I was chatting with my manager a few days later and asked about a desktop. It looked like 3 months to obtain one. They ordered some long ago that showed up a month ago half the team was not using yet. Someone donated their desktop to me. Now I have a Lenovo core I7 desktop as my main machine. My 13″ macbook should be showing up this week to compliment the setup.
Networking Issues
External internet access is allowed only VIA proxy server. First day here it took me a few hours to get network setup and working and understood. A few of my core tools do not appear to work “yet” with the proxy. Signal instant messaging is a complete none worker for me so far. WordPress desktop editor does not seem to be allowed via the proxy. Microsoft RDP client does not support Proxy so I cannot get to my cloud workstation to do work. Thinking it might be best to setup an IPSEC tunnel to home to route server there and use tools from home. Not sure how well this will be supported or not, probably safest to not do it without asking for permission.
Other Perk Differences
Things I utilized at Microsoft not available at oracle.
- Ice and Soda – In the building I’m currently in there is no ice, which makes me sad; I like ice in my water. There is also no soda or juices, but we do have coffee or tea or warm filtered water. I liked having a Coke Zero in the mornings to start the day – coffee and me don’t mix.
- Fruit – In a few of the newer buildings there are some stations with free fruit like we had at Microsoft. It’s nice to be able to take a walk and pick up an apple when I need a stretch. Considering this a perk.
- Canteen – The cafe’s are run by the same company as at Microsoft with similar food quality. Rating this the perk similar.
The Team
The team at Oracle is larger than the team at Microsoft. Microsoft we were about 6 on site, The team here seems to be closer to 30 on site, with about 10+ in the group I am in. I was pretty happy not eating at Microsoft and working straight through the day. Oracle most of the group heads to lunch at the same time. Most being about 10-14 people. Trying to be social and stuff and get to know everyone and go with them this week. – Will probably stick with this for a bit then back off to part-time going to lunch. Food sure is a social thing.
Wrap up thoughts
The company, the commute, the work, and the team appear to be conducive of providing me with a level of happy and enjoyment I like in a job. Not sure I see 10 years + like I had at Microsoft, but it’s only been a week.
