First day at work

It's already a few month past April fool. But Mr Oh still surprised me today. He didn't seem to remember 11 July is my first day when I stand in front of him this morning. He was not as surprised as I was. I think he is an introvert version of Mr Gi, who doesn't laugh much when he should thus making others feel funny.

He cleared a table next to His brother, Mr Elderly Oh. So that becomes my temporary seat for now. Mr Oh's brother doesn't look like him except they are really rarely talk. In fact, other people in the room including Robin, Ananda, and Mr Wang (I think English name is easier to remember) talk very little. I should fit in this environment quite well.

I am given a HP Probook6xxxx. I always like laptops of business class, simple and devoted. Ananda seems like my mentor for the first day. He helped me installed all the necessary software on the laptop and briefed me about my job scope. Basically, I will help enhance an existing system by adding features. Those features are listed in a design document probably written by Mr Oh himself. I am required to come up with a schedule to complete the tasks. The project is about collecting worldwide data for Christ Crusade. The scale is large, thus the whole process is designed hierachical. Drupal is used to manage content on top of a so called AiApp framework. From the source code I read so far, I don't see any advantage of using such a framework. The code structure is lengthy and messy. Without a good tool like notepad++, one hardly can understand the code. I feel my job is kind of hacking though it's not as exciting as the word sounds. I find some key words in source files and then try to add or modify some code around it. I don't have to really understand everything just trial and error.

Mr Oh bought some tables in the afternoon. So I guess I will move to new table tommorrow. By the end of the day, I've already hacked a simple feature out. Hopefully, tomorrow is a better day.

Just before starting to work

Tomorrow will be the first official working day in my life. Normally people will feel excited or anxious for such day. But I don't really feel anything special. Xiaomao asked me to prepare for tomorrow's work. Things like what to wear and how to get there. These seems trivial for me because I know for a job like mine doesn't need much preparation. No orientation, because the company has only 6 persons in total. No formal dress, because I may never meet any client in the short term. No complicated transport route, because it only takes less than 20 minutes bus there. All I need is energy for the programming works yet to come.

WengWei said Openfeel shouldn't be called a startup company as it already has a history of 9 years. A typical startup that lasts for such a long period should have either already grown big or shutdown. I don't know the definition of a startup, but from WengWei's words, I know this company doesn't have good perspective. But I really don't care about the fortune this company can bring me. What I want is the opportunities to train my skill which big corporate can't offer. CoolShell has a article talking about two kind of organization of a software company. One is Widget Factory; the other is Film Crew. Obviously I want to be in a Film Crew as I want to enjoy what I did by having a sense of achievement. Mr Oh told me in the interview that I will be able to manage and design a project soon after I join the company. This indeed sounds promising!