6 Months At Mintel
Yesterday was was my 6 month anniversary at Mintel. It only seems like last week that I first got up at the crack of dawn to make the trek into central London from Guildford. Time has passed though and I've moved to a much more sensible location, I've become good friends with people in the office and I've learned a lot since joining. Not just stuff like XSLT and how the product I work on (GNPD) works, but more abstract stuff such as surviving office life and how to solving technical problems for customers (remembering they don't.know anything at all is the key)
Things do seem to be going well, and today I was given a pay rise. Sure I was due one (I was told when I had my interview that my pay would be reviewed after six months), but it's nice to for my bosses to show their appreciation for my work.
Last week was our company Christmas Party. It was ok, but nothing to write home about. In order to facilitate inter-department mixing the seating plan was random (though it was girl-boy-girl-boy). I was sat next to a woman who had been at the company 25 years and when I said that I was in IT she said: "Oh, you look like and IT person." and that was the end of the conversation with her for the evening. On the other side was a nice girl from sales except that she had the annoying tendency to get up and leave even if I was mid-sentence. Fortunately there was more mingling than there was sitting and eating so it wasn't too bad. Tomorrow is the department Christmas lunch which I'm sure will be a lot more pleasant.
Life is good in my flat with Ellen, although it is a bit lonely given I'm here by myself for a week while she's with her parents. We'll be meeting up again on Saturday and she has the dubious pleasure of spending Christmas with my family. We're both off to Dublin for New Year, although I expect we'll spend it with her parents rather than out partying in the city centre.
Things do seem to be going well, and today I was given a pay rise. Sure I was due one (I was told when I had my interview that my pay would be reviewed after six months), but it's nice to for my bosses to show their appreciation for my work.
Last week was our company Christmas Party. It was ok, but nothing to write home about. In order to facilitate inter-department mixing the seating plan was random (though it was girl-boy-girl-boy). I was sat next to a woman who had been at the company 25 years and when I said that I was in IT she said: "Oh, you look like and IT person." and that was the end of the conversation with her for the evening. On the other side was a nice girl from sales except that she had the annoying tendency to get up and leave even if I was mid-sentence. Fortunately there was more mingling than there was sitting and eating so it wasn't too bad. Tomorrow is the department Christmas lunch which I'm sure will be a lot more pleasant.
Life is good in my flat with Ellen, although it is a bit lonely given I'm here by myself for a week while she's with her parents. We'll be meeting up again on Saturday and she has the dubious pleasure of spending Christmas with my family. We're both off to Dublin for New Year, although I expect we'll spend it with her parents rather than out partying in the city centre.