So I have been back at work for 1 full week now, what must it be like?

The Good:

• IT Department 
  • I am finally in an IT department and not a Sales department. This is a big plus that utilizes my business/technical skills and not my sales skills. I am not discounting the need for skills with selling, but the daily grind of trying to get people to buy something just wears on a guy.
• Upper Management
  • I talk daily with the VP of Software development and every few days with the CIO, both of which have  an open door policy, which I haven’t exercised yet, but feel I comfortable that I can. In all my previous jobs there was very strict chain of command that had to be followed. I never felt like I was part of a team just a producer
  • I have met a few other executives from other business areas and they seem to be committed to helping people and following the vision and mission statements (you mean those things are for real??)

• Acceptance
  • I have not had one negative comment from any person that I have come in contact with in the business.
  • On my forth day at work I was invited to a planning meeting for a new external portal site for our clients. I was there with my supervisor, VP of software development and two other VP level executives that deal with operations. Not only was I invited but some of my ideas were incorporated into the new site. Further I felt welcome to challenge and further shoot down some of the ideas that others had. Very productive meeting, never really dealt with this kind of stuff except in theory
• The Facility
  • Not to long ago the business purchased land and built a custom facility to house the operations of the business. They spared no expense on fixtures, window coverings, landscaping, the big American flag out front and countless other nicetys that really make a person feel good about walking thru the front doors every day. I have been at countless other businesses that had to cut corners due to one reason or another, and it showed
• Mind over muscle
  • Actually using my brain and not just my ability to endure is awesome. In past jobs I would spend any idle second doing non-work related items just to clear my head, at my new job I find that I don’t have any interest in surfing the net, text messaging or personal phone calls. I am actually interested in what I do for work and truly enjoy it.
• Drive time
  • I have been downloading podcasts for quite a few months now and they seem to pile up faster than I can consume them. In the last week I have been sucking up podcasts of my interests like a sponge. This has really given me a chance to focus on my interests and have some time away from the keyboard and TV to really enrich my mind. 

The Bad:

• Drive time
  • I was aware of the commute when I agreed to work at my new job, but that does not discount that fact that I use Google maps (traffic data) to plan my route to and from work each day. And no matter which way you slice or dice it I am spending 1 hour to work and 1 hour to home each day. This is not a long term plan but for now it is not a big issue
• Did I mention the drive time…
• Smaller Company
  • The company is just over 400 people, which isn’t super small but it is not like they have regional or international offices that I can transfer to. My ultimate goal is to move from Arizona to a different/better climate. While this isn’t a huge issue it will require me to get a new job to move out of town with a new company, as opposed to just a transfer.

So if you can read between the lines I am really happy with my new position at Take Charge America. I think they are providing a needed service and genuinely care about their customers. Further I am coming on board at the start of a new project so it will be awesome to see it through fruition (borrowed word from Angry Joe).