You know how most people say that the first two weeks of their job is supposed to be the breeziest and simplest? Well, I’d strongly argue against that at my current company, and not necessarily in a bad way. I’ve had a number of very productive meetings my first two weeks, and not only that, I’m actually learning new, valuable information that will help me properly get up to speed on the technology I will be supporting, in addition to the company in general. It’s been a refreshing experience to be at a company that is striving to be as organized as mine is. And for better or for worse (and really for the better), I have to complete a certification exam on the company product and have been spending a lot of time reading up and studying for it.

It’s honestly a strange feeling to be studying again. The last time I truly studied anything seriously was in my last year of college, and that was almost nine years ago. I feel like I haven’t genuinely used my brain in the longest time, as work for the last 3-5 years really hasn’t been intellectually stimulating at all, and I spent most of my time putting out trivial “fires” over things that were not truly fires at all. I was respected at my last two companies, and people really looked to me for guidance and advice, but sometimes I felt so weirded out by it because I never though I did anything extraordinary at all; I was just being myself and getting my own work done. Isn’t that what we’re all supposed to be doing at our jobs?