Because It Has Been A While

I haven't talked much about work lately.

This is largely because I'm still kind of finding my way around.

To sum it up though, I work at a software company. This company produces one suite of software. A lot of the development of this software is done on the other side of my cubicle partition, while the rest is done by a team working the global reverse shift in Hyderabad.

There is also a sales department, whose efforts ensure that everyone gets paid. They have further made promises to customers which mean that this one suite of software is coded using no fewer than three separate coding languages and (due to support agreements made in smoke-filled pool halls) supported and patched nearly constantly in every version deployed across the planet.

The office I work in is in a newer building. The elevators have little televisions in them and the voice of Optimus Prime announces the floor and direction of travel. "Seventh Floor". "Going Down".

The kitchen has a coffee grinder and a nice thermal carafe coffee maker. The developers seem to always drink the last bit and wander off, leaving me to grind and brew a fresh pot and plot their eventual doom.

We have a similar office in Connecticut where all of Management hangs out. This leaves the Houston office feeling a bit like 11th grade English with a substitute teacher. There are constant questions of where the authority is, though I suspect no one wants them answered.

By contrast the Hyderabad office is less nice. The developers working there are very good at their jobs and their presence in our off-hours ensures that the customers will always have a prompt response. As I have been made to understand, the single toilet in that building is cracked along the top and has been for several years. This means that water shoots out the top during the rainy season. During the dry season the toilet is flushed using a bucket of well water and a ladle.

I did not ask if they have a nicer coffee set up than we do.