When I started at my first job I thought everyone wore suits. I thought that the gigantic building I had walked in to was filled with large desks surrounded by endless glass and clean lines. I thought my colleagues would glide around, thoughtfully dissecting ideas and suggesting enhancements.
I had never worked with .NET or C#. I thought DNN was some enterprise technology – the F1 car of the web.
I thought an awful lot, that didn’t turn out to be the case.
But then, if every assumption had been true, I don’t think I would have stuck around for so long.
When I started I had never stayed in a hotel, except on the odd school trip.
The World
Something that the last 5 years has taught me for sure is that the vast, vast majority of people are extraordinarily mediocre at their jobs (note from 2025 Tom: turns out my precociousness still abounds.) Whole organisations are formed and reformed by and for these people. They’re not in search of excellence, discovery, or joy in their work. They’re happy with the 9-5, the mundanity of process, and the safety of shared decision making.
And that’s just gravy. Each to their own.
I think that I, like most, started out believing that the adults knew what was what. How things worked. And that this was hard-fought knowledge. But that isn’t the case.
The People
If ego is just another face of insecurity, then far too many people have self esteem issues.
I’m lucky to not be heavily affected by egomania. But plenty are.
The Boss
They never know the situation on the ground.
Notable Happenings
Since joining the company an awful lot has changed:
- I bought a car with electric windows, then another, and another
- I moved out of my parent’s house into central Manchester
- I fell in love and proposed
- I moved to Didsbury, then bought a place in Cheadle
- I got 2 cats and 1 dog
- I became vegan
Work wise:
- I learnt to build the web in C# and React
- I learnt to build apps with React Native
- I learnt to create proposals, pitches, and demos
- I worked on-site for 18 months with Sports Direct & Co.
- I ran discoveries for huge organisations
- I built business strategies, and even got to test some
I remember, with great fondness, the early days of joining the place. It was a different place then, a young and vibrant lot, camaraderie that only exists within small teams, and the freedom of youth.
Even though it’s not the place where I need to be right now, it’ll always have a uniquely special place in my mind.