First Day Follies
Ah, the first day of a new job…you’re in a smart new outfit, ready to conquer whatever is put on your plate. There are the cursory introductions, paperwork, and — for me — some kind of laughable gaffe. About 2 years ago, I realized that I had established a pattern of either making a fool of myself or doing something “bad” my first day.
Aromas
It actually starts with the very first job I ever held – a barista position at the Aromas coffeehouse on the USD campus. My aunt, who worked at the university, told me about the coffeehouse and put me in contact with the manager. I interviewed over the phone, was hired, and found out when to report for my first day on the job. Of course, I called my aunt and thanked her for the introduction. Realizing I had not asked what it is I should wear my first day, I asked my aunt. “Oh, why don’t you wear a nice dress?” she replied.
I showed up to work in a lovely frock, and the very kind manager complimented me on my dress. The sarcastic assistant manager, however, pulled a “get a load of this gal” move with the thumb-pointing and everything. I wasn’t able to train that day because people learning to use an espresso machine ought not to wear short dresses and risk spilling 200-degree espresso on themselves.
Lesson Learned: Ask about dress code if unsure
First Testing Job
Fast forward 4 years – I was an eager young woman fresh out of college, ready to start making some dough to pay off my student loan. I got my first full-time job at Pacific Life Insurance Company as a QA Analyst. After the introductions throughout the cube farm, my boss sat down with me in my cubicle and handed me a CD so that I could install the product I’d be testing. I took the CD and just sort of stared at my computer for a few seconds…I extended my hand out to the thingy under the monitor that had a lot of buttons on it but could not figure out how to open the dang CD drive. My boss said very slowly “Um…the CPU is under your desk.” Forehead smack! I wonder if my boss freaked out just a tiny bit in that moment after realizing that the person he hired to be a tester couldn’t “work the computer.” Now, of course I could work the computer…thanks to my grandpa, I’d been using one since I was about 7…I was just really nervous!
Lesson Learned: Sometimes you just gotta laugh at yourself
First Agile Testing Job
OK, fast forward another few years. I had over 6 years of software testing experience under my belt and was interviewing for a tester position at Edfinancial Services. My potential future boss asked me for my thoughts on bug documentation. I said very confidently, “I document EVERYTHING.” The rest of the interview went well, and I got the job.
My first day, my new boss sat down with me for a discussion about testing in an agile environment. We got to talking about bug tracking and he said, “I think tracking bugs found during the sprint is a big waste of time.” My mind immediately zipped back to my proud statement about documenting EVERYTHING. Oops…
Lesson Learned: Be prepared to change the way you’ve “always” done things!
My New Job
And now we’re pretty much all caught up…well, wait a second – I did start a new job yesterday. I’m now a software tester for a small group, and I am stoked to be working with Chris McMahon in this gig. Anyway, Chris and I were going through tutorials about the online app we’ll be testing. One of the tutorials provided a link to a “sample” workspace. I started playing around in the sample workspace and had some questions…I posted my questions on the wiki. Chris, our trainer Marcus (he’s a project manager/developer), and I started chatting about the sample space and Marcus asked me for the URL of the sample space. I barely got the sub-domain out of my mouth and Marcus exclaimed “That’s production!”
Turns out that the tutorials need to be updated. 
Lesson Learned*: Some day, you WILL accidentally do something on production
*Actually, this was a reminder for me – I’ve already learned the lesson about messing around with production…brought a DB server completely down unknowingly once.
Well, there we have it. The pattern was not broken. The good news is that I really, really like the group of people I’m working with now, and hopefully won’t have to experience another first day on the job for a long while.
Marisa Seal
Daniel Brown
Josh Carroll
Sounds to me like you fond a good, old-fashioned documentation bug on your first day, yesterday! Good job!
I loved reading the stories! It’s a great thing to be able to laugh at ourselves.
Dawn
November 17, 2009
And I can spell sometimes, too.
s/fond/found
Dawn
November 17, 2009
Marisa, sometimes you have to go for the gold and add something on production! It’s a cheap thrill. I remember I added an Xtra Credit setting on production one time. Ryan yanked my permissions so quickly that it made my head spin.
Great post! Very humorous! Makes me want a coffee from Aromas.
Daniel Brown
November 17, 2009
Thanks Dawn & Daniel!
Daniel – I got to make a nonfat cappuccino for a Secret Service Agent once. That was my claim to fame at Aromas, although their Peppermint Patty drink was really good
(Secret Service thing was when Clinton and Dole debated at our school).
Marisa Seal
November 18, 2009