Around November, after attending Silicon Milkroundabout, I found myself in the very nice position of having a few interviews lined up. Out of the companies that were interested in me, one truly stood out. Dennis Publishing had a work ethic that is appealing, apps that are beautiful and well designed, and a lead iOS Developer whom is lovely and extremely talented. The interview was more an interesting conversation about development than anything else, and my mind was made up on where I most wanted to work immediately following it.
A week later I get a phone call with a job offer, and I was due to start last Monday; 6th January. To say that it was a good end to the year is a large undestatement. It felt like the culmination of all of the time and effort that I have spent on iOS Development. To actually get a paid job doing the stuff that I have been working on at home feels almost surreal.
My first week was mostly spent getting to know the development cycle, my team, and the building I'm working in. We went bowling on my first day and the guys I am fortunate enough to be working alongside are brilliant. The weekend came around reluctantly and without my even noticing but I welcomed the rest from the commute. I did wonder whether this would be a first week phenomenon, but this second week has passed just as quickly.
Still the novelty of walking down Oxford Street and up to Dennis has yet to wear off. I have continued to familiarise myself with the large code base but I am at a point where my contributions to it feel worth while. The lead iOS developer I am working with is actually did a talk at NSLondon this Thursday about inheriting other people's code, and it summed it up beautifully.
There is a difficulty in allowing myself to accept the fact that I will be waking up and taking the train to Oxford Circus again next Monday and through the week, as well as the week after that and hopefully for many weeks to come. There’s a significant amount of discern and unfounded negativity directed to being employed by somebody else, and I could talk about this topic a lot more, but for now I will say that I am loving it and wouldn’t trade it for any realistic alternatives.