I've had a lot of people ask me to explain what the hell it is I do down here for IBM. It is kind of technical, so those who don't care can skip this.
IBM has somehow managed to end up with many of their development and high level support people to Perth, the ass end of the earth. The department I work for is the department responsible to supporting IBM's customers that use the VSE mainframe operating system and the subsystems.
The reason IBM asked me to come down here is because I've been working on VSE and VM system for almost 15 years. The wanted someone who knows these systems and who understands what their customers are doing. They also wanted me for my TCP/IP integration experience since that is becoming a larger part of a lot of VSE's enterprise integration plans. In fact the first project I worked on was debugging an obscure TCP/IP problem that a customer discovered when a special sequence of events occurs.
I work with about 10 other specialist in a an open area. We all have our cubicles, but they have low walls so that we can share information and pitch in when one of may not know the answers. My desk has a nice view of the freeway and the hills beyond.
The products and systems used to track, develop, change, test, and distribute are very complicated. It will take me about a year to get to the point where I can even say I know what is going on. Needless to say, it has been an intense two weeks so far.
We work in the Perth IBM building, a modern glass building 4 stories tall on the west end of downtown. It is a 5 minute walk into downtown and all the cafe's, restaurants, and stores. It is about a 10-15 minute walk to the central train station.
My co-workers are an interesting bunch of people from all over the world. What we all have in common are years of experience on IBM mainframe systems. This one place probably has more years of experience on the field that any other place on earth. There are some characters, such as Crazy Vern. The guy that is training me is from New Zealand. Some are from Europe, South Africa, and North America.
The atmosphere is very relaxed and casual. Jeans and tennis shoes are normal. We set our own hours. As long as the work gets done, and done right is all they care about. I've only met one workaholic so far. Everyone else seems to have a life and wants to go back to it when they leave work at then end of the day.
The only thing that I am used to is trying to get to the security requirements. They are pretty strict because much of the material I work on is proprietary IBM software internals. I can not leave anything on my desk when I leave and I have to have all materials locked up.
I've only been there two weeks, so I really haven't had a chance to establish a routine. Perth has an excellent public transport system that I use. There is a bus stop two blocks from the house. Buses come by about every 15 minutes that go to a nearby train stop. The trains run about every 10 to 15 minutes during rush hour. From the downtown train station it is about a 10 to 15 minute walk to IBM, or I could hop on the free buses that run a circuit through downtown. Going home is just the opposite.
I don't have a car. I have noticed that the freeway traffic between the northern suburbs and downtown is very heavy. The train is faster, cheap, and I don't have to fight for parking.
Last week I started riding my bike to work. I think that it will take about 45 minutes once I find a good route and get in strong enough shape to get going at a good clip. They have a network of excellent network bike trails throughout the city that I am exploring on my new bike. IBM has a special locking bike locker in their building and showers to use. About a dozen IBM's ride bikes in (Vern walks) on a regular basis.
The only odd thing about work is that I get all the milk I can drink. I fridge full of milk is stocked every morning. The coffee at work sucks, but there are plenty of food cafes downtown that serve excellent coffees.
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