Today was my first day of training to work as a Technical Support Representative with Shaw. It was a pretty easy-going day, and weirdly enough, there wasn't much training and not a lot of the day was spent learning about my job specifically.
I am in a class of 20 people or so, for this training, and today we learned more about Shaw's history and vision. It was a bit of a boring day, but I was still getting paid for it, so hurray!
Shaw's vision and atmosphere seem pretty incredible. I haven't worked in too many places before, but if Shaw's support and enthusiasm is even half of what they're showing and promising so far, then it will still be a pretty amazing place to work. The environment in Shaw seems to be an extremely supportive one, both for their customers and their employees. Everything seems to revolve around helping everyone have the best experience, obeying common sense, and making things better. I was impressed, and I am not easily so.
One incredible thing they offer are benefits, and sure, you work anywhere big and they're going to offer benefits, but this is really my first "big" job, and their benefits are open to anyone at the company, even part-time employees, and they seem pretty amazing. I'm not going to get into them, but it's nice to know I'm covered. For all those I know who suffer and have had to deal with mental or social anxiety issues, they'd be happy to know that Shaw seems to cover counseling anonymously and around a schedule which works for you. So, even though I don't think I'll be taken advantage of any of that, it was nice to know.
The company seems pretty enthusiastic about everyone being happy, satisfied, and interested in their work. They showed us around the office and told us that if we wanted to shadow a different part of the company, we could. I might just do that and follow some more technical people around, see how things work. I saw some oscilloscopes in the basement, and would be interested in knowing what people are up to down there, haha.
Another good thing is that while this is a part-time position, the chance of me being able to work full-time hours is quite high. They told us today to simply ask when we got around to speaking one-on-one with a manager and that the manager would probably be very happy with that. This is good, because as much as I love time off, I love being productive, and I need the money. I was going to say that I love money, but really, I don't care.
Someone asked me today, as I've been asked often, what engineers typically make, and after giving them an approximate answer, they asked me why I didn't seem super enthused by this. I told them that I don't really care for money. I didn't get into engineering for the money; I got into it because it's what I want to do. I joke that I'll probably never be rich because I don't care about money. Honestly, once I get things moving, I think I will be both vocationally and financially successful, but at the end of the day, if everyone and everything is provided for, and I'm doing something I love, that will be perfect.
The commute isn't too bad; about an hour each way, which is "outrageous" for Edmonton or so I'm told, but I'm so used to that commute from living in Toronto where the TTC's motto (Toronto Transit Commission), in my opinion, was "It takes an hour to get anywhere." Plus, I love reading on the bus, so as long as I don't miss my stop, it'll be great! That last point is thrown in because, unlike Toronto, the buses don't call out individual stops so you really have to be aware.
As for my apartment and living situation, I'm a little behind. Truth be told, it's been a little difficult not having a vehicle or access to one. It's difficult to move furniture when your friends, family, and friends of family all have small cars. Still, everyone's been very nice, a friend of the family who hasn't even met me in person yet has offered to borrow a truck to help me move furniture, and Brittany has been very gracious in letting me stay with her until I get settled. She hasn't even voiced a concern over my luggage sitting in her living room. Of course, I think it's a combination of her graciousness and my ability to be as unobtrusive as possible, but still, it's been good.
I should be moving my stuff in and settling a little more this weekend and now that the job issue has been sorted out, I feel so much better about everything! It's all been working quite well so far, so I look forward to a great summer!
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