Today was my first day at my new job. For those just catching on/up, I’m now a Technical Writer for StarVision Technologies.

I spent most of the morning doing paperwork. This afternoon, I got a more formal tour from my boss, Mike. I was able to learn a little about what each project does (COOL stuff!) and ask questions. It felt like a field trip! In one room, there is a “race track” outlined in black on the floor. There are giant legos making bridges and posts. When I asked what it was for, I found out that it’s a robotics exercise for some sophomore engineering majors at Texas A&M. They demo’d a robot for me. It’s very much like our Roomba!

I spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out Windows Vista, Microsoft Outlook, organizing some thoughts, and coordinating with a potential web developer. I also poked around on the server to see if I could get some bearings on where things are. Can I just say that these Aerospace guys are or-ga-NIZed??!! wow! I’ve never seen a neater file server. More importantly to me, everything is there. This place has a lot of secrets, that’s for sure, but there are none kept from the staff. I was impressed to see a couple of Wish Lists for IT and tools. When is the last time you saw budgets and such on the company/department’s server for all to see???

My first big project will be to get our website updated. Luckily, a former staff member did an amazing job of outlining/storyboarding the site. She just drew boxes in PowerPoint slides, but it’s a great visual aid for establishing where content should go. Her area of expertise is “marketing language” so she put a lot of research and thought into the way the company needs to be positioned from a web point-of-view. She compliments my talents so very well. I’m glad she remained on board in a consulting role. I’ve already given her stuff to the next company to offer a quote.

At what I thought would be the end of my day, I headed to “the back” to ask a couple of questions. My boss had a “present” for me: a Canon Rebel XTI with an additional 75-300 zoom lens (so I can shoot images for the website). As I was taking possession of it, the sophomore robotics students came in for their “races” around the track. I was at work until 7:30pm shooting their races and challenges and “awards”. It will make great PR for our company was Just SO Much Fun to see in action!
It’s going to be a busy and challenging job. However, it’s also a very supportive environment. I couldn’t be happier, thus far.