I wondered if this would happen.  VMware’s review cycle is the calendar year.  I joined on November 8.  This means that I’ve been here for long enough to get reviewed.  Given that how little time I’ve actually worked here as a result of  the vacations I took in November and December, I’m not sure what I’ll write for a self-assessment.  Here are some of my highlights so far:

• Successfully found the bathroom
• Can book a conference room in under an hour
• Remembers most of the names of other members of the user experience team

Today is my one-month anniversary at VMware.  So far, other than the usual housekeeping sorts of things like getting my benefits and 401(k) going, I’ve met dozens of people from all corners of the company.  I’m immersing myself in all of our applications.  I’ve even started to earn my keep around here, and have completed my first project (a heuristic evaluation).

Happy anniversary to me!

Everyone, from friends to family to previous colleagues to new co-workers, asks me the same question: “how are you acclimatizing?”  Having been here for not even two weeks yet, I’m never entirely sure how to answer that question.

So far, life is mostly about figuring my way around.  I’m learning about VMware’s extensive portfolio of applications, like vSphere and vCloud.  I’m learning more about the applications that I already knew, like Fusion.  Part of learning is both about where the applications stand now, and what their roadmaps look like for the future.  While this part is time-consuming, it’s also pretty straightforward.

Another pretty straightforward task is learning about the new cadence of my day and my week.  Humans are, after all, creatures of habit; all of my habits are now broken.  I haven’t yet figured out the best route to drive from my home to campus, although I have figured out the best train/bus combination that gets me here in a half-hour.  Thursdays seem to be given over to team meetings, although Wednesdays are entirely meeting-free.

Somewhat less straightforward is figuring out how everything fits together.  VMware is a company that has seen staggering growth in the past few years, so I’m probably not the only person trying to figure this out.  The company has grown in size (this page says we’re currently at 8200 employees) and grown the number of applications.  Some of this growth is organic, some has come through acquisitions (such as Zimbra).

Thus far, acclimatizing is about gathering information.  As a researcher, this comes naturally.  The more interesting question will be in six months, to see how much I understand this company and my place in it.

The first week of a new gig is a lot of hurry up and wait.

First of all, there’s the hurry-up-and-wait of setting up new computers.  I have two: a MacBook Pro and a Dell running Windows Server 2008, both of which needed software to get going.  I installed Office:Mac 2011 on my MBP, and I have to tell you that it was a weird feeling to be using the official 14.0.0 build instead of a daily build or a private build from one of the developers.  I haven’t run Windows Server in ages, so there was a lot of installation necessary so that it would run the apps that I want (such as OneNote (hi Dan!)).

Second, there’s the hurry-up-and-wait for access to everything.  There’s systems, networks, and mailing lists.  There’s benefits, business cards, and the gym.  There’s even little electric cars available to drive around campus, which requires a driving test from one of the receptionists.  Plus I’ve learnt that there’s a beer bash every Friday, so at least a little bit of Friday was spent waiting for that to start!

There’s also a lot of hurry-up-and-wait to try to figure out who is who on my team.  Before I started here, I had plenty of contact with my new manager.  There’s her manager, and another manager at the same level as she is.  There’s the other user researchers.  There’s the team of interaction designers (have I mentioned that we have some openings available for interaction designers? search our jobs site for “interaction designer” and ping me if you’re interested … ), all of whom have different projects that I need to learn about.

This week is about settling in some more.  I think I’ve got my computers set up with everything I need to work, although I’m sure that I’ll stumble across more things that I need as I go along.  I’m starting to meet with teams.  I’ve got lunches scheduled with various people across the company, some of whom have worked at MacBU in the past.  I might even get some real work done.

Of course, this spurt of potential productivity happens just when VMware is going to be shut down for the week of Thanksgiving.  I’ve timed this pretty well: I work for two weeks, then take a week off (wherein I’ll visit Michigan to see my family for the holiday).  Then I work for another two weeks, and then take about four weeks off (wherein I’ll visit Sydney to see my husband’s family).  And then it will be the New Year, and time to really get down to it.

On the flip side of leaving Microsoft, I have now joined VMware.  There, I’m going to conduct user research across the product portfolio.  I’m excited to have a geekier focus than I had at Microsoft — my two undergraduate degrees are in CS and math, so a geeky focus is perfectly in line with my own predilections.

Today was my first day, which consisted mostly of new-hire orientation.  When I went through Microsoft’s orientation in Redmond five years ago, there were ~300 people in the room with me.  Today, there were 10 people in the room with me, and another ~20 on the phone.  Size of the class aside, the orientation was pretty similar in structure to those I’ve had at previous employers: why you should be happy you’ve joined the company, the benefits options available, the checklist of things you should get done in your first couple of weeks.

I’ve been tweeting as I go through my new experience, so you can follow me on twitter here if you’re so inclined.  There, you’ll see exciting slices of my life such as the plastic pink flamingo I found tucked in some landscaping today, not to mention a picture of my new office.  Tomorrow, I plan to find the turtles, which I think are near the cafeteria.