"Here is the Newbs"

Right, as promised, we've got a guest blog entry this time round, with Mike 'n00b' Oakes sharing a little of what it's like to join the team, so no more rubbish from me this time... Over to you Mr Oakes:



Chris is distracted with his new funk CD so is no longer clipping me around then ear telling me I don't know I'm born.

James has gone for a meeting, so I'm no longer subjected to having back of my chair kicked and being wedgied.

I just gave Bill the CC4 VMWare image so he won't keep staring at me like I've just broken his Xbox and made a joke about it.

So while they are otherwise engaged I thought I'd tap out a quick blog entry on my experiences as newbie in the team. Having come from a support background where everything is quite regimented it's been quite a shock. Equally, the pressure to get things right is immense. It's easy to underestimate just how much thought goes into the writing for a start. For instance, my session content changed entirely three times. You have moments where all of a sudden you lose all heart with what you're doing and need to change it. Stress levels up and down throughout.

As mentioned in Chris' earlier post I have been resonably calm, as I have been kindly given one session rather than two or three (they aren't so bad to me after all). However, the foggy calm is starting to lift and the jittery nerves are starting to pop up and jab me in the ribs. Things happen very quickly with this team in comparison to other places I've worked: don't pay attention for a day and you're well behind the news.

Something that struck me most was how hard working this team is. Like swans paddling upstream, as serene as we look, underneath the paddling is frantic and fast paced.

Right, the funk has finished, I know James is going to come back needing someone to pick on any minute and Bill wanted to listen to something that I don't think is the reggae I put on, so it's best I duck out now...