So nearly no longer Inbetween

Back in February I posted about the challenges of being between jobs. Now, following a sequence of online first and in-person second interviews and a remarkably tough choice between two very different offers from very different companies, I’m just a few days (including a bank-holiday weekend) from starting my new job at Pepperl+Fuchs. It’s an exciting prospect, producing an intriguing mix of thoughts, feelings and excitement that I would like to just briefly reflect on here.

On a purely practical level, the nerdy part of me is most interested in the commute. I’m genuine in wanting to continue to avoid using the car to get to work, having commuted by bike for much of my career. Cycling directly to work is alas no longer a regular option. I tried the ride the other day, and it took me an hour and a half to get there. The route along the river is actually quite pleasant, but while I’m sure I’ll be able to improve the timing, it’s still long. My main mode for the initial phase (and, I presume, long term) is combined bike and train. Indeed, I recently splashed out on a Brompton folding bike, which I’ll use to cycle to the local regional train station, take the train to the other side of Mannheim (to Mannheim Hauptbahnhof… and beyond!) and then cycle the rest of the way to work from Mannheim-Waldhof station. I’ll have to see how I get on with public transport again, especially for the homeward journey, where I’ll typically want to get back as quickly and as predictably as possible. I also got it into my head that getting an electric moped along the lines of the Silence S01, also available in Germany as the SEAT MÓ (yes, from the car company), would be an option. It looks like a particularly efficient and effective mode of personal transport - and perhaps even not just a little bit fun… though I will have to upgrade my driver’s licence for it.

With the commute behind me, it’ll be time for the main event, arriving at and starting work. The first day will be intense but largely administrative - meeting colleagues (so many names to remember again!) but also getting set up into the company HR and IT systems, getting my laptop and phone (to work: nerdy-me also interested in, but also prepared for the disappointment of the equipment I’ll be given), installing stuff, setting my first login passwords, finding my desk and the coffee machines… all that good stuff.

What’s really tinglingly exciting in my head now is imagining how the the job will develop, in particular the question as to whether l’ll I be able to mould my projects in the way that I imagine them now. Every so often I’ll catch myself more than just imagining, more borderline fantasising about impressing the team with my excellent ideas, my pertinent and assumption-busting questions, nobly warning them of “gotchas” to avoid that I’ve experienced or considered in the past, agreeing on energetic but realistic plans, and gaining recognition from them and from upper management as being a seed element for an agile, motivated and productive new engineering culture.

As I say, it’s a fantasy, and it will be tempered by good old every day problems and challenges, from IT glitches and limitations, all the way to the inevitable odd, suspicious, cautious, sceptical and otherwise challenging characters from around the organisation - politics! - which, if treated with respect and their views taken into account, can all lead to much better solutions - for this company - than anything that I could have come up with alone.

This is what gives me hope: the knowledge that I do tend to be able to work well with all sorts of people, that I can call upon sufficient experience and awareness to feel but not be overwhelmed by, say, exasperation at a stickler for rules and regulations, or a negative mindset. I’m also looking forward to getting to understand the company, the market - there is life outside automotive! - the technologies and their niggles and problems that I’m sure I’ll end up getting involved in, no matter my original role.

It’s exciting to look ahead, but also to look ahead to again reflecting back on my career so far and this peculiar phase of gardening leave and - for one month only, at least - official unemployment that will very soon be behind me. Where did the time go? What did I do with it? All those questions can be happily set to one side for now, for reflection at a later date, on a well-earned weekend or vacation…

Sebastian Abbott @doublebdoublet