Yesterday marked the end of my first full week at my new job as a Solutions Engineer at my new employer in downtown Seattle. In short, I LOVE my job. I’ve mostly been occupied with tackling the gargantuan learning curve I have ahead of me but I’m already stoked about what lies ahead once I get past it. I’ll bet you’re wondering what new things in downtown software work-land comprised my week. Aren’t you? If you’re not, well, phooey on you. hahaha. Just kidding. But I’m going to tell you anyways.

My first official day of work was last Thursday, October 4th. I snagged a parking space at a pay lot that I’d found during my interviews and walked the single short block to our building, took the elevator up, and greeted the gal at the desk with a, “Good morning. My name is Blake. I’m your new Co-worker.” Her face lit up as if she’d been expecting me and quickly ushered me back into the conference room where my boss and supervisor were waiting for me so that we could begin discussing my first project. Let me say that again, my first project on my first day of work. How cool is that? We talked about that for a little while then I was shown to my office. Yes, my office… with a door; just a small upgrade over the cube I held in my last position. (Apparently since I’m on the sales team now, I need a space where I can obtain silence pretty quickly to facilitate conference calls.) This was to be the first of several positive surprises to come my way that day. The next surprise came when they introduced me to a guy who’s kinda become my buddy over the past week and was responsible for acquiring new hardware for the company–I was handed the brand spanking new laptop that I’m typing this entry on right now. This is a massive improvement over my last position where I was originally given a 5 year old, heavily abused hand-me-down laptop that broke within the first month. Need I say more? The third surprise came in the form of a brand new 19-inch monitor and docking station that were delivered to my desk half way through the day. Combine these surprises with all the cool people I met and friends I made the first day of work and you’ve got a pretty rad thing. How’s that for being articulate? Taylor Mali [You tube video] would probably have my head. haha.
Wow, I just realized that I’ve written a whole paragraph about the first half of my first day. Holy cow. haha. I knew I was verbose, but wow. Well, I’ve got somewhere to be in 40 minutes so in the interest of making it there on time I’ll shorten the rest of my week as much as I can.

Basically, this week has been amazing because of how much I have to learn as quickly as possible, my amazing boss who’s dedicated to my success, the good times I’ve had after hours with co-workers, and the revelations I’ve had as I’ve gotten to know my job more. Those revelations have all come in the form of realizing that this job is probably EXACTLY what I’ve been wanting to do all along with my career. I learned a lot from my last job about work and the corporate world so in a way it was a good first job, but it wasn’t a career position. This one may be. I’ll be doing system design, documentation creating, writing system specs, helping customers figure out how to use our solution to ease their pain, and just creatively solving any problems that come my way. If you’ve ever had a conversation with me about what I want to do with my career, you’ll know that this sounds eerily like everything I’ve described in a dream job. I’ve definitely been blessed and I can’t wait to get all this training behind me and get going on something real. Life is good. I can’t complain.

Now, to tie things up, I’d like to share my short auto-bio that my boss sent out to introduce me to the company. I’m sharing it with you because one co-worker called “The most spirited introduction anybody has ever written,” and that, “we should create a bio wall of fame and start with yours.” How cool. And here I was wanting to be even MORE spirited and afraid that I was being too crazy. haha. I guess I’m just a rather spirited individual so spirited introduction is only fitting. Here it is, enjoy:

Hello all! My name is Blake Pusztai and I’m that new blonde guy you probably don’t recognize and have seen wandering around today looking somewhat disoriented. I grew up down south in Southern California outside of LA in a city named Claremont. Six years ago I moved up here to escape the California madness and pursue my bachelor’s degree in computer science at Seattle Pacific University. I quickly fell in love with the Northwest and have been here ever since, first spending two years working as an implementation engineer for a small warehouse management system solution provider up north in Mukilteo. A short while ago I left that company in search of a more exciting position that better fit my skill-set, personality, and desire to work downtown. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I think I’ve found that position here at [unnamed software company] and I look forward to both working with and getting to know all of you. You’ll quickly discover that I’m very much a fun-loving, random people-person. Outside of work very few things excite me more than spending time with different folks and hearing their stories.

My other interests include skiing, rock climbing (when I get the chance), sailing, listening to all sorts of music from country to hard-rock that borderlines on heavy-metal, reading, surfing with my brothers down in California, going on driving adventures, learning whatever I can about World War II (particularly the aircraft), getting my pilot’s license, experiencing good beer, keeping up on tech industry, talking to homeless people and just taking it easy. I’ve also been attending Quest Church in the Interbay neighborhood for the past five years and love it.

I’m excited about working here and have been already been touched by the generosity, warmth, and genuineness of the folks I’ve met today. Thanks to all of you. Feel free to swing on by my office anytime (at the moment I’m right across the hall from [Jane Doe]) and say Hi. Have an outstanding afternoon.

Have an awesome rest of your weekend everyone. Get outside and enjoy the remaining sunshine of what will probably be the last nice weekend of the season.