- It's nothing but programming. No proposal writing, requirements gathering, design sessions, customer support, etc. like my last job; just the pure unadulterated fun stuff that I like.
- My time sheet takes about thirty seconds to complete, instead of the fifteen minutes of my last job.
- Magazines on the lunchroom table include Scientific American, my favorite magazine, which was a good omen on my first day.
- My boss is wickedly smart. Maybe even the smartest guy I've ever met, and I've met a lot of smart people. But he's also really cool and down-to-earth. It seems like he could do the job of any of the twenty or so people under him, but he doesn't micromanage.
- There's a MAME arcade emulator machine in the lunchroom (built by same boss). There's also an XBox.
- I have my pick of hardware, software, and books, plus a hefty yearly training budget.
The bad:
- Eight hour days instead of the Australian standard of seven and a half. I typically worked that much anyway so it's no big deal.
- It's all guys, save the receptionist.
- Pernicious Microsoft influence, now that we've officially been acquired. So far it's been no big deal. We have, though, been "discouraged" from working on open source projects.
- More pressure. I've already had a few work dreams.
