So I completed my first week at T-Mobile. Things went pretty well, I think. Most of my permissions were set by Thursday, I met a majority of the team, and I was introduced to what I was going to be working on, and I was set loose on it... a good first week. I'm going to like working here!

First Day Commute
It snowed early in the morning on my first day... we had about 3-4 inches where we lived, while down in town they had 1-2. The highways were slushy, but not too bad at all.

Heading in
Down in the lowlands, where T-Mobile's USA Headquarters is located, it was shaping up to be a pretty nice day.

T-Mobile
When I got there, the new folks had to wait a bit in the lobby to be brought to the class. I found out later that TMO Names its HQ the 'Field Service Center' to emphasize the point that we're here to support the folks in the field, who are the face and hands of TMO.

Welcome!
We had a welcome packet waiting for us on the tables. I-9's, W-2's, 'I won't sell secrets' forms, and the like... it was pretty organized, I thought. We had the paperwork done in about 20-30 minutes.

Trinkets and paperwork
In addition to the paperwork, waiting for us on our desks were a few T-Mobile branded items, along wth the booklets for the New Employee Orientation.

Introduction to TMO
NEO introduced us to some of the culture of the company, the company values (which I liked - its always good to see a company stress the importance of character). We watched some videos from the CEO and senior leadership... They covered a lot, and they showed us where the extended versions of the information they gave us was located on the Intranet portal.

Pretty fast work
Before lunch, I had my badge, and was a 'real' employee. =] You have to badge to go basically anywhere.

Lounge
No kitchens, but there are lounges with mini kitchenettes on every floor, and a fairly large lounge on the bottom floor of the building I'm in, complete with a TV with the Dish Network. Oh... and there's a cooler to put your lunches in, as well as pop and drinks, which are provided for free.

Walking Paths
There are 4-5 buildings that make up the campus, and the paths between them are covered... it rains a lot here in the PNW, so that's pretty cool.

Heading to the van
Some of the paths have side protection as well.

Fancy
Some of the buildings have pretty elaborate entryways.

Two days in a row
The second morning was like the first... snow! In my jeep, I had no trouble at all heading down. It does pretty well in the snow.

Snow on the Highway
The highways were a bit slicker than the day before, but still not too bad. Once we got down out of the foothills, it was just rain, so the drive in wasn't too bad at all.

Eateries
The reason there's no cafe in the campus is because there's so many places to eat in the surrounding community...

The building I'm in
The buildings are pretty nice. There's some space issues in some of them, but TMO is partnering with the office leasing company, and is building a new building, which will fix things quite a bit.

Complex
The campus is on a fairly steep grade. The good thing is that the buildings are situated so that the lobby of one has a path heading into the parking garage of the other - each building has several floors of parking under it. Trips across the campus require either a lot of steps, or lots of trips up and down elevators.

Follow the dots
For some of the routes, the path to the elevators are marked with Magenta (NOT pink!) blocks

I like the vanpool
I like the vanpool, and TMO gives a pretty hefty subsidy... in my case, the subsidy covers the cost of the vanpool, so it works out VERY well.

Badging
You have to badge to use the elevators. I figured that out standing in the elevator for few minutes before realizing it wasn't going anywhere. =]

Nice
In one of the buildings, I noticed a National Guard award that had been presented to TMO recently.

Good Quote
Bush's rally cry is a pretty hefty quote.

Training
Early mornings and lunch times are spent catching up on required reading and required training.

Warm 106.9
One of the buildings on the campus is shared with two radio stations.. the rest are fully leased by TMO

Riding in
So the week went pretty well, I thought. I like riding the van... hadn't done in quite a while. I think I'm going to enjoy working at TMO... especially if the first week is any sort of indicator!

 

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