DAY 1 MINUS 24
To say this has been the most unique on-boarding experience of my IT career, would be understating it. The title to this section may give you some idea of where I’m going with this.
My time with the crew at Insentra started 24 days before my contracted start date. And what a fantastic start it was. A Friday night party to celebrate Insentra’s 8th birthday. At this point in time, I knew perhaps 5 people in a room of about 80, so it was a little daunting turning up. This certainly didn’t last long as I was made to feel welcome immediately. I was hugged by both Ronnie and Albert (two of our executive team) with moment of being there and was promptly walked around and introduced to every single person.
Dinner, drinks, live DJ’s, an amazing sashimi slicing demonstration and some great conversation about all manner of things made this the best start to new role ever.
DAY 1
Prepped for a new start with Insentra, I arrived at the office a little early….. to this.
I was blown away. I had mentioned, in passing during my interview that I used to play tennis. The fact that someone had taken notice and clearly put in a tonne of effort to put this together, made me feel really special. In the paperwork on my desk was a whole agenda for the day, including the usual on-boarding stuff that normally happens at any first day. It’s just done differently at Insentra.
One on one meetings with each of the company directors: Ronnie, Itzik, Steve & Albert as well as each of the practice managers. This was so I could understand how Insentra goes about it’s business. Why it is unique etc etc. But it’s the culture that makes it. Being #PartnerObsessed isn’t just a social media marketing line. It is the culture. All the way from the top down, and this was impressed upon me from day 1.
Steve took me out for lunch (Which was wayyy to hot for some *hehe*) and we talked about me, my interests, hobbies, dreams. It felt like talking to a mate I’d known forever. We finished out the day by organising my first customer who I’d be meeting tomorrow, and I set off home feeling stoked.
How about these choccies though!
FAST FORWARD ONE MONTH
So, I’ve been with Insentra for exactly a month now and I couldn’t be happier. The customer I’m working with is great and the project is coming along nicely with new, exciting pieces of work being identified. Some of those opportunities required skills larger than mine, and the #crew was more than happy to assist. Between Seb jumping in with Ansible and DevOps, to Richard reviewing my documents and jumping onto the project to lend a helping hand. Not a single person has ever NOT offered to help when I needed it.
Every time there has been positive feedback, it has been relayed to me with such enthusiasm. #stoked
The support I have received during this time has been nothing short of amazing. And unexpected. My father suffered a stroke just days before I started which was totally out of the blue and was quite confronting. The empathy I received from the entire crew really made a tough time much more bearable. The management team made sure I had all the backup I needed and that if there was anything they could do, that I just needed to ask.
Insentra runs a lunch event every Friday for the crew and their passengers that is all about forming relationships and finding out about the people we spend so much time with each week. I think this is a great idea, particularly given it’s usually a different theme each week.
Ronnie Altit, our fearless leader and CEO, slept out in the cold for another year as part of the CEO sleepout https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/ . I found this to be a cause close to my heart and something I reached out to Ronnie to be a part of for next year. Ronnie blew past his goal of $7,000, raising nearly $13K which goes directly to the homeless. Below is the extract of an email showing how important this cause really is and something that Ronnie found out first hand whilst talking with those for whom homelessness is a reality.
“The night was a cold one getting down to about 6 degrees and it was also incredibly damp. I laid out my sleeping bag at about 7 pm (thanks to the press who wanted a pic) and I (foolishly – should have known better) left my bag out in the elements. At about 11 pm when I came back, it was covered in dew – and I am talking massive droplets of water that could have been poured into a glass to provide a drink! Everything around me was wet including my backpack, pillow and more which made for a very damp attempt at sleep!
Through the evening I had the opportunity to speak directly with a few people who were, or still are, homeless. Their stories were nothing short of shocking and it further reinforced that homelessness can affect anyone. For many, they are one paycheck away from this outcome. For others, they had experienced things like their child throwing them out of their home after their partner passed away, a man who breached his AVO 7, yes SEVEN, times before the judge refused bail, a 70-year-old woman being dragged through the courts by her ex and then him evicting her from the home she was living in, forcing her to sleep under her car for 10 days and other horrific stories. “
I’ve been welcomed with open arms into a team, a group, a family of people who are genuine, direct, honest and above all caring. I can’t wait for all the exciting changes ahead and to continue down the track as part of this amazing #crew.
If you want to know more about our culture, take a read of the Train Story here https://inswwdev.azurewebsites.net/au/insentra-train-story/ to see what I’m talking about.
Cheers,
Shane.
