The day started for me at 5:30am, stumbling through the morning routine with a raging headache and creeping out of the house into teaming rain. Four hours later I found myself sat at a desk in the depths of the city of London, twiddling my thumbs while waiting for the support department to configure a laptop for me to use.
While stressing over the last couple of days about my return to the city, I completely forgot about the change in pace when working for the corporate behemoths. In my usual guise as a software developer things get built quickly, accurately, and typically require intense stretches of concentration - usually late in the project after numerous consultants, managers and directors have fought each other to a standstill deciding what they want. All too often the dust settles and the clients discover that they have no idea how their own company really works, or what they really need or want.
Working within the corporate monsters is an entirely different proposition - but strangely similar. The day is filled with meetings for management, fighting with departmental leaders to specify the solutions they require. Nobody wants to write down their requirements in case they are wrong, and the developers will not work without signed requirements. It’s a classic chicken and egg problem.
Perhaps the biggest change working in the city is that nobody knows each other outside of the office environment. Everybody commutes in from disparate locations - the sense of community has somehow been lost. While there is a camaraderie between commuters - sharing horror stories of underground train journeys - it is all rather distant.
While walking through the sunlit streets at lunchtime, listening to the latest episode of MacBreak Weekly, I was reminded of the ambient noise of the city. Turning the volume of my iPod to ear damaging levels, snatches of conversation were still lost in the battle with the taxis, buses, and roadworks that littered my route. Perhaps noise cancelling headphones are the way to go? (and will inevitably see me squashed under a wayward Routemaster bus at some point).
The city is undeniably an exciting place to work - but it has many downsides. You learn to live with them very quickly - you even learn to cope with early mornings, hours spent squashed on trains, and ignorant idiots on the underground. You also wonder when your falling down moment will come - when you will snap.