Yeah, this is one of those sappy posts. But I like to think it’s worth the few minutes of my time to write it, and it’s something I’ve really noticed and I’d like to share my appreciation.
I’ve made it past my first 90 days at Red Hat and I sure am glad I made the transition. You get wrapped up in one way of doing things, or dealing with people, or whatever, for long enough and when you get out of the comfort zone, things sure change. Red Hat is way different from Mandriva, so I’ve had 8 years of one way of working to overcome in the last 3mos. I think I’ve tackled it pretty good, despite some frustrating moments. In terms of infrastructure and how things work, and how people work with each other, it’s so different I don’t really have the words to express it. So it’s been quite the adjustment for me, and long hours, lots of learning, lots of note-taking, more than a few oopses, and a lot of patient people.
I can’t say much about the Fedora side of things as I’ve not really had a chance to step into the Fedora community yet, although I hope to do something there in the next few months. For now, I need to focus on the Red Hat side of things.. and I’m loving it. Especially the people I get to work with… with an organization as large as Red Hat, it’s no surprise that I’m running into new people all the time as my work takes me here, then there, and then waaay over there. =)
Anyways, everyone I’ve encountered has been stellar. Not just in how smart and knowledgeable they are, but also in how they carry themselves and how downright helpful they are. I really appreciate working with the Security Response Team (an absolutely fantastic bunch of guys that made me feel right at home from day one), and the developers I’ve had the occasion to work with, and the Quality Engineering folks are absolutely insane (in a good super-hard-working way!).
To finish it off, thanks all of you for making my first 90 days awesome, and for all the incredible hard work you do. I can’t tell you how much easier it’s made the transition for me, and I appreciate it quite a lot.