Over the Rainbow
Moving was fun. At least I thought it was fun. I had absolutely no furniture, so before the movers came to take my stuff I bought just about all the furniture a friend of mine had since she was moving into a smaller place and didn’t need it all. Needless to say my living room was packed with tons of furniture I couldn’t use just taking up lots of space. For some reason I took simple pleasure in knowing that it all was going to “magically” show up in my new place in Redmond.
So my advice to you: If your company is paying to move you, make full use of your purchasing power and have movers do all the heavy lifting into your new place.
What to Do Before Moving
Have a cell phone
You should be given a contact number for either your recruiter or your new boss. You will want to call them if you get lost on campus or don’t know where to go next. Having to find a phone is no fun. Also, everyone who’s anybody has a cell phone now (ideally that checks email and plays MP3s and predicts the stock market) so why don’t you?
Bring some cash
I hate ATM fees and most likely you won’t have a free ATM to wherever you move. Don’t let the banks win, bring “free” cash with you.
Make sure you have a place to stay
This should seem obvious, but if the company doesn’t put you up until you’ve found a place then be sure you have a reservation somewhere. It would be a big surprise to walk out of the airport and then need to “survive” for a couple days until your job starts. And not the good kind of surprise.
Know where to go your first day
Your whole career and future pay checks depend on you knowing when and where to go when you arrive. Make sure you make your first meeting because it will be very hard to get it rescheduled (you don’t work there yet, remember? You can’t just send them a new meeting request in Outlook).
Print maps
New places are confusing, in fact they seem to be built to confuse you. You’re the mouse, you want the cheese, but there’s Gehennom and Mordor and Where’s Waldo puzzles between you and there. So use a mapping service to print maps between the airport and your hotel as well as your hotel and the company campus. Cheese tastes bad if its stale.
What Not To Do
Now for what not to do:
Don’t get caught without a car or transportation.
I decided to sell my car in New York and buy a new one when I got to Washington. If you ever watched Scrubs, here is where the opera singer comes out and says “Mis-taaaake!”
I was given a rental car for two weeks, but this was nowhere near enough time for finding a good used car in an area I was unfamiliar with. Also, I’d never dealt with used car salesmen before, so the experience bordered on “suck”. I was actually chased outside as I tried to leave with the salesmen banging on my window offering a “few gallons of gas” if only I’d buy the car. This was after he quoted me a price and then said he was “just kidding” and that his manager would laugh him out of a job if he gave me that price.
I was on the last day of the rental before I got (very) lucky and found a good car from a dealer. Don’t put yourself in this situation, either have your car shipped or research the area and find out how you can get around easily. (At Microsoft this is easy since we get a free bus pass, but I hadn’t done my research so I didn’t know).
Don’t disregard the weather, don’t disregard the culture.
If you’re moving from Hawaii to Alaska, when you step off the plane with your bright colored shirt and shorts, you’re going to have some adjustment issues, especially on the walk outside to your rental car.
I thought I was being smart and bought an umbrella since I had heard that it rains “all the time” in Seattle. However it turns out that’s not the case and the one day that it did rain and I pulled out my umbrella, I was ostracized for being made of sugar. No, I would explain, I don’t have green skin and won’t melt in the rain, but they just pointed to the umbrella and sang “Oh ee oh! Eee-oh-oh!”1
Don’t count on a pay check the first day
Starting a job usually means waiting at least a week, if not more for a pay check. If you’re strapped for cash, work it out before you hop on the plane.
Don’t not have fun!
Double negatives aside, starting a job is exciting and you should be excited. Your boss will be excited to meet you and introduce you to the rest of the team. Your teammates will be excited to see you, finally they are no longer the new guy. Recruiting will be excited to see you (you being there is them getting a job well done). The janitor will be excited to see you and will be like “Oh my God, it’s you!” (remember, dev == rock star). The point is, not being excited and instead being bummed and tired will not leave a good first impression. So get a good night’s sleep before your first day, eat breakfast and get ready to rock.
1. No, not really. However If this doesn’t make any sense then watch The Wizard of Oz you uncultured computer geek!
