Autor: Tim Heckmann

Challenging IT project documentation

After finishing all the usual IT job startup tasks I had a first look at one of my projects: documenting a business intelligence application developed by my german colleague Mateusz Gwara, who spent his work experience at Translink last year. After Mateusz left Translink the application has been refined continuously, but nobody really cared about documentation … we’ll see what I will make out of it!

And because of the fact that I don’t want to bore you with another picture of my desk I’ve put a shot of Belfast city with some beautiful landscape in the background. (This photo can also be seen on the corresponding article on the afib website.)

Belfast city
Belfast city

Going Out For a Run

Yesterday Oliver and me decided to go out for a run in the evening. You might think it’s unbelievable, but it’s true: sporty nerds! 😉

First we decided to take a course of approximately 3.5 km, but due to some orientation difficulties we ended up with about 5.1 km. Here you can see the running course we finally took:

Running Course
Running Course

It was quite interesting to see some new areas of Belfast. The view along the waterfront at Ormeau Embankment is beautiful! And of course it was a very good feeling when arriving at home again. 😀

The usual IT job startup tasks

[caption id="attachment_186" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Translink staff bus"]Translink staff bus[/caption]

Tue, 24th Apr 2012

After taking the Translink staff bus from Europa Buscentre at 8:45 (which I’ll probably do every morning I go to work for the next two months) I arrived at Translink’s office at Milewater Road in the northeast of Belfast near the shipyard the famous Titanic was built at.

Translink staff bus
Translink staff bus

Tue, 24th Apr 2012

After taking the Translink staff bus from Europa Buscentre at 8:45 (which I’ll probably do every morning I go to work for the next two months) I arrived at Translink’s office at Milewater Road in the northeast of Belfast near the shipyard the famous Titanic was built at.

Paul McGrattan, my supervisor here at Translink, gave me some information about the department I will work for: Information Services (IS). Probably this is the only IT department which does not have IT in its name. 😛 I learned about the department’s structure and general tasks, the core network infrastructure and some other general IT stuff. After being introduced to the colleagues (whose names I can’t remember, except for maybe three or four people) I was shown my desk:

My desk
My desk

Before getting a user account I had to read the User Acceptability Policy (UAP), which consists of rules and guidelines on how to use the IT infrastructure.

I also had several nice talks with my new colleagues. One thing that really fascinates me is that people in Northern Ireland are so friendly. Even when just asking someone for the way he notices you are not from here and shows interest in where you are from and what are you doing in Belfast (as René already posted). I can’t imagine experiencing something like this in Berlin.

The first 24 hours

Ryanair Boeing 737-800
Ryanair Boeing 737-800

After a smooth flight from Berlin Schönefeld to Dublin and a … hm … let’s call it „dynamic“ bus ride we arrived at the Europa Bus Centre in Belfast at approximately 23:15 (UTC). María Gonzales, one of our contact persons here in Belfast, picked us up there and organized some taxis to bring us to our new homes for the next two months. Oliver, René, Tobias and I live in the Somerset Mews Townhouses in the centre of Belfast.

Today we had an induction meeting at RSM Tenon (the company which planned our work experience and supports us here in Belfast) with Kevin Shine, another of our contact persons and our supervisor here, where we got some general information about Belfast and Nothern Ireland as well as more specific information on our work placements.

After the induction Kevin and me took a cab to go to my job interview at Translink, the public transport provider in Northern Ireland, where I was told about general facts of the work at Translink, the current projects and my possible tasks. I will start tomorrow at 9 o’clock.

In my next post I will tell you something about my first day(s) at Translink …