A couple weeks ago I accepted the position of Information Architect with a company called RoundArch. I will be starting on September 2, which was my dream start date when my Google contract ended at the end of May. I didn’t know if I’d actually be able to pull off having the whole summer off, but it worked out very well. Also, I hadn’t started looking for a job yet, but I was referred and met with people at Roundarch and everything just seemed to fit, so I accepted a position and am excited to start working for them in a few weeks.
Even though I haven’t begun work yet, Roundarch was nice enough to invite me to their annual summer event. Roundarch’s main offices are in Chicago and New York and then they have sprinklings of people at other locations. Everyone was flown into Chicago for the event and it was a really great way for me to get to know people from all over the company all in one night. I could imagine that if I’d just began work in September that it would have taken much, much longer to meet as many people just in Chicago, let alone the other offices.
We all went on an architectural boat tour of Chicago then took a double-decker tour bus to the Adler Planetarium where we had dinner and drinks. There was also some Guitar Hero and Rock Band action going on there. All of the people from out of town were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel, so after the planetarium we went to the hotel bar there.
I had been on a Wendella architectural tour once before but the weather was pretty rainy. Wouldn’t you know that the beautiful day on Thursday turned to rain right as we were scheduled to leave on the boat? Luckily it cleared up and the second half of the tour we could enjoy on the top deck. The planetarium views are always spectacular and the food was really great. I was enjoying myself, but also keeping myself in check alcohol-wise because I didn’t want to make bad first impressions, so while a lot of people were still in full-on party mode when we hit the hotel bar, I was petering out. I stayed for an hour or two longer and then called it a night. Overall, great time and very nice to meet everyone I’ll be working with soon.
