Gainful employment

So, as the title of the 'blog suggests, work started on the 3rd August. The company is spread over a huge area comprising manufacturing buildings, offices and logistics. The buildings vary in modernity, from the 60s to the last few years.

The Office: Product Marketing is in one of the older buildings. The welcome into the team has been extremely friendly. There appeals to be a great deal of enthusiasm now that 'unser Native Speaker ist da!'. This is, I think, on account of the fact that, since the merger cum takeover, all work has to be done in English, despite everyone actually being German. That said, everyone at the office is extremely welcoming and friendly. I have been stalked online and all seem tickled by the fact that I am a tenor, hmm. I am currently occupying a holidayer's desk, though we will see where I end up. I have been supplied with my own laptop which I don't bother taking home.

It is too early to say exactly what work entails. The first couple of days were spent getting settled in and looking over some product material to familiarise myself with what is being sold. I was registered with the canteen, whose food is pretty edible and ridiculously cheap for Praktikanten. Pork saltimbocca + spaghetti + yoghurt choc dessert + bitter lemon all for €2.55! I have been given an access card, which automatically registers when I arrive and leave to make sure that I don't slack.

I was then trained in the use of a fairly complicated piece of databasing software, designed to integrate all the processes of the company, from individual components right up to marketing. It is not hugely easy to use, but has the potential to be extremely powerful. It has only been in use for a little over a year, so there is a still a degree of teething trouble. It is incredibly flexible in what you can do with it. However, with flexibility comes more options, which can be a little bewildering.

The major issue for marketing in particular is that entering info in boxes in order to produce material is very different from mocking up sheets. For some people, this shift in working style appears to have been neither easy nor welcome: "I used to be able to make up a sheet in Word in 30 minutes, now it takes me half a day!" However, if one imagines 30 documents, the same detail in all of which needs to be changed, it makes far more sense to have something that can change everything simultaneously. Furthermore, with this one program, it is possible to manage all the printed material, online shop material and online marketing material simultaneously and cohesively. The end saving in work will be great, but in the short term it is not as easy.

This is where muggins the foreigner comes in. I have not yet taken sides in the great fight and, as such, am seen as a useful go-between. I get trained in the software by the people who run it, then go back to marketing and help deal with it there. What is more, if I unintentionally insult either side, this can be put down to linguistic inexperience...

The next month is set aside for entering all the material for accessories and peripherals, which is one of the last things to be done. It is very overdue, but hopefully I should be able to get it done quite quickly, within the next couple of weeks perhaps.