TLDR – Moved to a new building at Oracle last week – It’s more of open concept I’ve never gotten used to and accepted the last few years at Microsoft.
Always be office moving
When I move to Ireland and started at Microsoft, Microsoft was building a new building to move everyone into. The building I started in was going to be sold to a school and completely rebuilt. Six months after arriving at Microsoft Ireland the team I was on moved to a new building. When I started at Oracle the team had been told for a year they were moving so the building they were in could be gutted bare and rebuilt with less space, and privacy per employee and walls painted with fancy colours. Last week that moved happened. Now the team is in a new space.
The new temporary space is much like the old space will look like in 12-24 months after it’s been “updated”. Desks side by side with no dividers, desks that move up and down, odd phone booth spaces, couches in the middle of nowhere and conference rooms you cannot book called touch down spaces. Microsoft did it better with the neighborhood concept of 8-14 people in an isolated space. The temp space at Oracle is one entire floor of a building open so you can see every corner from every corner. The only separation is the light tunnel atrium in the middle of the building open to the entry floor.
The View is nice
On the plus sides, the space has air movement. More than enough air to make me happy. We can even open the windows if we want, and control the temp with the push of a button. Sure was annoyed when they took away window control and heat control with the move at Microsoft. The lights can be turned down enough to not feel so bright all day long. There is a light switch block that’s 6×4 in our space – I NEED to mess with it one morning before anyone else is there(Done it was fun). The view is enjoyable. We can see some bay, and a side of Howth, with splashes of nice sunrise mixed in there. The canteen the team prefers for lunch is in the building next to us accessible by indoor walkway; No more walks in the rain to lunch.
Snacks and Fruit
Oracle has one up’d Microsoft on the free eats department. Microsoft had free apples and bananas and oranges; fruit some might call it. Oracle offers the same fruit selection in various buildings. I normally grab a banana in the building I shower in on the walk from there to the building I work in. Today our group started offering snacks and fruit in our area. We have an assortment of food bars, crisps, and candy bars, in addition to the fruit – Another thing to resist eating.
