First month on the new job

Last week marked 4 weeks on my new job at Visa, and I'm delighted to report that it has held up to, and in many ways exceeded, my expectations for the role.

The work has been very interesting - I've done mini projects on corporate planning, business development, and competitor monitoring, and am currently working on two longer-term projects around specific opportunities/threats Visa is facing. Very fascinating stuff and while the learning curve has been steep (I've never had any exposure to the payments industry or even financial services more broadly), I feel like I'm getting my bearings quickly (thank goodness for the practice consulting gave in that regard...) and already contributing.

My manager and the rest of the VP ranks (equivalent to the partners in the consulting world) have been excellent to work with - far more approachable and personable than what I was used to at Oliver Wyman. It's telling that I have 30 minutes dedicated to speak with my manager (a VP) every Wednesday afternoon, not to discuss specific project work (because I may or may not be working on a project for him), but just to see how I'm doing both professionally and personally. The majority of our last chat ended up being about  schooling and other activity options for Evette. He's a great guy, and the rest of the VPs are equally great.

Work/life balance has been divine. I get to the office around 8 AM and am out at 5 PM. Last week I had to put in several hours after I'd got home and my project manager apologized to me several times for that "inconvenience". I didn't bring my work laptop home this weekend. My commute is a 7 minute walk to a shuttle stop and a 10-15 minute shuttle ride to the office. Compare all of that to travelling Monday-Thursday every week, working ~12-14 hours for each of those days, and expecting to be pulled into something over the weekend. Again I say, it's been divine.

My first day of work...