Weeks 7-8 at QA Consulting: Docker, Interviews, Deployment

Like many DevOps tools, Docker uses adorable mascots to lure developers into a false sense of security.

If there's one thing I'm looking forward to in the near future, it's not Halloween or Christmas or even the prospect of finally being paid for my work. No, I would say that I'm most looking forward to next Sunday morning, because that's when the clocks go back and I can get an extra hour's sleep. My workload is showing no signs of lessening, which coupled with my body starting to develop a tolerance to caffeine means I'll take all the extra sleep I can get. (Having said that, it is currently well past 11pm as I am writing this. I don't claim to be a sensible man.)

Weeks 5-6 at QA Consulting: DevOps (again), Puppet, Poker

Yes, this picture is actually relevant to this post. Sort of.

If you asked me to describe the past two weeks of training in one word, I'd probably throw my head back and groan loudly because I've been working all day and I'm far too tired to make that sort of mental effort. Ask me again after a few drinks and I might choose the word "exhausting". You see, I recently moved on to some more advanced DevOps, which will be my specialisation for the remainder of my training, and if the week spent learning about continuous integration gave us a taste of the subject then the past fortnight has been like trying to shovel a massive handful of DevOps into my mouth and swallow it whole.

Weeks 1-2 at QA Consulting: Java, DevOps, Manchester

The view from my kitchen window. (Other television studios are available.)

From my kitchen window I can see both the BBC offices in the adjacent building and the ITV offices across the canal (the giant Coronation St. sign is quite hard to miss). There are two different museums less than ten minutes’ walking away, and a Costa right outside my front door. The nearby plaza is populated, in the mornings at least, by people walking determinedly while wearing lanyards. In the evening, these same people sip beer against a backdrop of city lights. It is my first week in Manchester’s MediaCityUK, the first time I’ve lived outside my home city of Nottingham and, more to the point, my first week of training at a new IT consultancy job.