Little did I know what I would be in for during this first day at The Data School. Arriving at the office at 8:45 I was met by Andy Kriebel and a few of my fellow Dataschoolers, there Andy gave us the first gift of many we would receive that day, namely our keycard. Waiting for us in the office was a Northface backpack filled with various things. We got a pen, notebook, nice coffee cup, a Dell XPS laptop and a mouse (which funnily enough was not compatible with the computer since Dell switched its XPS laptops to USB-C only).

The first out of many presentations for the day was given by Tom Brown, telling us the story behind The Information Lab and The Data School. One thing I was really blown away by was the transparency of the company. Being very curious about the internal workings of the company, I was amazed to find that much of that of that information is accessible in Tableau and I could find answers to many questions there. I also really appreciate the no internal email policy. Sending internal emails is something I’m happy to say goodbye to. Now its time to embrace the joy of Convo.

After an interesting history lesson and getting introduced to the culture, the rest of the morning was devoted to setting up the practical technical things. Craig Bloodworth led us through a whirlwind of different applications, systems, and accounts which we needed to set up.

During lunchtime, I was excited when I heard Andy was going to show us the best burrito place in London but was quite skeptical when I saw how the place looked, basically just a tent. However, they make very good burritos.

After lunch, we had the privilege of attending an event hosted by The Information Lab at the Tableau London office. There we got some good snacks, good presentations and a taste of what is to come. Then the day was capped off with a lovely time at the Hilton hotel bar talking to many fascinating people.

Reflecting on this first day gave me a lot to look forward to. I’m really excited to start learning Alteryx this week and getting used to life in London, having moved here from Norway just yesterday. Coming to The Data School is a new beginning in the truest sense. New work, new country, new community, new food, new apartment, new basically everything!

Here’s to new beginnings!