I found a bunch of old math texts and starting reading them and doing practice problems out of sheer boredom. It was then without the stress of juggling other subjects and exams that I realized I actually liked math and just had terrible teachers for most of my education. I went through Calc I,II, III in the first month or two (some was review) and by the time I quit about a year later I had enough momentum and interest to go through differential equations, linear algebra, some analysis, and more advanced matrix methods.
It was one of my favorite jobs.
My biggest pet peeve. Oh, you're a 23 year old college grad? Better take time during your first hour of being in the real world to pick your life insurance policy and memorize what building alarm code to use if you happen to be the only one in the office at 4am on a Sunday (during a holiday weekend).
"Please provide six contact addresses for the company's emergency notification system."
"I don't have six contact addresses."
"Just repeat some on the form."
I taught myself how to code and GTFOT.
You should have started drawing up strategic vision charts, cheesy motivational posters and started talking to people about getting in touch with their authentic values.
That's what life in a Big Corp is quite often like, actually.
Hah! It's never ready in time :-)
Although one startup I worked for was bought by IBM. We were issued our new (Thinkpad) laptops on takeover day (very organized) and were introduced to this thing called "Lotus Notes". We had all been using Thunderbird so this was quite a shock.
My most recent start however was super-refreshing; Brand new computer with all standard developer software, network connections and accounts setup and waiting for me at the start of day 1. The phone that I never use but was required to get took another week to get setup & configured however...
0-9 is small enough that a few of those points are less likely to happen. It's still possible to be ignored, but you're a significant percentage of the workforce and the comapny is throwing money away if you're not productive quickly. Under 10 and you likely report directly to a CEO/CTO, or possibly one person below.
At big companies, my experience has been that if you know either where something is or what color something is, you are now the goto expert on that something for the rest of your life.
On day one, a battle tested project manager talked to me 8 hours straight, telling me every single detail about everything. He even talked during lunch.
On day two, he asked me to do something really massive because by now I must surely know me way around.
1. Greet the new person and ask them what they are doing there? Are they a vendor? client? someone who accidentally walked in? Oh, they're a new employee.
2. Ask them if they know what their job is supposed to be. If not, find them a spot to sit down while you ask around.
3. Ask IT to get them a laptop. If they don't have one, send out to get one from best buy. When they ask what type say "good, but not too expensive"
4. Ask them how their day is, if they want coffee
5. Get back to work, forget about them.
6. Go back and realize that no one knows what they are supposed to do.
7. Randomly assign them various tasks.
Whatever best practices are must surely be the opposite of this.
At large companies I have seen:
1. 12 binders full of details about healthcare, policies, what happens if you pass away and other remote events
2. Orientation that feels like an abstract business school course
3. On day 1, you are asked to do something really simple to get your bearings.
4. Day 2, you are asked to do something really massive because by now you must surely know your way around.