maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

WHO: Hope Estheim and Karen Starr
WHERE: Karen's workplace.
WHEN: May 18
WHAT: Hope just wants to learn all the Earth things and he cant stop himself. Cue poking his nose into other engineering departments.
WARNINGS: tba if necessary.

[All right, so he probably doesn't need to program things himself in his job, since it's more about generating energy with what resources he has instead of working with computers. But Hope's never been satisfied with sticking with just one thing all his life, because he always has this need to learn.

Not to mention computer science and programming, Cocoon-style, are already part of his skillset. He just needs to know how to adapt it into the Earth kind, and see what they actually use around here, because of course there may be times that he might need to write some code for the locals. Or whomever. Or just reserve the knowledge for some later time.

But mostly to satisfy his need to learn.

And he thinks his status as an imPort may help and get some of the locals to jump at the chance of talking to him, so he forgoes spraying his hair with temporary color, sticking to his natural white.

He knocks on the door to the computer programmers to get someone's attention, but he wont enter just yet, until he gets invited in.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Karen's disappeared for a quick coffee break in the cafeteria and returns with a large plastic cup, one of her co-workers pulling her aside to "remind" her an imPort has come in today to check out their work and that they would actually like to win this guy over and have him come work for them.

Of course, no one thought to tell Karen in the first place before she's being asked to go and show him around as a fellow imPort. She doesn't argue; she's curious and approaches Hope from behind. ]

Afternoon. I hear you're here for the tour.

[Okay, so he startles a little when SOMEONE SUDDENLY STARTS TALKING BEHIND HIM. He'll admit to that.

He just wasn't expecting it, okay.

But he quickly gets himself together and puts on a proper, calm face.]

I... was hoping for more than just a tour. [Like actually learning the code they use around here.]

[ He's a lot younger than she had expected (it's totally the hair that throws her off), but she offers him a friendly smile either way and gestures for him to step through the doorway, not to pay anyone else absorbed in chatter or work any mind. ]

Job opportunities, then. I'm surprised they didn't send you up to human resources first, but maybe they're hoping imPorts have magical swaying powers.

[ It wouldn't be so bad, she thinks, to work with another imPort. There's way too much fratboy mentality in the cafeteria. ]

I'm Karen.

[ She holds out her hand. ]

[Not even a job, but close enough, he supposes.]

Does the term "chocobos of a feather" still work here? I imagine it would probably just be "birds" though. But anyway-- they probably just think that because we're both imPorts, we might just gravitate towards each other for company in some place we don't know.

[He takes her hand anyway, and shakes it.] Hope.

I've... never heard of a chocobo before.

[ Is it suppose to be some kind of bird? It sounds more like a brand of chocolate, honestly. She quirks an eyebrow and shakes Hope's hand gently. ]

Nice to meet you, Hope. Alright, it's been a while since I've had to give anyone a tour of anything, so pardon my rustiness.

[ Normally people have already made up their mind about working for her when she's given them a tour of her R&D firm. ]

Don't worry about it-- they only exist in my world. [And that's not the topic he's supposed to be getting into right now, so he attempts to segue into the real subject at hand.]

And I'm sure I'll be able to follow anything you say. Just... as long as if you don't mind me interrupting at times. I tend to come up with a lot of questions at any given time.

[As Lightning herself had probably noticed before. He thinks he'll have a lot more questions now, since it will be about science and engineering in a way.]

I'll see if I can forgive you.

[ She jokes lightheartedly; she's not overly fond of people speaking over her or cutting in, but in this case it makes some sense for Hope to do so if he's completely unfamiliar with the work done.

She's glad she wore flats today with all the walking she's going to have to do. Karen steps aside so he can move through first. ]

They didn't tell me what you're here for exactly. Where did they [ "they" being the government ] set you up?

I'm in the energy sector. [But he makes sure there's nothing in his voice to show how he feels about that particular job.

A certain someone has made him realize that whatever he does may be taken by the military-- with government backing too-- and converted into an inexhaustible power source for weapons. As much as he wants to help improve this place, make them all go beyond the need for fossil fuels and electricity, he doesn't want to suddenly find himself in the center of an arm's race.

Hence a lot of mixed feelings about his occupation.]

So I'm an engineer, but not an electric one by any chance.

Energy.

[ Karen whistles as she leads him past the entrance and into the office space that's packed full of cubicles and people hunched over their small desks, staring intently into screens with nothing but codes to be seen. Occasionally, there's one or two people lazing about by surfing social networking sites or their e-mails instead of their work. Karen gently whacks the back of their heads and they straighten up, switching the screen back to their work. ]

That's got to pay well.

I... suppose. [That's the tone of a man who really doesn't pay attention to things like his paycheck.]

I don't care for my salary, really. I'm really only interested in working and learning as I go.

[Hence his choice in coming here. He's just in it to learn, not to earn a paycheck. What would he even do with all that money anyway.]

[ Hookers and blackjack.

But really, that gets a curious brow lift from Karen. ]

Well, I'm not going to go judge anyone for wanting to learn. It could help you in the long run. [ If he winds up stuck in this place longer than he wants to be. ] Right, so here's the main floor where we write scripts and codes all day. I'm not going to lie, it takes patience to sit here for hours at a time staring at a wall of code and building from scratch or having to rewrite.

I know. [And he smiles, because he knows exactly what it's like.

He remembers sleepless nights working on Adam's code before he scrapped the entire thing. He remembers sleepless nights just trying to understand and learn code for the very first time, and more making something work the way he wanted it to.]

I'd like to see a bit though, just to see how different coding in my world is from the code here.

[ She beckons him closer to one of the cubicles where the woman seated before the computer is hard at work. She types a lot faster than most of the employees around her, occasionally shifting back in her seat to push her glasses up and then look over the mess of papers on her desk. ]

I can get you a copy of our coding conventions and programming style to look at. They're guidelines, basically. I'd recommend The Elements of Programming Style, too, but... it was written in '74.

That would be useful, even if it's a bit outdated.

[He's from long before the time period he'd come from after all-- his sense of time in terms of years and eras can be a bit skewed. But you can never go wrong with a bit of reading material to get you started.]

But what are the styles you use around here? [At a glance, they seem gibberish to him, all done in the English alphabet and numerals, but Hope cant look closer at one monitor because that would just be rude.]

[ If he does, she wouldn't be bothered by it. The one seated at the desk would grumble, though. ]

Fundamental, Fortran, Pacal, C++, Java... and that's just a few. Do you want the whole list? [ She's kidding, mostly. ] I think by the end of the tour you'll have a lot of required reading to do.

I don't mind at all. [... And he's perfectly serious. And just a little bit enthusiastic. More reading material means more learning!] I may take a while to get through them all, since I have a few other commitments and I've only started learning the English alphabet, but I don't mind having more to read.

[He even has a little smile on his face. He's just so earnest that he doesn't realize that the comment is just a joke.]

[ That gets a curious look from her. ]

Only just?

I grew up with a different kind of script.

[He pulls out the notebook he regularly brings around just to take notes with, and opens the notebook at an early page to show her the scribbles there. One page is full of one alphabet, and the other one half-filled with another. The former is written more slowly, but the latter is very obviously done in a hurry, as he'd been making notes quickly-- the Pulse script is more suited to very fast writing and calligraphy after all, the Cocoon one more suited to computers and prints. There are even a few lines where both scripts are used interchangeably.]

You can see how different our coding can be just by looking at how I write. Which is why I'm here-- to learn.

Whoa.

[ And now it's Karen's turn to be engrossed in a script she's never seen before. She inspects the styling closely, noting the differences between the two. She nods to herself, quite obviously impressed. ]

I have to say it looks beautiful. [ Which may be one of the nerdiest things she's ever said about scripts in her entire lifetime. ] And this is what engineers use in your world when writing scripts? Is the technology the same?

No, it's what everyone uses to write, and thus what we use to code as well, particularly this one. [He shakes the page with the blocky writing for emphasis.]

The other is ancient, possibly even predating the invention of computers in my world, so it's more suited to calligraphy, carvings, painting, and actual writing.

Never seen anything like it.

[ She finally pulls away and begins to move down the aisle, beckoning with a hand for Hope to follow as she leads them down the hall and into a wider one where some employees hang by a window or in the middle of it talking about how their days are going about or their current grievances with their computers.

She turns the corner, entering another portion of the office that seems a bit smaller compared to the other room and also somewhat messier, judging by the papers and other supplies all over the desks. ]

Here's where some of the more advanced coding is done. They're kind of snooty about junior developers, though.

We've probably got some books hanging around I can lend you. Start you off with introductory concepts.

[Hope pockets the notebook, tucking it back where it belongs.] Like I said, I'm fine with any kind of reading. It's not like I don't have free time.

[He wants to look in more, peek over shoulders and watch line after line of code appear as they type, but he does hang back-- no need to be an annoying "junior developer".]

Energy sector not keeping you busy enough?

[ Or he's a fast worker. Either way, Karen's surprised and impressed at his dedication. She leans her shoulder against the wall, folding her arms just under her chest and surveying Hope up and down once again. ]

How old are you, Hope?

Um.

[Hope boggles, just a little bit.

That's just out of the blue. This is... probably the first time he's been asked about his age since he arrived, because Lightning already knows and the government and military of course have a complete and detailed file on him.]

Twenty-seven. But I don't see why it's relevant...?

Edited (this is a much better icon, yes) 2014-05-27 09:02 (UTC)

Really?

[ She sounds surprised. His face is pretty young, but it's totally the hair that throws her off... and having met quite a few people whose physical ages did not match with their actual one.

She waves a hand to dismiss the topic, grinning sheepishly. ]

Sorry, that hair... Don't worry about it. Not as if the government would give anyone under eighteen a job in the energy sector.

[ She scoots off the wall and her expressions falls momentarily. ]

... I'd hope.

[Well... He'd joined the Academy as both a student and employee at seventeen... But that's his world and he's a special case, so he's not about to say that. So instead he focuses on his hair.]

If it helps, I was born with white hair. I inherited the genes from my mother-- my father had brown hair.

Take after your mom, huh?

[ She wonders briefly who she takes after more: her mother or father, but quickly pushes the thought aside. ]

If you're at least somewhat familiar with scripting... then what is it you do back home, Hope? Engineering?

Edited 2014-05-29 02:16 (UTC)

A lot of things, to be honest.

[Not exactly true, but his fair share of work-- some of his old teammates said that he'd done more than anyone else in the Academy.

Some even joked that he'd probably be able to do everything one day.]

Different fields of engineering is one. History and archaeology are two more.

Soo... a jack of all trades? Where do you find the time to squeeze that all in?

[ Or does he have no life outside work? Of course, Karen knows better than to ask that aloud. She turns the other way to lead him back down the hall. ]

Well, for starters, it's not doing everything at the same time. [Or sleeping, but that works too.]

And besides, I only had a brief stint at archaeology. When I was done with that, I dedicated myself to energy, building, and computer programming, among other similar fields.

[Plus, delegation does wonders.

If they still had twenty-six hours back home though, he would have been able to do much more. But now he's the only one in Academia who actually remembers that the clocks had gone all the way to 13.]

I'm impressed, honestly. I can barely juggle this job and my social life.

[ Among other things. She ventures down another hall where the sound of people laughing and talking grows louder until she's pointed Hope in the direction of the cafeteria. ]

This is one of the perks of the place. Most places have breaker rooms, not a clean cafeteria. Only the rule is you can't bring paperwork or laptops in here since nobody wants to be responsible for something getting coffee dumped on it.

Well, that's good and all... But how are the coffee machines?

[Because honestly, an honest scientist cant get anything done without proper coffee, and an excellent coffee machine is a must.

He could live on coffee if someone would let him.]

Pretty good.

[ They're rarely out of order, but she winds up shrugging her shoulders. ]

I go around the block for my caffeine fix.

Around the block, meaning outside of the building and in an actual shop?

[Or is that some kind of slang for just around the block of office rooms and cubicles?]

Outside. We aren't that big of a building that we can host a Starbucks in here.

[ But it would be nice... ]

You mean that chain with stores in almost every block? [Honestly, Hope's never seen such a huge saturation of one store before.]

To be honest, in my experience, you cant exactly go out and buy something from a shop in the middle of work, not when you're filthy and smelling like soldered metal, or even when you're in the middle of a time-sensitive experiment, hence a need for a fixture in the lab itself.

[Then again, things are different in programming. You simply emerge from your room looking like someone's stolen your ability to sleep.]

You won't have that issue here. Worst case scenario you smell a bit like sweat the longer you're cooped up in a room full of computers, but the place has AC to try and prevent that.

[ Unless you have some sort of body issue, then good luck with that Floridian weather. ]

No time-sensitive work on your end, I take it?

[Another sign that things are different around here. But Hope guesses they don't make AIs or duplicates here, so they probably really wouldn't have any of that kind of work.]

Edited 2014-06-04 03:42 (UTC)

You've still got to meet deadlines. If the bosses need something done by the end of the day, it has to be completed. I don't find that's often the case anyway; we tend to have around a week to finish our work.

[ He may have a lot of questions, but she appreciates how serious he is to committing to the workload. Lots of people don't bother to ask about these details and then complain when they're only a month into work. ]

That's usually enough time to finish something.

[Heck Hope has done simple things in just a few days. The only programming projects that had taken longer than a week were the really big ones-- like Augusta Tower and its AI nucleus, Adam, and even his "time machine".]

What do you usually work on anyway?

I work on computer applications, so some of what you've seen in the office. Analyzing user needs and design, constructing and maintaining general computer application software or specialized utility programs.

[ It's not the most fulfilling kind of work, in all honesty. She would much rather be sitting in her own office, being the boss of her own place. ]

... I plan to move onto other things in the future.

... Like something other than computer programming and software engineering, I take it? [Or even starting her own company.

It honestly sounds like a good idea, something better than being under the eyes of people who are likely reporting his movements to the government.]

I got demoted when I arrived here. Technically before, but I was unemployed in the City.

I was working in progressive technology back home. Starrware Labs, [ she begins, sounding like an old recording ] looking for innovative twenty-first solutions for the planet's twenty-first century problems.

Which is where the programming comes in.

[It makes sense-- place people where their talents will be best used, and he can think of only Lightning's placement as a bit strange.] Are you planning on making a similar company?

Possibly, but instead of building from scratch, we used to take old materials and recycle and improve on them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(no subject)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

idk how this job works so somewhere a software engineer judges me

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject