Joy of Work

The considerable amount of time we spend working is part of our lives, so it shapes us and we should be able to enjoy it.

And it's also quite fun to reminisce about past work experiences and what has endured in some form to this day.

This episode is about my first two full-time jobs.

Enjoying sports and nice places

I had just got my Master's degree from the Slovak University of Technology. It was winter and my parents wanted to give me a gift, so I decided to buy a snowboard. As I had never snowboarded before, I had to start learning it. In my first full-time job I was lucky to have a team colleague who was also just starting snowboarding and we went for some riding trips together. After many years I met him again, this time at a running race. It is great to have people to share passion for sports with.

My base office in Bratislava was far from where I lived, but I liked it for its nice view towards a park. Nevertheless, the majority of our project team was located in Vienna, so I spent a lot of time there as well. So I got to know the world's most livable city.

Although Vienna is only an hour away from Bratislava, I also had a company apartment where I could live, so I didn't have to travel every day. Occasionally, friends would visit me and we would explore Vienna day and night together.

Spending time with the Austrian team was also a great opportunity to use my German in practice. And I have to admit that at first Viennese German didn't remind me very much of what I learned at school.

After 3 years I decided to switch jobs to work in Austria every day. Unfortunately my sports activity probably decreased a bit and couldn't cover the Austrian diet, so I put on a bit of weight.

But I also had a lot of fun with my new colleagues, for example sledging at Semmering. I like to remember this Austrian period of mine also thanks to the snowboard backpack I got as a parting gift from my colleagues, which I still use today.

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