Damn it's good to be home, 3 busiest days of my life and I'm now absolutely knackered. Didn't help that the (4 star) hotel we were put up in had mattresses stuffed with rocks and the view was of the scenic A1. It was also bollock freezing cold.
On the plus side Magnet seem like a Very Good Company to work for. They were taken over in 2004 by Nobia, a Swedish firm who are spending eye watering amounts of money to make Magnet a big player. They also seem to look after their staff rather than considering them an unpleasant necessity like many big firms. They are also opening 100 new branches in the near future so if any of you are after a job
http://www.magnetcareers.co.uk/Opportunities.aspx. There were 45 people on this course which was the biggest ever and they came from a huge range of careers. Without exception they were genuinely nice people and not hardcore sales dicks. I also met the female version of Ripsaw.
They are also spending £10 million on a new computer system to replace the
23 year old system they are using at the moment. To put that in perspective it was designed in 1987, 7 years before Windows 95 was launched. It seems to of been a well thought out stable system though.
There is also the company legend that on the first computer training course it was not realized that the system was actually connected to the main network and someone ordered 250 doors which turned up at their house the next day.
Start my job properly tomorrow. Hope it lives up to expectations