Adjusting

I've been at the new gig since October. That's almost six months, and the "change your password" prompt has arrived again. That's a pretty good clock -- not too frequent, but frequent enough to remind me of the duration.

I'm adjusting to the new situation. The new commute is longer, and I am still working out some of the changes, but things are working. I'm working with a different set of people, and that is going well. I like to think that I am doing good work. My co-workers tell me that I am, yet I have the feeling that I am not doing enough. Is this feeling correct? Or am I using a metric from the former position to measure my current performance? Who's to say that the metric is correct? Perhaps I need to listen more to my co-workers and less to my inner guilt.

Most of my work has been with C++. In some ways, this is good: I'm working with C++ and STL, which is new to me. In other ways, I find it worrisome: the "new stuff" in the market is C# and .NET, Java, Python, and PHP. At least, that's what I see in the advertisements and job postings. (I can't negotiate with folks -- not even in a broad sense -- but I can look at the market and observe the desired skills.)

The dress code is a bit of a puzzlement. Most folks on the train and in the building wear suits and ties. Fitting in with them requires at least a button=down shirt and tie. Yet folks in the office, especially on Friday, are more casual. What to do? Fit in with the immediate office crowd, or go with the larger group?