The metamorphosis - another Answer

I think I'll write a bit about the transition from academia to industry.

Now, before I go on about it, a disclaimer - I was a pretty frustrated postdoc.
Not in terms of the science, but of the people there. I think I've made it clear over and over again in the blog that it was mostly the people who were frustrating me (and how they perceived me and my abilities).
Also, I liked doing experiments and doing science. I like science. I am not one of the people who hated the lab bench and so moved. I also didn't have a financial motivation for moving, apart from getting a paycheck. I took a pay cut to be where I am. I wasn't frustrated by the length of contract, per se.
I was frustrated with the people; the politics; the Institute. The science also was futile - but I liked that about academic science, how it isn't supposed to be about immediate gratification of scientific goals (I am kinda anti-American style grant-funded science in that way). And I have absolutely no regrets.

Righty, now that's over, let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

The thing that hit me straight away (apart from the fact that on the first day I was presented with my own desk - which is 3 times larger than anything I ever had in my academic career BTW, my own PC, my own stationary, etc) is that people are actually nice.

They actually want to make you feel at home in the company. I think this is particularly so for the industry I am in, because a lot of the work is done in teams, a totally alien concept in most academic settings (certainly was in mine). But it's so refreshing and so alien to me, so alien, in fact, that I still have to consciously be aware that people aren't out to get me and make a fool out of me. I already was pretty defensive when I came to doing a postdoc, but the last few years definitely didn't help with my defensiveness.

Another thing that is nice, is that people actually do a job.
They don't swan in at 11am, gossip for an hour, have lunch for an hour, do "paperwork" (a.k.a. booking holidays using work PC), and then leave at 4pm.
I (and others) are in at 9 am (or earlier), work the 8 hours, and go home. Sometimes we have to work a little bit more when there are deadlines, but that's the nature of the job. Any job.

This leads on to another peculiar thing with our industry - time sheets. We have to log and account for every hour we are in work. And before you go "Ooooh, I'd hate to do that, having to justify what I spend my time on. I love the freedom I get in academia - I can do whatever I want, whenever I want"...

...having worked with someone who was a certified slacker (see above), who had no through (evidence-based!) scientific knowledge, but got that far for ass-kissing the PI (and being the PI's best pal's other half), I love the fact that I have to justify every single hour I am in at work. It's called accountability, and responsibility for your time.
The fact that you have to be accountable and responsible for what you do during your time in the office, makes you more disciplined. You think more about what you do, who you do it for, why you do it. (And of course you get time for tea breaks and coffee, and a guaranteed lunch hour)
Despite what academics think, I really cannot think why a time sheet is such a bad thing. Personally, I really like it. I think they should introduce it in to academia. No more of this "oh but I work extra some days and I don't others" nonsense. No more of this uber-flexitime.

Going back to the first paragraph, the great thing other great thing about where-I-am is that they help you to get your job done.
By "they", I mean people like the HR and IT. People who are supposed to support you, actually support you. They actually help you, which, in my experience, certainly wasn't the case in academia. Sure, you get those one or two who were capable of doing their job (and doing it well). But you had so, many, inept people around, it was......amazing that anything got done (or maybe it was just where I was). Some of their job description might have read "professional pass-the-buck'er".
Personally, I still marvel that the IT guys I work with are capable and knowledgable and so helpful. Which, really, is the way it should be.

I feel that there is less of a waste around me. Wasted money and time. It might be the peculiarity of the industry, as well as the office that I am in. I truly think I am lucky that way.

Having spoken to a couple of people in the industry, I do think the "nice, normal people working" fits.
What a colleague said was so true. If we weren't normal, we would've stayed in academia...!!! ;)