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Erik B’s First Day: 8:30AM. The Olive Garden. By the Roller Coasters.

Ke Li Yew

Published on: September 1st, 2020

Erik Bjorlund had a fairly unusual first day on the job at Orthogonal. Unusual for him, and for us as well. A good day, but definitely unusual.

Who is Erik?

On Friday, August 21, we introduced Erik Bjorklund to the Orthogonal team. Erik joined us as a software engineer and has particular strength in Android platform development.

Graduating from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, Erik obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in biomedical engineering. His undergraduate degree focused on bio-instrumentation including the electrical circuitry and programming of medical devices. In his master’s degree, he participated in the inaugural class of biomedical innovation, design, and an entrepreneurship program.

As if Erik could not get more impressive, he was on the UW Marching Band team where he played Percussion- Tenders.

We are so excited to see the amazing work he will do, and hope that he’ll pull out his drums once and a while for company parties. We’re also using his skills to raise the bar at our facilitated Inception Phase workshop meetings with clients by having Erik providing the Ba Dum Tss drum notes at specific moments.

After graduation, Erik joined the Tundra Line, the official drumline of the Green Bay Packers. So you may catch him for a second or two on TV on Packers’ game days at the famous Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Erik’s First Day at Orthogonal

Erik’s first day was a bit unusual, to say the least. His first day on the job was the same day as our summer Zoom party (read the latest blog to learn more). It began at 8:30 AM where we met near Six Flags Great America in the Olive Garden parking lot in Gurnee, Illinois that’s halfway between where Randy lives in the Chicagoland area and where Erik lives in the Milwaukee area.

First, we had a couple of paperwork items to get out of the way. It’s definitely the first time that I ever inspected a passport to verify eligibility to work in any parking lot. Then, Erik’s first assignment was to accept the summer package of a margarita kit including tequila, drive home, and make sure to show up (alcoholic drink in hand, if he wanted) to a Zoom party that started at 2:30 PM on a workday. An unusual first-day assignment and probably the most unique new hire onboarding meeting either Erik or I had ever had (not such a bad first day if you ask me!)

Here is Erik with his tequila and customized Orthogonal glass:

After a day of onboarding, Erik’s day ended with him joining and being introduced to the whole Orthogonal team over cocktails:

We’ll close by letting you hear straight from Erik on two key questions:

Question 1: Erik, why were you interested in coming to Orthogonal?

Erik Bjorklund: With an increasingly connected world, medical devices that can securely and reliably communicate to other devices is going to be an important step in the medical device industry. I’m excited to get to work with the cutting edge technologies and clients that Orthogonal works with, and to help these technologies be more accessible for medical practitioners and their users.

Question 2: Please tell us the truth Erik, how do you feel about such an unusual first hour on the job?

Erik Bjorklund: I can’t say I expected the next chapter of my life to begin at 8:30 AM with a bottle of Patron in an Olive Garden parking lot next door to Six Flags Amusement Park, but here we are.

For those who are curious…. Yes, Erik came back to work again the following Monday.

For more information about key points raised in this blog:

You can learn more about Orthogonal’s work in our blogs and website
Orthogonal is growing, so if you think Erik is onto something joining our team, feel free to let us know if you might be interested in joining (now or perhaps down the road)
See photos and read all about our summer Zoom party

The Olive Garden in Gurnee, IL is open daily from 11 AM to 10 PM
Six Flags Great America is open this season until the first day in November

Check out performances from the fantastic University of Wisconsin Badger’s Marching Band
Check out the Green Bay Packers Tundra Line

About the Author: Randy Horton is VP of Solutions and Partnerships at Orthogonal.