The bottom-line, in this particular case, is quite simple:   (no offense, but...) “do not listen too-much to the idle comments of your co-workers!”   :-D

When you are generating an initial-password, just about anything you can dream up will do just-as-well as anything else you could have dreamed up.   Therefore, just take whatever's easiest, and call it a day. Your original algorithm is just as suitable as anything else could possibly have been. Beyond that point, “you're thinking too much.”

FISI = “(!!) It.. Ship It!”