Jamieson Collins

8.45 AM

Morning Headlines

Peruse the company Daily Briefing over breakfast. This keeps me up to date with news and current affairs relating to PEXA and the wider property market.

9.00 AM

Focus time

Throughout the day I have a gaps between meetings which I dedicate to focusing on getting my tasks done.

My current grad rotation is with PEXA’s mobile team who develop the PEXA Key app. While the app does not allow direct access into the PEXA platform it gives buyers and sellers visibility into some of the processes involved. The App also provides functionality to help buyers and sellers navigate the property transfer process more easily and securely. My favourite feature is the encrypted channel between the app and PEXA, it allows parties to share banking details without concern of hackers intercepting that information (if it was sent via email for example).

At the moment I’m working on setting up an integration between the mobile app and the company Data Platform, this will allow different teams around the business analyse to the apps data to obtain insightful information. The cool thing about this project is I spent my first 6 month rotation with the Data Architecture team who run the Data Platform – I have valuable cross domain knowledge and due to this have the privilege of leading this piece of work.

10.30 AM

Stand up

Each member of the team provides an update on what they worked on the yesterday, what they plan to work on today and any blockers impeding them. The core of the team consists of a senior engineer (backend), a mobile developer (frontend), a QA (tester) and the PO (product owner). Communication and teamwork between all members of the team is crucial to delivering a robust solution on schedule. After everyone gives an update we either hang around for a bit of casual chat or drop off early to get into work if we have something time critical.

11.00 AM

Agile ceremonies

Depending on what day it is, we usually have some type of agile ceremony after stand-up. Today it was Refinement, this is where we go over the stories/tasks in our current sprint and see if we need to bring more work in from the backlog. Other days we have Planning where we setup the work for the next sprint or we have a Retrospective where we look back on our last sprint and highlight the positives, negatives and things we’ve learnt/could do better next time.

11.30 AM

Focus time

The periods of time I get to focus are not always directed towards my tasks. PEXA employs a 70:20:10 model which outlines 70% of time focused on usual tasks, 20% to fixing up ‘technical debt’ and 10% to learning and development. I’m currently using my learning time to improve my AWS skills with a course PEXA is paying for as part of the $1000 per year learning and development allowance provided.

Although I usually work by myself during the focus time, I can always drop a message to my team members who are happy to point me in the right direction.

12.30 PM

Lunch

PEXA’s flexible approach to work allows me to make a proper meal for cheap in my own kitchen the days I’m working from home. I eat outside in the sunshine; my whole working day is inside on a computer so it’s nice to break it up by going outside in the middle of the day. After eating I play with my dog Rocky. His favourite game is ‘where’s the treat?’ (I tear a treat into 10 pieces and hide them around the yard), he also likes chasing sticks.

1.30 PM

Focus time

I usually listen to music while doing focused solo work, I find it helps me concentrate. I’m a firm believer that lofi hiphop was made to write code to, I also listen to a variety of other instrumental, focus inducing music.

3.30 PM

Check in with team

As the end of the day approaches, I check back in with whichever team member is providing me guidance/support through my current task. We discuss my work for the day and if I require any extra assistance or a deeper explanation. These catch ups often descend into interesting theoretical discussions about the pros and cons of solving a problem a particular way, in software engineering there are many ways to implement a solution.

4.00 PM

Meetings

I often have meetings in this timeslot, today it’s a fortnightly catchup with the other grads at PEXA. We spend this time talking about how we’ve been going at work, what we’ve been working on and any interesting technologies we’ve been using. It’s important to have close communication with the other graduates, they can provide insight into a team that you may be in during your next rotation. We also use this time to talk a bit about what’s going on outside of work too, things we did on the weekend or how our personal projects are coming along.

5.00 PM

Wrap up / work day has ended!

Take notes on what I’ve learnt for the day. Ensure I’ve saved useful commands, links to learning resources and reference material. Casual chat on Slack with colleges about the day and if we have plans for the afternoon.

5.15 PM

Wind down

Take a moment to relax after work and catch up on messages from family and friends.

5.30 PM

Walk Rocky

Sometimes we walk to Altona beach but usually we go to a big grassland/wetland nearby. Rocky likes it more because there’s tons of rabbits and even some foxes to track. Although I bring my phone (just in case) I don’t look at it, I use this time to have a break from technology. I stop halfway through the 4km walk to stretch my legs, back, shoulders and neck. 

6.30 PM

Cook, Eat and relax

Cook and then eat dinner while catching up on the news for the day and watching any new content from my favourite YouTube channels.  

8.00 AM

Personal project

I love to work on the custom IOT system I’ve been building. I recently bought a bunch of new sensors and other gadgets which has been a lot of fun. I’m currently working a few projects: Setting off an alarm when the International Space Station is about to fly overhead my location, communicating between two microcontrollers with a laser that speaks in morse code and using the generic remote controller (infrared) that came with my monitor to control all of my IOT devices.

9.00 AM

Relax

I spend this time either playing a computer game or watching a documentary.

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