Nandini Jain

7.00 AM

Getting ready for the office

My Alexa tinged and reminded me that it was time to wake up. I freshened up and dressed into my work clothes. I arranged my bag and reminded myself to keep a curry and cookies in there for the Diwali party at the office.

7.30 AM

Time for brekkie

I prepared my breakfast, which usually includes an apple, a cup of green tea, and an avocado sandwich. I try not to mess up my work clothes and turn on the music to my favourite songs. While eating, I send a “Good morning” message to my family, respond to a few text messages from my friends and finally check if my bus is on time. Then, I head downstairs to the bus.

8.30 AM

Reaching the office

I travelled to the office by bus, which takes me about 15 minutes. During the bus ride, I checked my meetings for the day. I always enjoy walking past the serene river right outside the office.

9.00 AM

Planning the day

Once I arrived at the office, I saw that it was quite full. I was greeted by many familiar faces. I walked towards the area my team sat in and joined them. I double checked my meetings and then noted down the tasks that I needed to prioritize.

10.00 AM

First meeting of the day

I had set up a meeting with an engineer to clarify certain doubts they had with our Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. They wanted to understand in detail how my team could help them automate their pipeline. They needed information around Step Functions, Lambdas, and regular applications. Their questions gave me an idea and I noted it down to discuss with my team in the stand up later. It is exciting how answering questions can lead you to interesting ideas.

11.00 AM

Rearranging my cards

As a part of the DevOps team, I support multiple teams through ‘business as usual’ (BAU) work. One of my team members allocated a few CI/CD related tasks to me and I commented on those cards for more information and waited for a response. One person responded immediately, and I started my work on that card. I also saw a task that translated to project work, so I reached out to the reporter via our messaging system Slack and set up a meeting for clarification. Sometimes, it is much easier to do a Zoom call instead of commenting on a ticket back and forth. My favorite thing about BAU cards is that you get to work on tasks that teach you things outside of your area of expertise.

11.30 AM

Stand up

This was my first Zoom meeting of the day with my manager and my team members. It is a part of the Agile ritual we follow at carsales. Everyone provided an update about what they are currently working on and informed the rest of the team about any blockers that we may need to focus on. I, too, provided an update on the CI/CD project that I was working on and highlighted the idea I had during my first meeting.  

12.15 PM

Diwali lunch

I was looking forward to this part of the day. I love the festival of lights and was very excited for the potluck that was planned in the office. I headed downstairs to help set up the lunch and was impressed with the beautifully decorated area. Vibrant flowers, garlands, and frames all around. I, also, realized that a lot of people were wearing traditional Indian clothes.

Then, I saw the food, oh so much food! I added my curry and fruit cookies to that potluck. Finally, we had an amazing and extremely satisfying lunch. I met with so many people and I am sure everyone could feel the joy in the room, people were cracking jokes, telling stories of past Diwalis they have had, and of course, clicking pictures. How exciting is it to celebrate a festival with your colleagues!

1.30 PM

Coffee Run

My team decided to get some coffee after this heavy lunch. We, usually, would do coffee runs in the morning; however, with the Diwali party we knew we would need the coffee after lunch. We talked about all kinds of things while walking towards our favorite coffee place. I think coffee runs are a good time to connect with your team members. 

2.00 PM

One on one with my manager

I went back upstairs for my monthly one on one with my manager. This is time for us to share feedback on performance, career progression, and any ideas I may have. While it is perfectly okay for me to reach out to my manager at any time, I like having an allocated time every month. This gives me sufficient time to ponder on ideas and come up with questions that help me understand what I could do moving forward.

2.30 PM

Work on CI/CD project work

I worked on creating a new CI/CD pipeline that enabled triggering one task from another. My senior DevOps Engineer had given me documentation and I used that as my starting point. Before I started forming this new template pipeline, I did some googling and looked up existing templates to create a customized pipeline. Having spent some time on research, I started creating a work file for this new pipeline. I prefer creating and testing small bits of code as I go. I think it is much easier to test small units than an entire pipeline because it is much easier to spot failures this way.

5.00 PM

Respond to BAU tickets

After progressing sufficiently on my project work, I referred to the BAU cards that I had and checked for any responses. I, also, leave additional comments on tickets that I worked on with updates to inform the respective reporters.

5.30 PM

Time to go home

I wrap up my desk, pick up my bag, and bid my team goodbye for the day. I inform them that I’ll be working from home the next day. I wish them Happy Diwali and prepare to head home by train. On the way back, I think about what I am going to eat for dinner, when I will go to the gym, and call my parents to tell them about the amazing time I had while celebrating Diwali at the office.