Devvrat Patney

5.30 AM

I like a morning gym session 3-4 times a week. I wake up at 5.30 with the aim of getting to my gym by 5.45 AM. I spend close to an hour there and get back home around 7 AM.

7.00 AM

I get ready for work, have a coffee and listen to some tunes. I like to start my morning in a relaxed way, so I take my time before I head out for work.

8.00 AM

I live about 12 km from the office, which in Hobart is only 20 odd minutes on the road. I still leave a bit earlier to avoid traffic and get in early to set up for the day. If you enjoy cycling, there is a bike path to the city and plenty of other bike enthusiasts at Hydro!

8.30 AM

I say hi to the people around, have a few chats and then sit down to catch up on market news received from our brokers and other partners to start my day. I work within a wider trading team at Hydro, so it’s important to be up-to-date with the market.

The grad program here includes a series of rotations within a 2 year period, and I worked in the risk team moving to the trading team.

9.00 AM

We have a morning meeting within the trading team. 

The meeting usually includes checking our positions are within risk limits, checking trades from the previous day are reflected correctly and establishing a game plan for the day. Today, we also had our weekly strategy meeting to decide on targets for the coming week and discussed how we tracked on the ones set in the previous week.

10.00 AM 

Talk to brokers and market participants to get a feel of how the market is looking today. I trade environmental products for the desk. When I started in the team, I took almost all calls in the first instance. It helped me get acquainted with market lingo and further establish rapport with brokers I need to be working with. This usually includes a lot of repetition about what you did last evening haha

10.30 AM

Breakfast time for me, eating at my desk while I catch up with brokers to gauge the market. Based on our strategy and position targets, I then proceed to look at making some markets to facilitate this. We use Thomson Reuters to see broker quotes and have group chats where off-screen markets are updated throughout the day. 

As you get more experienced within the role, you get used to the large amounts of information flowing through and learn to pick out what is important to your position.

12.30 PM

Market closes for lunch between 12.30 and 2 PM. I use this time to enter any trades we have conducted during the morning session. If I have achieved what I had to during the morning session, I get geared up for work on any projects/ analysis I am involved in. Today I was looking at estimating a rate for our STC (environment certificate) liability and the effects of it on our portfolio.

1.30 PM

I take my lunch break. I try to do my meal preps on the weekend, so I had a box ready to go. I picked up a newspaper to skim and find a spot to sit iin the lounge. It’s always a good time to catch up with people from other teams.

2.00 PM

It’s the start of the afternoon trading session, so usually, a few calls to catch up on refresh any markets we had open with the brokers prior to lunch. After taking care of that, I have a quick scan of the market again to see our markets are working as we intended. Every now and then, there requests from bilateral counterparties to price specific products. This is usually a good time for me to jump on that.

3.30 PM

After a mid-afternoon break  (second caffeine fix and maybe a bar of cheeky chocolate too!) it’s back to the desk to finish up the analysis I was looking at pre-lunch and shoot it off to the team for feedback.

4.00 PM

I’m managing the late-day trading along with wrapping up the end of day procedures. We have to get through checking all trades are correctly entered and confirmed, and mark our market curves which will reflect on our position on the following day. I can pretty much knock off work once all of this is done, and I have no open prices on the market.

5.00 PM

Home time! I head out from work and should be home in 30 minutes or so as traffic might be a bit busier.

6.00 PM

Time to grab a small snack and firmly stay put on the couch, watching some Netflix.

7.00 PM

I get dinner prepped. Every now and then the prep gets replaced with a dinner outside or UberEats with a couple of mates. I make brekkie for the next day, wash my dishes and then head off for a shower.

8.00 PM

Back to the TV, when I realise I still have some study to get through for an online course I’ve procrastinated on for ages. Surely, I can catch up on the weekend though. 

9.00 PM  

I feel a bit guilty on the study front, so I open my books and do a solid two pages of reading. After this, I’ve just relocated from the couch to my bed. I do a bit of a scroll on Insta and then crash at some point!

Where are you now?

An opportunity came along in our Operational Contracts team as a Spot Trading Analyst to manage high value contracts for our Gas Portfolio. The role also offered me the chance to continue my training in Gas and Electricity spot markets and be on the Spot Trading roster.

I have been in the role since April 2020. Over the past 8 months I have had the opportunity to become an authorised Gas Trader, learn the intricacies of how the Gas market functions, drive efficiencies through a better understanding of the contracts that affect our trading activity and completed a Certificate IV in LEAN. Dealing with contracts, I have an increased appreciation of what it takes to negotiate and the foresight required to provide a good mix of contractual certainty and flexibility for the future. A large portion of the role is focussed on working in conjunction with senior management and cross-functional teams- which has been excellent exposure for me. My graduate rotations have contributed to understanding the broader impact of contracts on the organisation and in navigating my way through different projects.