My team
I work in the Data, Product and Infrastructure team – we’re responsible for building and improving the Bank’s capability to support data management, streaming and platforms. Our goal is to make data more accessible, reliable and high quality so all internal users are able to make data-driven decisions. We engage closely with the business supporting our customers along with Solutions Designers and Business Analysts on the design requirements to enable our users to perform data ingestion, enriching and egression.
Morning
I usually start work quite early at 7.00am. Most of my team start later but this is what works for me as I like to have some quiet time before any meetings start. If I’m working from home (which is often the case these days) I always start my day with a large black coffee, which I’ll enjoy on the sofa whilst opening up my laptop.
First thing I’ll do is my coding tasks – I use Data Manipulation Language mostly, however sometimes I might use Scala, Python or Bash. Occasionally I’ll use this quiet time to do some learning and training – technology moves so quickly and I want to make sure my skills are always up-to-date and I’m on top of any new trends and developments. One of the main things that attracted me to CommBank was the learning opportunities, I’ve had the opportunity to work across multiple teams on many exciting projects. I’ve had far more exposure here compared to when I was working in a smaller organisation.
If I’m not coding I’ll focus on preparing for stakeholder meetings. My work often involves helping people understand our designs more clearly to show them what they can do with software products. I love that I’m able to engage at every part of the product development from design to implementation to testing. Our leadership team are working hard to restructure the way teams develop products and services so we’re more in control. Every piece of work I deliver gives me a feeling of fulfilment, I know how meaningful my work is to the users and I can really see the impact I’m making.
Lunch time
When we’re in the office my team will usually eat together, sometimes we’ll treat ourselves and go to one of the nearby restaurants for a team lunch. When we’re working remotely we still make time to have virtual lunches to make sure we’re staying connected.
As long as it’s not raining I’ll go for a 30 minute walk over lunch to get some fresh air and keep me motivated for the afternoon. Whilst working from home I’ve also given myself a burpee challenge over lunchtime – so far I’ve managed to build up to 15 burpees!
Afternoon
Every afternoon we have our daily Stand-Up to discuss progress and call out any blockers. I also have regular code review meetings with my team. These meetings are a great learning opportunity as everyone is super collaborative – we all throw out a bunch of suggestions and recommendations to make sure everyone in the team is always learning and making progress.
Our team is growing so much at the moment I’ll often find that I’m part of a new starter training session. When we have new engineers join the team we make sure we’re spending a lot of time supporting them in picking up the code and technology we’re using. Our journey to become a more data driven organisation means we’re constantly working on improving our infrastructure - the prospect of working on new technologies is what interested me about joining this team.
I finish my day at different times depending on what suits me and my workload. In the evenings I like to cook dinner then watch movies or read. I’ve also just started learning Korean dancing so sometimes I’ll practice – it’s a great way of making exercise more fun!
