A Day in the Life at Talis by Klaudija Salciute, Software Developer
What does your typical day look like?
Talis offer flexible hours, some days I start at 7am and then others at 10am. Typically, I check emails and then if I have already started on a particular task I just carry on with it, if not, I look at the list of tickets available and work through as appropriate. I have one or two regular meetings a day with the team to catch up which last around 5 mins. I can take breaks whenever I please which is really helpful with school runs. My days are varied depending on what meetings I have set up.
How do you make the flexible working hours work for you?
Something that I have found really useful is the fact that if one day I have the time to do extra work or I am really engrossed in a task and want to continue, it means then the next day I can take longer breaks or have a shorter day, which really helps with home life.
What is it like switching from office-base to a fully remote?
I recently joined Talis when it was already a fully distributed Company. However, in my previous role, although it was working from home due to Covid, it was trying to mimic the office environment at home, for example, sticking to core hours and core lunch hours, whereas with Talis, it is a lot more relaxed as you manage your own hours. I found this change really refreshing and it made my days less stressful.
What excites you the most about your job at Talis?
For me it’s the autonomy of getting the choice of what particular tasks to work on. We receive a list of tickets that need action by the team. We choose whichever ones we want to do. For instance, we may want to choose a ticket that challenges or teaches us something, or if you are having a difficult day you can choose a more simple task. I like that if I see something in the system that I think could do with improving within the code base, I can just go in and change it and liaise with the team to check they are happy with the change, rather than leave it and log it for someone else to action, so I like that I can be proactive and just sort it out there and then.
What kind of company is Talis?
Really friendly and welcoming, very easy to talk to people and if I have any questions or issues there is always someone who I know will listen.
What team(s) are you directly involved with and how do you ensure you all connect as a fully distributed team?
My direct team is the Elevate Development Team of which there’s 5 of us. We have a daily stand-up and then I meet with the wider Development Team once a day for another stand-up and we also have ad hoc meetings with the Experience Team to find out what changes are up and coming or discuss current changes to the products.
When you are not at work, how do you take time-out?
During lunch and breaks, I’d either go for a walk, get dinner prepared early so that in the evening there’s less to do, and also try to do some gardening. Outside of my work hours, I do rock climbing, attend a wind band and spend time with family and friends.
