A Day in the Life at Talis by Darren Arbon, Software Developer
What does your typical day look like?
I don’t actually have a “typical day” as such, everyday is different. For example, I can pop off to my children’s school to watch sports days, I can spend the afternoon doing some gardening around my work. In terms of working hours, I can start at 6am some days and perhaps other days start at 10am, sometimes I will finish at 4pm and others 11pm in the evening. Choosing when I start and end my working day is all in my control which is great, especially with a young family.
How do the flexible working hours work for you and your home life?
It is really useful having control of my working hours as it means I can take my children to school, which is really nice. I am probably one of three Dads who are able to do the school run. I can also be sat at the dinner table by 5.30pm ready to eat with the children, whereas travelling back from the office would mean having to wait until I get home at 6.30pm before I can eat. So the flexible working hours mean that I am able to spend a lot more time with my family and get involved with the core family routines. It allows me to pop out in the middle of the day for those times that I need to and then I can make my hours up in the evening.
As you recently joined Talis when we were already fully remote, what was that like for you as a new starter?
If you asked me a couple of years ago “would I like to work from home permanently”, my answer would have been no. I liked the office dynamics and I liked getting out of the house. Then Covid hit and we were forced to work from home, I realised that it was actually quite nice. Reason being, I get to have that level of flexibility, and I can fit in small jobs around the house in-between working. In terms of Talis, I think that they are really helpful to make sure that the settling in process worked. I had a buddy in the tech team who basically held my hand through every bit of setting up which for a developer, the things that need to be set up and running can be quite complex. In the office you would have someone sat over your shoulder, but having the buddy there on the phone whenever I needed was really helpful as well. Talis has got a really good setup for remote people joining.
What excites you the most about your job at Talis?
My previous three careers have been in Education, Data and Developing, Talis rolls all three into one. So for me, I get to do the three things I love every day.
What kind of company is Talis to work for?
The overwhelming thing that I love about Talis is the transparency. In our monthly Company Meetings, we discuss the finances of the company, a new contract we get to learn how much that is bringing into the company, we discuss everything. For someone who typically sits behind a screen doing code, it’s nice to see where all of our efforts work towards. I like that openness and a lot of companies can learn from that. I think it empowers people as you know where things are heading and you know that the Senior Management Team has nothing to hide as it is all out in the open and discussed with the entire business.
What team(s) are you directly involved with and how do you ensure you all connect as a fully distributed team?
My immediate Team is the Elevate Team. We have stand ups every morning, we get to chat everyday. We have slack channels where we chat, we also have a couple of other weekly meetings. We are now planning some meetups moving forward which will be nice. In terms of the wider team, again we have regular weekly meetings where we can chat about anything we need to raise. On Fridays, we use a Kumospace, where we can sit in for the day. It is your choice to join if you wish, you can chat or just listen, but it’s great having the background noise when you are working.
When you are not at work, how do you take time-out?
I have recently purchased an electric bike so I spend a lot of time on that. I live in the South Downs so there are lots of hills and beautiful scenery. I also recently purchased a greenhouse which is full of plants which I like to maintain. Hopefully if the weather improves, I am hoping to spend a lot of time on the sea in my Kayak.
