8.00 AM

I come to work ready to start a new day with my team in Canberra. It’s nice to catch up with my colleagues on the way to my desk. Once I settle in, I log into the computer and say ‘Good morning’ in the Microsoft Teams group chat.

8.10 AM

I start the day with a few routine tasks like checking emails, Teams chats and my calendar. There’s an ad hoc data question for our team that I need to discuss with my manager and the senior teammate before working on it.

I’m working for the team supporting the newly launched healthcare initiative that aims for better healthcare for the Australian community. Being a data grad, my role as a data analyst includes working directly with my 2 supervisors as a small team of design and data staff within the whole project.

I note down some questions to discuss with my supervisors. There’s nothing much from the Teams chat, but there are a couple of meetings with a presentation in the calendar for today.

8.30 AM

I run a weekly report and send it to the operations team. The program code and report template were set up in advance, so this routine task only takes me 15 minutes.

8.45 AM

My supervisors arrive, so I chat to with them about the ad hoc task from earlier. We have a brief whiteboarding session to talk through the task, which seems to be simple but turns out to be a bit tricky. The task is assigned to me to complete by the end of the week.

9.00 AM

We have a 15-minute daily catch-up meeting with other team members from across the project. This catch-up is a very helpful team-bonding activity for a geographically dispersed team like ours, to understand each other and facilitate communication within the team. In this meeting, we chat a bit about each other’s lives and what people have got in hand at work, to support each other when we can.

9.15 AM

After the short meeting, I take 15 minutes to do a study-bite for the online programming course that the agency provides. I find this extremely useful to upskill at my own pace. So far, I’ve completed the advanced course of the programming language we’re using. It’s great to be able to further develop my technical skills and apply it to my work.

9.30 AM

I start to set up my computer workspace for the ad hoc task, including gathering information, setting up the code environment, starting initial coding and clarifying the directions of my programming with the data team when needed.

10.00 AM

Me and a few project team members who’re working in the office today go out for a coffee around the corner as our morning tea break.

10.20 AM

We come back happy and refreshed, ready to tackle the hard tasks. I start my analysis by first pulling the necessary data output out of the data warehouse.

12.00 PM

Yay, it’s lunch time! I came to the food court to have lunch and network with a few other graduates who work in the same building. Those lunch times are when we share information, opportunities and build friendships.

12.30 PM

Back to work. As the ad hoc task is prioritised and urgent, I keep on working on this instead of other ongoing projects on my list. The process is iterative. I might progress a few steps further and then come back to debug or to talk through things with my team again.

1.30 PM

Our data and design team have a meeting with our new director, who has a non-data background, to discuss the data work that we do that contributes to the whole project. I have an opportunity to present the past analysis that I’ve done under the supervision of my team. The analysis has helped our policy partner decide to deprioritise a major piece of work, giving way to utilising our valuable resources for more important works.

2.30 PM

I feel happy after the meeting, as the director engaged with my presentation and analysis and thought that what we did was great. I come back to the ad hoc task, trying to visualise the draft data set I pulled before the meeting when I identify some strange anomalies, so I discuss with my team again. This work keeps me occupied for the rest of the day.

3.50 PM

I start closing my workspace, saving all my current work so it can be ready for the work tomorrow.

4.00 PM

The day has been productive and rewarding. I walk out of the building feeling happy and catch the bus home knowing I did well today and that my work is contributing to the lives of Australians.

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