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Another day in the life of your Xceed team

Another day in the life of your Xceed team

Managing Work & Family Life

 

Good day dear friends! As the world continues to battle this pandemic head-on, we begin to see some signs of encouragement. With some hard-hit countries initiating progressive return to a new reality, some light is shed, however citizens of the world will most probably not return to the normal they have been accustomed to. But, we remain optimistic that we will come out of this stronger and better, as a community! 

In this second installment of the "a day in the life of", our dedicated and super developer Simon shares with us how his routine has changed.

How many weeks have you been in confinement? 
Since the middle of March (more or less 10 weeks) when the kids school was shut down and our government ask for employees to work from home if possible. Fortunately, Xceed has a strong network and encourages this practice when necessary so it was not a big adjustment.
 
How has working from home full time changed your routine?
Of course it's not like working from the office with my two screens and my comfortable chair, but I try to change position by working in my room or dining room in the morning and in the basement in the afternoon, depending on the kids' required supervision. I use the TEAMS application with video to communicate with my colleagues for our meetings instead of meeting face to face at the office. Lunch with colleagues and the Xceed baby foot games seem so far away! I hope i won't be too rusty when i get back!
 
Family, work, how do you keep it all in sync when your home all day?
My wife is a teacher and she will go back to work next Monday. But for the past 8 weeks, she has been great at keeping them involved with school at home (for a couple of hours every day). Other than that, we try to alternate supervision of the kids during the day by making sure they don't fight too much and stay calm so we can progress in our work functions. Recently, we introduced many board games to our children and they enjoy playing them together, every day. And the backyard is now open following winter so the kids can play outside; we just need to take a look once in a while.
 
What is the biggest challenge you face? / What drives you the most nuts?
I think it will come next week, when my wife will be back to work and I'll have to supervise the kids until schools finally open. Trying to explain complicated stuff in a virtual meeting while the kids are in a fight is never easy, luckily it's not too often...yet. Other than that, not being side by side with my colleagues when wanting to debug something takes more time and is not easy.
 
What do you miss most from being at work?
Our office at Xceed is a nice environment : well decorated, comfortable work space, has lots of daylight with a great view, background music and a baby foot table. It's much easier to concentrate from the office. Also, not seeing my colleagues in the morning or having lunch with them is kind of strange. We've been doing this for decades!
 
What is one piece of advice you’d like to share
We need to be positive through this rough time, it will end and we'll remember being part of it one day. Also, it's not often that we can say we have a lot of free time (because everything is closed) so take advantage of it and make it quality family time! 

Simon
Xceed Team

 

 

 

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