• Diversity • Innovation • Information Technology

    Working remotely. My typical day.

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    The wonderful benefits of working from home.

    Morning.
    I wake up each morning by my alarm clock: my 3-year-old son stomping around his room like a dinosaur.
    I or my husband (we switch off morning wake-ups) get him dressed and then start making breakfast and begin brewing coffee.
    I get dressed for work and get to keep on my comfy slippers, which I love.
    My breakfast consists of coffee, some food, then more coffee in mugs that look like flower pots. (In my world there is never such a thing as too much coffee or tea.)

    The nanny arrives around 8:30 am EST and I conduct a hand-off (relay how much my son has eaten, gone on the potty – he’s potty training, and also what kind of mood he is in – he is a threenager after all!). It’s a fairly easy handoff compared to dropping off at day care. Nothing wrong with day care, however preparing all the meals, clothes, etc. for my son then driving to day care takes up much time and can add stress to my day. I am truly thankful for this morning hand-off!

    Then I am off to work! My morning commute consists of making another cup of coffee or tea and walking from my kitchen to my office down the hallway.

    When I get into work, I turn on my relaxing music and start planning my day and getting tasks done. My first meeting each day isn’t until 11 am EST, taking into account the time zone differences, since our company is headquartered out of California. By the time my first meeting begins, I typically have a large majority of my tasks done for the day. I enjoy the quiet of the morning, it’s peaceful and I feel focused.

    Midday.
    After my 11 am meeting, I have lunch. Typically, my lunch is a working lunch since I can reheat leftovers and enjoy my lunch at my desk. However, it is such a joy on days when my son is eating lunch and I have a break for lunch; we get to enjoy our lunch together. I consider this a huge privilege.

    Afternoon.
    After lunch, I typically have many meetings throughout the afternoon and I am on video conference or telephone conference calls almost the entire time with some breaks in between. Our company uses tools that allow you to work anywhere like Slack, Zoom, Smartsheet, Confluence Wiki, Jira, etc.

    During the afternoon, I sometimes get hungry for snack or some tea (yes again) and I love that I can walk over to my kitchen whenever I want.

    Also, sometimes I have repair technicians that come to my house to fix something and I am always here to let them in and ensure that everything runs smoothly.

    Evening.
    My husband does the hand-off when he gets home from work. I work until 5:30-6pm and then I have the long drive home… by walking from my office to the living room. Honestly, it’s the best way to end your day, to hear your husband and son playing in the other room and know you will be right there in less than a minute.

    I get to see my family quite often and also enjoy the mastery of my job. My typical day is a luxury and I am grateful for the opportunity.

    Best,

    Sydney Metzmaker
    Chief of Operations | PVM

    Learn about our innovative and full lifecycle IT solutions:

    PVM, Inc. (originally founded as Pat V. Mack, Inc.) provides industry leading IT consulting services; offering our clients a full range of engineering and business solutions. PVM specializes in business process management, project management, engineering architecture, design, development, integration, and support of mission-essential products.

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    PVM’s Business Development Strategy Imagine it’s your last day of work, ever. You’re at your own retirement party. You look around the room and what you see is a reflection of who you are, in your career. How you feel is a reflection of how well you feel you did in your career. Then think on your personal values. How you feel now represents how well you navigated your career to remain in line with your values. I hope you’re feeling well. Otherwise, ask yourself, wouldn’t you want to have the feeling of true friendship, collaboration, success, and alignment to your values when retiring? You might be wondering now, how does this relate to PVM’s Business Development Strategy? It not only relates, it’s intrinsic to how we do business. At PVM we have an unmoving stance on building our business. This all stems from our CEO, Pat Mack. From day one he started the company with the promise of providing high quality software engineering services, the tone was set. Not whatever software engineering service business we could find; the opportunities where we could provide the highest quality. He also wanted to ensure the company was never sold, didn’t grow too large, and above all remained true to our core throughout. For some companies out there, if they are being honest, this concept of intrinsic value is a facade. It’s something they might say, but don’t uphold. Value, to them, means making money, and them more money the years afterward. It could also mean win-lose relationships to ensure they get ahead. Or turning their employees against each other in a negatively competitive environment. And finally, there are those who work for an organization where they are just along for the ride, without care to the alignment of company values and how they do business. All of these examples are, in our way of thinking, “all about the win” or the wrong way of doing business. The PVM Standard is high. We always say to every onboard, we expect the best from you and we brought you onboard because we know you are the best. When we say this, we mean more than just technically the best at their job. We also mean they align to our values and care about the way we do business. We like that our employees want us to perform business ethically and in the best interest of our founding building blocks. We want them to inquire about how we do business. PVM holds ourselves accountable by being open and transparent with our team. For inquiring minds, you can join our business development cohort, where as an extra-curricular activity, you learn about our business strategy and what constitutes a valuable business opportunity. You learn the process we go through to vet opportunities. Finally, if so interested, you can be a part of the action as a viewing party or a participant. This standard also applies to our business partners. As a business-to-business company, our way of doing business is building relationships with other business. When we are looking to partner with another company in order to provide high quality software engineering services, we look for ethical, value-oriented, and a competency pairing match - win-win is implied. At our retirement party, we will ensure that when we look around the room we see friends not foe; that we feel pride, mastery, and content; and that when we think on our values, we feel we were stronghold for our values and core beliefs. Best, Sydney Metzmaker Chief of Operations | PVM