A Day in My Life as a Dev in Mavericks

Hello!

I’m Ciara and welcome to a day in my life as a junior full stack developer consultant at Mavericks Consulting! 

9:00 AM: Getting Ready

Since joining Mavericks, my mornings now officially start at the office. The pantry is always stocked with my favourite buns, and there’s almost always a Milo waiting in the fridge, so breakfast is sorted.

With food in hand, I open up the JIRA board and update my tickets. Keeping them up to date has become an essential habit, it helps me stay organised and ensures no important details slip through the cracks. As part of a wider quality improvement initiative for our HR Management System, I’ve been practising  shift-left testing by refining existing automated tests and introducing new test cases to cover scenarios that weren’t previously validated.

I then check my calendar to see what meetings or interviews are lined up so I can plan my development time. Today’s schedule is pretty packed, so I make a mental note to flag that progress might be a little slower than usual during the team’s daily standup.

9:30 AM: Bug Raised

With Mavericks recently rolling out our newly deployed in-house HRMS, a few change requests have popped up along the way. This morning, a Maverick raised an urgent issue that needed immediate attention. I quickly synced up with my teammates to understand how it might have happened, and we started brainstorming potential fixes together.

10:00 AM: Daily Stand-up

10am means it's time for daily standup! Standups are definitely the most consistent part of my working day. The team takes this time to update our progress, so we can see if we are still on track for the sprint. If we don’t get carried away, it’s usually wrapped up in just a few minutes!

10:30 AM: User Story Solutioning 

Here at Mavericks, we strongly believe in building the right product and building the product right. Every user story needs to be carefully thought through, with the MVP in mind throughout the development process. A teammate needed some ideas and advice on implementing a complex user story. What started with a consultation with the BA, ended up with gathering 8 developers to brainstorm approaches. One of the things I love most about Mavericks is the openness and mutual respect. Everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas, which leads to incredibly productive and meaningful discussions.

2:00 PM: UI/UX Workshop

After lunch, it’s off to a meeting room for Part 2 of a UI/UX Workshop, hosted by our in-house UI/UX designer. Last week, we discussed pain points in our current design process, and today’s session focuses on aligning on a Mavericks style guide template.

Knowledge sharing is a huge part of our culture. Almost every other week there’s a workshop or sharing session led by another Maverick, giving us the chance to learn, grow, and explore new ways of working together.

4:30 PM: Team Standards Review

We’re currently in Sprint 0 of another project, which means aligning on key foundations like definitions of done, QA practices, and ways of working. Getting this right early helps ensure smoother sprints and sets the team up for success from the start.

6:00 PM: Team Pilates

Time to clock out! A few of us are heading over to a nearby Pilates studio to unwind and get a good workout after a long day. It’s something we try to do weekly, because staying healthy and having fun together is just as important as the work we do! 

See Ya!

Thanks for reading and getting a glimpse into my day at Mavericks Consulting. I’m thankful to be part of such a supportive and dynamic team, and excited for everything that’s still ahead!