I’m Emily, a developer here at Web Strategies, and this is a day in the life! I wanted to bring you along with the many hats I wear here at the office and provide a peek behind the curtain. Some days are busier than others, but they always contain the same elements. Let’s jump in!
9:15
I usually get to the office 15 minutes before our scheduled start time. I love that we aren’t required to be at the office until 9:30. As I sit down at my desk, I get all my startup tabs going in Chrome and start going through my emails so that I have a handle on any fresh tasks that may have come in.
9:30
We start our daily morning meeting in Faye’s office, which goes over what each person has on their plate for the day as well as any information that needs to be communicated to each team member. It’s a great way to get on the same page with some of our projects as well as anything that came in super late from the day before.
10:00
I get back to my desk and start on my daily tasks. Anything that is time-sensitive gets addressed first, such as meeting requests or quick questions that need to be answered. I also have more mental clarity in the morning, so I try to tackle anything that needs some critical thinking.
11:30
After this, I get started on project work! Project work is usually pretty fun because I get to see what content has been sent and start working on adding it to new websites. For other projects, I’m working on edits to the prototype or working on making changes to responsive issues after testing. I’m at a different point in the process for each project, so I’m doing something different every day. And with other projects, there’s no action item for me to complete while we wait for the client to provide content, answers to questions, or feedback.
12:30
After a bit of project work, I usually grab my lunch and continue plugging away at some light work while I eat. Sometimes some data entry can be easy to copy and paste while I snack away. Other times, I take a quick 15-minute break and eat my lunch so that I can get back to it. We don’t have a dedicated lunch hour, as we like the flexibility of being able to work right through. If I know I want to take an hour and go to lunch, I’ll usually arrange to come in a bit early, stay late, or make up an hour somewhere else in my week.
1:00
I get back to my project work and check my email to see if there are any updates to pending issues or content that has come in. Other days, a ticket has come in that needs my attention. I try to follow up with those shortly after they come in, whenever that is, so they can get the support they need.
2:30
Some days I help with some of the marketing here at Web Strategies! Today I’m writing this blog. Sometimes I will focus on creating a carousel post for Instagram or film a reel to post later in the week. There are other days when I brainstorm marketing content for different platforms or try to plan out some themes to use across our blog and social platforms.
4:00
By late afternoon I usually transition to something pretty routine that doesn’t require as much mental capacity. Usually, I work on some maintenance. All of our sites have plugins and theme updates that need to happen monthly. It’s a monumental task for two people, but I chip away at my list during this last hour, and they’re all usually done with plenty of time. It helps me unwind at the end of the work day.
4:45
In the last fifteen minutes, I make sure my time from the day is in and jot down anything that is still pending or open for me to look at the next morning. After that, I close the blinds and give the cats a goodnight head scratch as I head out the door!