Patrick Chen

7:00 AM

Wake up, brush teeth, and have breakfast. I often at times don’t have breakfast at home. If I do, I will usually just have two eggs. I get changed and then catch the light rail to work at about 7:40 AM.

8:00 AM

Arrive at the office and begin personal administrative work, like replying to emails I may have received overnight and checking out what meetings I have today and what I need to prepare for them. I also begin the Ministers’ Daily Data for the day. This consists of accessing the Bloomberg terminal and collating data from various sources. During this time, I would also use the oats I keep in my drawer to make some breakfast.

9:30 AM

Ministers’ Daily Data should be finalised at this point, so I cross-check it with a colleague, and we will get it ready to be sent out at 10 AM sharp. We will call and go through the contents together but also take this opportunity to catch up with remote workers.

10:30 AM

Around this time, I will venture out for some coffee with some graduate friends, talk about our day and catch up. There are plenty of good spots around the office, but we prefer to head over to Mingle. I don’t drink coffee, so this is more of a social experience for me than anything.

11:00 AM

Today I had a graduate major project meeting. These usually last for an hour, and during this session, we finalised our project plan and submitted it to our mentors and sponsors for review. Following this, I hopped onto a Graduate Data Network steering committee call to debrief and inform everyone about how my project team was travelling. These meetings usually occur fortnightly, whilst the Major Project meetings will occur weekly.

12:30 PM

At about 12:30 PM, I have lunch with friends on the level 10 balcony. I usually pack my own lunch but on the nights I’m lazy, I will buy some sushi from the store next door.

1:00 PM

Begin working on a release due at 2 PM with data coming out at 1:30 PM. We usually have an automated process for this, but we still like to prewrite some potential commentary just so we can be on the ball when 1:30 PM rolls around. This process also involves a drafter and quality assurance who will review the work and ensure the numbers and narrative are correct.

2:00 PM

Graduate training begins in part two of our project management workshop. In this training, we learn how to manage a project in two parts, both are relatively practical, and I found it quite useful. This training was also organised to prepare us for the Major Project we are undertaking.

4:00 PM

16:00 rolls around and I begin to pack up and leave the office. I take the light rail home which is only about a 5-minute walk from the office. Sometimes I’ll make a quick detour to Coles or Aldi on the way. It’s super convenient that we are so close to Canberra Central.

4:30 PM

I arrive home at about 4:20 PM and get changed to head to the gym. On my rest days, I’ll just get changed into more comfortable clothes and just relax, watch something before making dinner.

6:30 PM

I have dinner around this time. I usually make enough at the beginning of each week to last me the whole week. Otherwise, I’ll make something simple like dumplings sandwiches.

7:00 PM

After dinner, I like to rest a bit more before taking a shower and calling my partner, who is still in Melbourne. This will usually last me until I fall asleep, which is usually around 12am.

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