Name: Sam Edwards

Career Life Span: 10+ years

What do you do: As Lead Front End Developer I oversee the user facing portion of the Flexa website, working closely with the design and back-end team members to build new pages and features.

MONDAY

6.30 am: As a dad of two, Hudson (4) and Oakley (1), my day starts at the crack of dawn with a few hours of pretending to be a dinosaur, playing with toy cars, and making breakfast for four. My wife and I take turns looking after the boys in the mornings so one of us gets a much needed lay in.

8.00am: I'm predominantly remote (I go to the office once a month), so there isn’t a rush around to get ready and out the door in the mornings. With no traffic to beat or train to catch I can throw on some comfortable clothes, have a coffee, and catch up on any messages on the work Slack channel.

9.00am: Before Oakley arrived, I had a spare bedroom that I used as an office space where I could lock myself away and get my work done. However, when he came, he needed his own room, so my office is now a converted cupboard at the top of the stairs (think Harry Potter but without the magic).

10.30am: After about an hour of work, I join the Flexa product team's morning stand-up video call. During this meeting, we review the backlog, provide updates on task progress, and discuss any issues that may have arisen.

12.30pm: I like to use my lunch break as a chance to escape the cupboard and get some fresh air. Sometimes this means a simple walk to the shop but when the weather's nice I like to get down the driving range to hit some poorly struck golf balls.

5.00 pm: Log off and start to short commute down the stairs straight into Dad life once again. I will admit sometimes this transition can be a bit jarring especially when the boys are hungry or if they want me to pretend to be a horse after a busy day of work.

TUESDAY

8.00 am: My turn for a lay in today so I wake up, check Slack messages and make my way downstairs for breakfast and more piggybacks.

9.00 am: I head to my cupboard office to start work. We are currently undertaking a substantial revamp of the Flexa website, so I have many page redesigns to complete. I'm fortunate to work with a very talented designer, Fliss, whose new designs look fantastic. It's always a rewarding feeling to build such great looking pages.

10.30 am: Join the stand up and catch up on what the rest of my team has been up to. It’s not all work talk, often we chat about what we have been doing outside of work, such as David’s globetrotting or if i'm getting nervous about Arsenal potentially winning the league (we will know by the time this goes out 😬).

12.30 pm: Make some lunch at home for me and the rest of the family. It’s nice to sit down together in the middle of the day and if it’s nice out we can get in the garden for a bit before I head back to work.

3.30 pm: I have my weekly one-on-one with my manager, Tim, to discuss my progress and any support I might need from him. We often use this time to explore new technologies that we might potentially implement on the platform.

5.00 pm: Log off and build rocket ships out of Lego.

8.00 pm: Get some much needed run around playing 5-a-side football with a bunch of other dads.

WEDNESDAY

6.30 am: It's my turn to get up with the kids, and today I also need to get my oldest ready for preschool while my wife prepares for work. Flexible working arrangements allow me to handle school drop-offs and pick-ups without any guilt, enabling my wife to focus on advancing her own career as well.

9.00 am: I have the house for myself on Wednesdays so I set myself up to work in the living room where I have more space and can watch some background golf while I work.

10.30 am: Join the product stand up and get to work building the new homepage of the Flexa website.

3.15 pm: Time to collect Hudson from preschool. We catch up about his day and have some nice one to one time before I jump back on the laptop and finish off any work for the day.

5.00 pm: Log off and play hide and seek with a one year old (he’s rubbish)

8.00 pm: Wanted to make a little more headway with the new website build so did another hour or so’s work after the kids were in bed.

THURSDAY

8.00 am: Another morning of pre-school run chaos but I'm glad to be there for it and not be stuck in traffic like I would have been 5 years ago.

9.00 am: I dive into updating most of the inner pages and components of the website with the new theming guide that Fliss put together. There's a lot to get through, but it will look great when it's all done.

10.30 am: On the stand up we discuss how we are going to update the data side of the blog section of the website and what variants of components we need to create.

12.30 pm: I head to the driving range to figure out why I snap-hook my driver one out of every five times. It's great to get some sunshine, and I find that I'm much more focused in the afternoon if I leave the house for an hour during lunch.

4.00 pm: At Flexa, we set aside time once a week for a casual "Slacking Off" meeting, where we play games or chat about random topics. We found that these sorts of things can be really important with remote companies and it’s nice to have some interaction with the wider team. This week, we played "Two Lies and a Truth," which was great fun.

5.00 pm: I log off and play football with the kids in the garden. Even though it's two against one, I win pretty convincingly after Oakley decides to chase after a bee.

FRIDAY

6.30 am: Get awoken early again but always easier when the sun is shining. I make breakfast for the family and get the oldest ready for preschool.

9.00 am: Today, I'm working on mobile optimizations for some of the new pages on the website. Since a large majority of our traffic comes from mobile users, it's crucial to ensure the website functions well on all screen sizes.

10.30 am: I provide an update and preview of the work I have done throughout the week so we can test and get any feedback.

2.00 pm: At Flexa, we work a 4.5-day week and finish at 2pm on Fridays. This makes a significant difference to our family life, as my wife finishes at 1pm, allowing us to spend Friday afternoons all together. This week, we visited the local zoo and enjoyed the sunshine while eating ice cream. The extra few hours every Friday truly make it feel like a long weekend every single time.

What does your flexible working week look like?