Rachel Jefferson

6.30 AM

Wake up and get ready for the day. Pack my laptop and work things into my bag. Make myself a much-needed coffee in my keep-cup and race off to the bus.

7:45 AM

I sit on the bus, sipping my coffee and zone out listening to early 2000s rock or a favourite podcast either Julia Gillard’s A Podcast of One’s Own or Florence Given’s Exactly.

8:30 AM

I arrive at the office and swipe my pass on the way in. I sit down at my favourite desk and login into my laptop and virtual environment. While the system loads, I pop my lunch in the fridge and prepare my brekkie while I have a chat to my teammates.

I spend some time looking through my emails and replying to anything urgent that may have come through after I logged off yesterday. I have a chat to my supervisor to let them know what I understand my work for the day to be and I organise my to-do list for the day.

9:00 AM

I start on the first task on my to-do list, which is validating (proof-reading) a SAS program to ensure it is ready for production. The program was built using test data from 2016 and now needs to be run using the 2021 data inputs. After ascertaining that everything is working as it should, I run the program in the production environment and take a look at the log to confirm that there are no errors.

I am currently working in the Rebasing team in Demography which is a team that is only formed every five years after a Census year. We are responsible for producing the new population base from the most recent Census, with the rebased estimates superseding all previously released estimates.

10.00 AM

It is normally around this time that I need another coffee so I head downstairs with my friend and across the road to a café. Morning coffees are a great chance to catch up with friends or mentors and learn about the different and exciting work going on across the agency.

10.30 AM

Every week we have a Population Estimates and Projections (PEP) team meeting. The PEP and Rebasing teams work side-by-side, so it is useful to go along and hear about how work in this team connects with what I am working on. 

11.00 AM

I return to my desk to investigate the output data I produced earlier in the day. I create a program to plot a time series of the results, calculating growth rates and interrogating the data through comparison with other data confrontation sources. I make sure I am documenting my work as I go so my team members can understand what I have done and can validate my work.

12:30 PM

It is finally lunch time! I am usually very hungry by this point in the day, so I heat up my lunch and head up to level 6 to meet some friends in the common area. Sometimes I will go for a wander with some mates down to Lake Ginninderra to soak up some sun before returning to the office, but it is winter in Canberra, and it is just too cold to be outside!

1:30 PM

Back from lunch and feeling refreshed to continue with the analysis I was working on earlier in the day.

2:00 PM

I have a meeting with the Rebasing team where we all provide an update of what we are working on for the week and the main priorities for the coming month. We present some of our work to the Director for approval so we can push forward with the rebasing process.

3:00 PM

After the meeting I have a chat to my supervisor, to see if I can help with anything they have been working on. I update some code to analyse the output of an adjustment they have been developing and we take a look at the results together.

3:45 PM

Off for a coffee break and a walk with a teammate to stretch our legs.

4:00 PM

I start work on documenting the rebasing process for communication with management and in readiness for data release.

5:30 PM

I start to pack up my things and say goodbye to my team as I head to the bus stop. I catch the bus to Weetangera for powerlifting training, having a quick snack enroute.

6:00 PM

Today is a deadlift and bench day so I warm up with some stretches and light body weight training while chatting with my friends.

6:30 PM

We get started on the workout. I am training for my first competition, so we are focussing on the competition calls for each lift as well as building strength.

8:00 PM

My friend gives me a lift home, so I don’t have to wait in the cold for the bus!

8:15 PM

I have some dinner and winddown for the day by watching Netflix, catching up on the new season of Ozark.

9:30 PM

I have a quick shower and prepare the lunch and snacks I want to bring to work tomorrow while listening to some tunes.

10:30 PM

Time to head off to bed with a book or another podcast!