How is it possible that it’s been more than a year since the pandemic started? At DesignHammer, we are all grateful to have emerged from this crisis safe and sound. In this blog, the team took the opportunity to reflect back on the past year and comment on its challenges as well as unexpected silver linings.
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
A big part of my job requires getting heads-down and writing code. It's challenging to get into the flow in a house full of people having video calls.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
As a group we have put a lot of effort into developing our remote work techniques so that we all work more efficiently not being in the same office. I expect a lot of that experience to continue to be relevant once the office re-opens.
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
Like many, I have taken up a variety of new hobbies. It's been fun to explore and develop some new skills over the last year. An example is, I got an airbrush and have learned to build and paint models.
— Jay Roberts, Lead Developer
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
While our team and our clients have stayed closely connected via Slack and GoToMeeting, some kinds of collaboration (such as brainstorming with a whiteboard or ad hoc scoping discussions) are just not as easy remotely. We have had to be more focused on scheduling internal collaboration time and have not found a great replacement for the good old whiteboard at the conference table.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
I've gotten a lot more used to video calls and see the value in using them over non-video calls in many instances. I also have enjoyed not having a commute each morning and evening (don't miss driving in traffic, even for values of RDU traffic).
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
For several weeks of the pandemic, I worked from home with my then-fiance (now husband) which gave each other a unique look into aspects of our personalities that we may not have as likely to have seen otherwise. Unfortunately, I have not able to pick-up any new hobbies or the like as it feels as though my time has been more restricted since starting to work from home :-(
— Tiffany Cissel, Developer
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
The most challenging part of working during the pandemic has been childcare. My two kids, now in fourth and first grades, have been in virtual school for over a year now. My wife and I, both with jobs requiring multiple calls and video conferences per day have to balance also being school monitors as well as parents. Making sure kids are in the correct Zoom session at the right time, are actually paying attention to class, and helping with their schoolwork is a contestant distraction from our job responsibilities. Add to this providing tech support, enforcing outside recess time, and preparing healthy snacks on demand on top of the normally expected homework review, school project supervision, test preparation leads to many late nights trying to stay up on job responsibilities. My wife and I are really looking forward to our kids return to their year-round in-person school in July.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
Scheduling has become much easier. By not having to travel to meetings with clients or prospects, we typically save hours per week. Not attending out-of-town in-person conferences saves days of travel time, as well as not being away from home. I have also been able to attend virtual conferences I never would have been able to, based on time and expense, had they had not been for the pandemic.
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
One of the silver linings of the pandemic was a project I have spent time helping my now seven-year-old daughter with. She missed not being able to see her grandparents due to COVID lockdowns in early 2020 and was interested in participating in birthday card drives for seniors isolated from friends and family. She was connected to a veteran’s group online and began sending birthday greetings, as well as follow-up letters and photos. So far, she has sent over seventy cards and letters with photos in total to over a dozen women who served in the US military during World War II. All served in either the US Coast Guard SPARS or the US Navy WAVES. The veterans, all women who are now between 96 and 106 years old, live across the US from Maine to California and North Dakota to Texas. The WAVES and SPARS share stories of life growing in the 1920s and 1930s, many in rural America, their time in service during WWII, as well as the joy my daughter’s correspondence bring to them.
My second silver lining was helping my wife create a YouTube channel. The channel, Cocktails Under Quarantine, is all about helping people learn how to make craft cocktails at home through a combination of recipes, book and spirit reviews, and interviews with other content creators. The first video was intended only for friends and family, shot and uploaded to Facebook straight off her iPhone, and admittedly had pretty awful production value. Over the next twenty-five episodes we upgraded equipment and learned about audio recording, lighting, and editing, to the point that the latest results are pretty decent. While always just a project my wife and I could have fun doing together, we somehow acquired a small following, and the videos have been viewed thousands of times, with regular requests for recipes or reviews of particular spirits. Our hopes to further improve the quality of our content, and continue the channel post pandemic.
— David Minton, Managing Partner
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
We lost the opportunity to simply walk over to someone's desk and brainstorm about issues we may be having with a work-related task. Plus we never get to see each other unless it's through video chat. I know this may sound crazy but I actually miss seeing my co-workers 5 days a week.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
I still go to the office every day, so that aspect has not changed. Well except that the office is usually void of people. But for me, the most positive part is the lack of traffic on the roads. It's starting to fill back up over the past few months, but it's still not near the level it was before the pandemic. I think I've only been in 1 or 2 traffic jams since this all started.
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
I've been able to spend more time with my family which I really appreciate. Before the pandemic, they were always out doing something that keep them busy. And now that their favorite activities aren't available, along with the many restrictions, they stay home more.
— Frank Yonnetti, Partner / Designer
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
As many others have stated, the lack of social interaction has probably been the most difficult thing to cope with over the past year. It's difficult from both a morale and a productivity standpoint. In terms of morale, working form a virtual setting discourages social interaction with colleagues and I have not kept up with all the "happenings" in everyone's lives. From a productivity standpoint, it's a lot more difficult to provide and recieve immediate responses from team members via Slack than it would have been to simply walk 10 steps over to their desks from across the office. I've also missed out on the opportunity to meet new people at in-person at various conferences and networking events, so expanding DesignHammer's network and keeping up with professional communities has also been difficult.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
I have to admit I don't mind gaining the extra hour everyday that would have been spent driving to and from the office through RTP traffic. Extra sleep has definitely been good for my psyche and has also probably been beneficial to me in terms of personal productivity. We already had a pretty flexible work-life balance at DesignHammer pre-pandemic, but having less personal interactions (and even less client interactions) means I have had even more personal freedom to mold my work schedule in a way that best fits my needs.
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
The pandemic has given me more time to connect with my partner who is also working from home. Before the pandemic I always disliked the act of cooking and would often eat out more than I'm proud to admit, but as working from home has gifted me with extra time and energy, I decided to start cooking daily. Turns out I'm actually pretty good at it, and it also turns out that weekly meal prepping and planning becomes less overwhelming with both practice, and a plethora of newly mastered recipes to choose from. I also took the WFH opportunity to adopt a new puppy since I knew I would be able to give it much more attention given the new circumstances than I would have been able to had I been commuting to an office every day.
— Hunter Deschepper, Account Manager
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
The virtual interaction with the team is just very different. Without actually being present together, there's a higher requirement to maintain connection and camaraderie, and sometimes that doesn't happen. Additionally, it's harder to be aware of everyone's workload, so it's easier to overload someone at any specific time. And yes, I may go a bit stir crazy sometimes ;)
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
The fact that I've been able to be at home since my son was born in January has been a huge positive, and has greatly reduced the stress that I would have felt being at work during those first few months.
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
Well, my son was born January 2nd, so there's that ;) I mean, the pandemic didn't make that happen, but it's still a pretty big life goal. Also, being able to be home with my wife more (she works over the weekends, so we don't have any days off together) has been nice, even more so after Holden was born.
— Michael Nicholson, Project Manager
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
Around the time the world started working from home, 2 big life changes happened: the nanny for our then 1-year-old started to become less available, and ultimately pregnant, and I moved to an open floor plan loft. Managing a child learning to walk and climb amidst work made life difficult for sure. Also the loss of immediate collaboration with co-workers took a minute to get used to.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
Without the, admittedly enjoyable, distractions working in an office offers, it's been easy to knock out pockets at work at once. Also, as our office has a mostly open work environment it's easier to make client or sales calls, or be less distracted by others calls and meetings.
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
I've been around more to take the dog for a walk, to be able to drop off and pick up my son from school. A quick trip to the park, or a walk around the neighborhood is much easier than it used to be, and since I've been home more with less desire to watch TV, I've probably read over 150 books the last year or so.
— Dave Shepley, Development Strategist
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
I personally am able to work at the office, but everyone else is working remotely, so of course there are going to be struggling with trying to communicate over the phone about projects and what needs to be done. I have also affirmed even more with myself that I hate talking on the phone and over video, I'm definitely ready for that to be over.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
I've surprisingly actually been able to work more because of the pandemic and I have a more stable work schedule. Thankfully because of this I can know what my day-to-day looks like and I can be home and have free time and also spend time with my husband.
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
Well, I got married and was able to have a small and intimate wedding with the people I most cared about! I also moved into a new apartment and became a plant mom. And finally like I stated earlier, I have a more stable schedule in general so I'm able to spend more time at home with my family.
— Madelyn Mattsson-Boze, Graphic Designer
How has working through the pandemic made work more difficult for you?
While our team and our clients have stayed closely connected via Slack and GoToMeeting, some kinds of collaboration (such as brainstorming with a whiteboard or ad hoc scoping discussions) are just not as easy remotely. We have had to be more focused on scheduling internal collaboration time and have not found a great replacement for the good old whiteboard at the conference table.
Has it affected your work life in any positive ways?
I've gotten a lot more used to video calls and see the value in using them over non-video calls in many instances. I also have enjoyed not having a commute each morning and evening (don't miss driving in traffic, even for values of RDU traffic).
Have you found there to be any silver linings for you personally over the past year of the pandemic?
We moved in to a new house just before the stay-at-home orders came out, so we have had a year to unpack and settle in.
—Stephen Pashby, Account Manager
As you can see, the pandemic has imposed many challenges on the DesignHammer team. But, we’ve also managed to figure out how to thrive, work together virtually, and even pick up some new skills! We hope that you have gotten through the pandemic safely and are looking forward to seeing you in person! As always, if you need a smarter website, contact us!
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