Working at Prudential A Day in the Life of a Prudential Employee: Bayo Koiki 

Job:  Technology Relationship Manager, Prudential Financial
City:  Newark, NJ
Twitter:  @PruTalent

6:30 am:  My alarm goes off. Before I get out of bed, I grab my phone, quickly scan my emails, and take a look at my calendar. It looks like it’s going to be a busy day at  Prudential Financial, where I work in relationship management as part of our Global Business and Technology Solutions division.

7:00 am:  I roll out of bed and wake my two boys, Ife, who’s 8 years old, and Temi, age 6. I help them brush their teeth, take a shower, and get dressed. Then my wife, Anwulika, makes them waffles before she leaves for work. While my kids are eating, I take a quick shower and then get dressed while I watch the local news. Once I’m ready to go, I grab a delicious strawberry, banana, and kale smoothie from the fridge (many thanks to my incredible wife!) and usher the kids out the door.

8:30 am:  We’re on our way! I drop the kids off at the bus stop and begin my drive to work. I often visit Prudential’s offices in Woodbridge and Roseland for meetings, but my main desk is at one of Prudential’s four office buildings in Newark, NJ, where I’m headed now. En route, I dial into my first virtual meeting of the day, a conference call with members of my Scrum Team. We’re working together to enhance a project management tool for our clients, and, as a global team with members in the US, Ireland, and India, we make sure to connect at a time that works for multiple time zones.

9:30 am:  I walk into my office – a historic 20-story building, which was once used as a U.S. military base during World War II. The office is always bustling with activity; lots of friendly banter goes hand in hand with hard work, which makes the day go by faster. As I make my way to the third floor, I greet my colleagues. Prudential is one of the largest financial services companies, and I work with a ton of smart, ambitious people. Together, we’re on a mission to build a better financial future for our customers across the globe. And it’s my job to make sure our tech runs smoothly so we can deliver secure, customer-driven solutions across every area of the company. I sit down at my desk, amidst the rest of the relationship management team and my fellow technology folk, and log in to my computer. After scanning my emails and checking for any missed calls, I sort my daily tasks in order of priority.

10:00 am:  Meeting time! I gather with my business partners to discuss a project I’m running to upgrade video teleconferencing for all conference rooms in the building. We touch base on deadlines, goals, and next steps. We’re aiming to complete the upgrade by the end of Q1 2019.

11:00 am:  My mornings are often packed with meetings, and today is no exception. After I wrap up with my business partners, I head into another meeting with a mobile app developer. I recently attended a briefing on new technologies, where I learned about Prudential’s new “identity management” tool, which can integrate with mobile apps. I called this meeting to relay these findings to the mobile app developer so their team can apply this tech to the design of a new app for my business partners. Incorporating this new tool (which has features such as biometric reading) enhances the end-user experience. It’s a win-win scenario for all concerned!

12:00 pm:  I don’t have any lunch plans today, so I eat at my desk and catch up on the latest tech news. I peruse my Flipboard news feed, reading up on new start-ups and the technologies they’re proposing. I always try to keep an eye on emerging markets and Silicon Valley, and I love learning about cool innovations.

1:00 pm:  Back to work! I connect with my manager to discuss a few of my ongoing projects. First up is a check-in regarding our progress in providing virtual desktops for 20 new consultants that are about to be onboarded by our business partners. Next, we brainstorm some ideas for how to incorporate yet another Prudential business on utilizing Amazon’s Alexa technology.

2:00 pm:  I sync with our networking team to touch base about some network gear that needs replacing. This equipment allows for constant transmissions between our investment business and an outside vendor, so we can’t simply swap out the old one without coordinating with all stakeholders. Instead, we’re devising a plan to make the change after hours and arranging to have testers on standby to ensure everything goes smoothly. We’re all about planning and precision, so we will have many more technical discussions (and “back out” plans in place) before implementing this upgrade.

3:00 pm:  It’s a beautiful day and I need to stretch my legs, so I invite my colleague to join me on a walk to Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee. I always like to take a break in the afternoon. It clears my head and energizes me. As we walk, we chat about our summer plans and the FIFA World Cup.

3:15 pm:  Back from my coffee break, I spend the rest of the hour catching up on tasks I need to accomplish for the day.

4:00 pm:  I check in with the rest of the tech team and am sure to give them any notes or follow-ups before they leave for the day. Then, I settle down at my desk. After a day filled with meetings, this is my chance for some uninterrupted work. At this quieter time of day, I’m able to review documents, PowerPoint slides, and Excel spreadsheets. Today, I’m focused on reviewing current technology operating costs for one of our small businesses and comparing them to projected costs.

6:00 pm:  At the end of the work day, I take a final inventory of my projects to make sure they’re all moving forward. Then I check my calendar to ensure I’m prepared for tomorrow’s meetings. Once I’m confident that I’m prepped and ready to go, I take a final glance at my inbox and task list then leave for the day. This was a long one. Most days aren’t like this, but I love having a job where I lose track of time sometimes. It makes it easy to put in a few extra hours when I need to.

7:00 pm:  I make it home in time to put my kids to bed. Then my wife and I eat dinner together. This is our time to unwind from the day and catch up. We always end our meals with delicious hot tea from South Africa.

10:00 pm:  I watch the news for a little bit, then call it a night. After such an eventful day, it doesn’t take me long to fall asleep.

Image by Cherisse Thurab

This article originally appeared on Jopwell.com.  Prudential is a Jopwell partner company.

Prudential is an equal opportunity employer (veterans/disability). EEO is the law. 1006128-00001-00