Mike Hodge

His Work: Build Engineer (within a software company)

“I like having this space but I want be able to be functional elsewhere.” “More of an internal space that I want to create here.”

Mr. Mike Hodge tells me about creating a space where you can get your work done is more about creating an internal space. He tells me that “As long as I have a good comfort level in what I’m doing than usually working with a team, or working alone, or working on a project I can be pretty easy going about whatever’s happening. It’s when you get thrown into an area where you don’t know what’s going on or what’s expected, those are things that create a level of anxiety. So trying to figure out how to become comfortable quickly in a certain space, that’s all.” He explains to me that once you become comfortable in the space and with the work and can answer the questions being asked that “creates an inner awareness, so that you can be productive. That helps create an ease and feel like you’re actually contributing and moving forward.”

I ask Mr. Hodge what it’s like to work here and he says “It’s intense, there’s always a lot to do and short deadlines to do it. But it’s not just like intense without support. They know it’s an intense environment so they plan these things to drag you away from your desk and do something else.” “There’s a certain intensity here” “primarily because of their very aggressive schedules and they self-select for people that will work well in a more intense environment.” I mention that it seems like a really busy and fast paced environment and he says “and that’s where really kind of creating your own space can help you really get the work done.” This is when he tells me that he wants to create an internal space here so I ask him how he does that. He tells me that by having his personal things on his laptop like photos and music, and his headphones are quite important too. He says “I have a couple of things to turn around and look at but most of it I keep in the laptop.”

I ask Mr. Hodge to tell me about his workspace and he says “probably the most important thing that I have in my workspace would be this—the headphones. Because I can listen to the radio or listen to music or stuff while I’m doing work.” “It helps to kind of block out whatever anybody else is doing so that I can focus on what I’m doing. But you know, it’s very easy to pop in and out of headphones if you need to work with somebody.” He says the headphones definitely reduce distractions.

I ask him if he likes his workspace and how he feels about it “I like my workspace here because it has the three monitors and just, you know I can work anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. That’s really the main thing is the internet connection because we can do the phone, the IP phone through that. It was kind of weird the first time a guy from India called me at home through my computer.” He says that he feels comfortable in his workspace and that “you just kind of get used to being in a certain space.” I ask him about the flexibility of his position and if he ever works from home. He tells me “I actually find it less distracting to come in.” “So I probably could work from home more but it’s just easier for me to focus here in this space.” “Mainly it’s just the idea of being in a separate space that is designated as work.”

He tells me “I’ve had an office before at a different job, and it was nice to be able to close the door to really focus on things or if you’re working with people being able to have a space that can be much more separate. So you know I wouldn’t turn one down but being in a cube and being near a bunch of people it helps you. If we were all in our offices with our doors shut there would be a certain amount of isolation you’d have to force working together a lot more than you do here. And it’s very easy and there have been times where I needed help and one of the other guys would come and lend their experience. So there are advantages and disadvantages.” I tell him that it sounds like there is a teamwork environment that you wouldn’t get in a closed office setting and he says “but I don’t think anyone here would turn down an office if it was offered to them.”

When I ask Mr. Hodge to put his experience with his work into a few words he says “intense” “exciting” and “the opportunity to learn.” He tells me “it’s not figuring out how to do the job and doing the same thing for 20 years.” He says there are a lot of things changing all the time and that the company looks for people that are adaptable and willing to learn. It’s a fast paced work environment and he says “they want you to be very nimble.”