5:45 AM: My day starts with catching the Blue Line heading to Rosemont, where a
company shuttle picks me up and takes me the rest of the way to work. I use this
time to read on the train, usually finishing a book or two each week. It’s a peaceful
start to the day.

6:45 AM: I settle in at my desk with a fresh mug of free coffee and catch up on
Slack. As the lead of two Production reliability teams, my first task is to check in on
our systems—no alerts or work requests this morning, which is always a good sign!
I dive into my heads-down work, focusing on automating direct deposit payments
from customers. Today’s to-do list includes setting up secure FTP protocols with
our banks, expanding data models to accommodate new information, and testing
our payment ingestion flow.

10:00 AM: My teammates arrive around 8:30 or 9:00 AM, and our first meeting
kicks off at 10:00. We’re discussing the rollout of a new feature that requires
coordination across teams for data changes and software migration. We map out
the timeline, assign ownership, and create a recovery plan in case things don’t go as expected. Our implementation manager from Remittance Processing joins to
advise on the best time for installation, which helps us reduce any rollout risks.

​

11:45 AM: Time for a break! I start a “lunch train” using a Slack bot that lets
people know where and when I’m eating, so others can join. A couple of coworkers
hop on, and we grab a long table in the cafeteria to eat together.

12:30 – 3:30 PM: Recently, I was assigned a new team to oversee, so I split my
afternoon between reviewing their project documentation and meeting with
stakeholders to better understand priorities. I have one-on-one check-ins with
engineers and review code for an upcoming software install the team is planning
for later this week.

​

3:50 PM: In on the first shuttle, out on the first shuttle. I catch the Blue Line home
and arrive around 5:00 PM, leaving me plenty of time to either take or teach a
yoga class in the evening. It's the perfect balance to a productive day!

​

Learn more about Jenna!

What’s your favorite Harvard memory?
“There are so many to choose from...one of my favorite traditions we had in my
freshman year dorm was a weekly Doctor Who viewing session with the entryway
supervisors. They always made homemade popcorn!”

Why McMaster-Carr?
“I’m an ex-pre-med. I was going to take a gap year before applying to med school
and then decided my senior year that I didn’t want to go. I had written a senior
honors thesis and knew I didn’t want a career in academia. I was looking for a
third path as a biology major. McMaster-Carr was an opportunity to build a brand-new skill set in a growing, lucrative industry. That’s why I joined. Why I’ve stayed for

9 years is the variety of topics I’ve gotten to work on (everything from warehouse automation to data warehousing), the caliber of colleagues I work with, and the company culture of continuous learning.

Favorite part of working at McMaster-Carr:
“I get to solve puzzles all day. I can honestly say that I don’t have boring days at
work!”

Favorite hobby outside of work:
“Yoga. I have my RYT-200 certification.”
 

Full-Time Opportunity Overview