213 - Matías Calderón Bourband
Matías Calderón Bourband is based in Argentina with his partner Euge, their 8-month baby Lola and their cat Marte.
He's a Project Manager transitioning into Product Management to lead their post-purchase digital products at Basepaws, a petcare genetics company. It's a dream job for him because growing up he wanted to be a biologist, and here he gets the chance to work with technology at a company that's helping pet parents and veterinarians identify signs of active disease (via our oral health test) and know if a pet is genetically predisposed to the health conditions for which we screen.
Twitter → twitter.com/matias
Items:
- 16" MacBook Pro M1 Pro
- 27" LG QHD Ergo Monitor
- iPad Pro M1 2021 w/ Logitech Combo Touch keyboard case and Apple Pencil
- Magic Keyboard
- Magic Trackpad
- Magic Mouse
- Airpods Max
- Opal C1 Webcam
- Wau Mesh Chair
Tools:
- Trello
- Figma
- Slack
- Notion
- GitHub
- Google Drive
- Notability (iPad)
What is your favorite item in your workspace?
It has to be my desk. Nothing super outstanding about it, just a wooden desk that I think is beautifully designed and built. Back in 2020, going fully remote because of the pandemic, my home workspace wasn't great. Started looking at desks and fell in love with this one, but it was too expensive at the time for me. Buying it was somewhat symbolic for me.
I also love my MacBook. It's just a great great product. Apple nailed it with this iteration.
How do you spark creativity?
I started my career as a designer and still work closely with designers daily. I follow design blogs and Instagram accounts, and lately, I've been more inclined to editorial design than UX/UI design when looking for fresh air or inspiration. On a different note, when I'm blocked, I either spend some time with our baby, cook something nice, or take our cat to the patio and try to clear my head.
How do you manage work-life balance?
This has been a pain point for me since going fully remote and even more this year after our daughter was born, but it's also a residue from my entrepreneur career. I can't say I'm winning this battle, but I'm trying to do my best. One thing is for sure; I can no longer work on a 9-to-5 basis as if I were at an office. So lately, I've just been trying to acknowledge this and find time slots during the day that help me keep some balance. It's a work in progress.
I've also noticed that while I love my workspace and worked hard to get it to a point where I'm satisfied with it, I sometimes need to work somewhere else, so it's not out of the ordinary that I go to a coffee shop and change context a little bit for a few hours.
What do you think is the main benefit of remote work?
For me, the main benefit is actually being able to build my workspace the way I want to. And something that I haven't read many folks mention, but it's significant for me is being able to eat home-cooked food daily (and just being able to cook!)! Also, no commute <3.
