A Day in the Life of Tate Steinour, Senior Software Engineering Consultant

Ever wondered what a day in the life of one of our consultants looks like? This series dives into the details! Today, we’re spotlighting Tate Steinour, a Senior Software Engineering Consultant based in Richmond, VA. Here’s a glimpse into their typical day: 

Morning 

I usually start my day around 7 a.m., which is much earlier than it used to be – my puppy, Barkley, has officially taken over my schedule. The first order of business is a walk with him to get both of us moving. Between then and 8:30 or so, I’ll read (I’m a big reader) or dig into my side hustle. 

Then, I head into the UDig office. I work remotely sometimes, but lately I’ve been going in more because our project team has a great Richmond crew, and it’s nice to be in the room with everyone. 

Once I’m settled, I facilitate our daily standup. My current project, which is a pretty wild one—is with a client that does $30+ billion in revenue using a legacy green screen system. It’s all keyboard-driven, super dated. We’re building a modern user interface over that system to streamline everything: checkouts, inventory visibility, training – you name it. It’s a huge efficiency upgrade and will make a major impact on both speed and retention. 

Most of my mornings are heads-down: reviewing pull requests from other devs, giving feedback, merging code. If there’s not much review work, I’ll be developing features or prepping documents for the afternoon’s meetings. I try to be as productive as possible before lunch hits. 

Lunch 

If I’m working from home, the panini press is in heavy rotation. But when I’m in the office, I usually hop over to Ukrop’s Market – it’s right next door and makes lunch easy. 

Lunch is also a great time to reset. If I’ve been coding hard all morning, I’ll use that time to step away from the screen, connect with a teammate, or just take a mental breather. 

Afternoon 

After lunch, I like to take a quick walk around the office park. It’s a nice way to break up the day and keep the energy up before diving back in.

Afternoons tend to be more meeting-heavy – lots of 1:1s with team members since I’m in a leadership role on the project. I really value those conversations. It’s a chance to check in on how people are doing and help them grow in their roles. 

Between meetings, I’m still coding and pushing my own work forward. I like to get my changes submitted before the day wraps so I can get feedback and hit the ground running the next morning. 

The in-office setup makes a huge difference. The team feels really tight – we’re constantly bouncing ideas off each other. Even beyond the project team, leadership at UDig is super accessible. Reid, Gordon, Josh… they’re all around and checking in, so it feels like there’s always an open door if we want to brainstorm or need a gut check. 

After Work

I’m pretty intentional about movement after a day at the desk – otherwise I’ll just feel stiff and zonked. So, I usually hit a HIIT class, go to hot yoga, play some tennis or golf. Anything active to clear my head. 

One of the things I love about working at UDig is the culture. It’s laid-back in the best way – we’re getting a ton done, but no one’s breathing down your neck. Coming from a more traditional, high-stress consulting environment, that’s been huge for me. I’m still growing and learning every day, but without all the unnecessary pressure. 

Working at UDig has given me the chance to make a real impact – like, go-into-the-store-and-see-what-you-built kind of impact. At past jobs, the work felt more abstract. You’d wonder if anything you worked on ever made it out into the world. Here, we see the results and know we’re making a difference.