Martina

Why did you come to work at DC Energy?
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to work on solving problems in an environment that encouraged creativity and independence. When I visited the office after receiving my offer, I was struck by how smart and friendly all the people were. Having been here for three years, the collegial and collaborative atmosphere at DC Energy is still one of my favorite things about the job.

What responsibilities do you have?
Every day, I need to start with a nice hot mug of coffee (I have been trying to switch to tea) and some breakfast. Otherwise, I am a little cranky. Then, depending on the time of the month, I either spend the day preparing for an FTR auction or working on long-term projects. If I am preparing for an auction, my main responsibilities are to forecast electrical congestion in the Midwest and make investment recommendations accordingly. When not in auction, I spend my time on initiatives that will improve our team processes and contribute to greater firm knowledge about key concepts, such as generator outages.

What do you like most about your job?
My favorite part of the job is that I am continuously learning new, exciting, and challenging concepts, even after having been here for three years. Recently, I made it a point to tackle a new programming language commonly used for statistical computing and graphics, and the way it has improved the way I do my work has been incredibly rewarding. At times, this can be the most challenging part of the job as well - that there is always so much more to learn and master, and it doesn't always feel like there is enough time. However, because it is still a fairly small company, it is easier to see the effects of your work on the bottom line. So when you do overcome a challenge, you see how your work has affected the whole firm and that is often very satisfying.

What do you do outside of work?
I bake, read fiction, and play on the company softball and frisbee teams. Whenever I can, I travel. This spring, I visited Madrid and Barcelona with some friends, where I fell in love with Gaudi and ate a lot of tapas. I also love to eat, and there are many people at DC Energy who share my passion. A few of us even started a Lox Cohort, where we take turns bringing lox and tomatoes to eat with the free bagels provided by the company on Fridays.

What have you learned at DCE that you were surprised to learn but are glad you did?
That there are several factors that contribute to workplace happiness. I had never really considered trading energy as a profession before coming to DC Energy, so I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it. However, I have found that other variables, such as a good team, fun people to work with, interesting problems to solve, and a good relationship with your manager have a significant impact on how much you enjoy what you are doing. Sometimes I think we could be doing something else, like making kites, and it would still be a fun job if all these other factors remained constant.