Day In The Life Of A Lululemon Scrum Master

Demerson Neves works as a scrum master at Lululemon HQ in Vancouver.

The athletic apparel and technical clothing company is one of Canada's most recognized brands. As a scrum master, Demerson's day is filled with different responsibilities including: working with and for the team in several initiatives, coaching, mentoring, helping remove roadblocks and keeping the team energized.

Read about Demerson's journey to this point, and what the Intro to Web Development part-time course did to help elevate his career.

Tell me about yourself prior to the part-time course

Before my part-time course at Lighthouse Labs, I was working at Central 1 in a hybrid role between project manager and scrum master, with a team focused in Java development. Prior to that, I worked for Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), and HSBC, always around development projects, either as a scrum master, project manager or project coordinator.

All these teams had one thing in common in regards to the technology: due to the nature of the businesses, there is a need to support old technology, and there is not a lot of room for innovation.

I took the web development part-time course, and that provided me with enough tools to walk my own path, and know what I need to do next if I want to learn more.

I have a diploma in computer networks, a bachelor's degree in business administration and an associate degree in project management, none of which is geared towards very modern technology. Although having that technical infrastructure background has been crucial to the way I've driven my career as a project manager, and even more so as a scrum master, I've always felt that I could be more valuable to my teams if I knew more about how developers work and think, especially with modern technology.

This is what made me want to study web development.

What made you choose Lighthouse Labs for a part-time course?

It's funny, the first time I heard about Lighthouse Labs was at a Skytrain station. I saw the ad and thought "hmmm, interesting, I might give that a go." It took me maybe two years, but COVID-19 started and I was forced to stay home day in and day out, I finally thought it was a good time to skill up on things that are not my every day challenge.

Tell me how the part-time course has impacted your experience at work.

I am not a developer and I don't intend to become one.

The instructors are super friendly and always ready to help or just have a laugh together.

That said, understanding what's going on behind the scenes, being able to read a code and know what's what, even if not perfectly, has a great impact on my work as a scrum master. I took the web development part-time course, and that provided me with enough tools to walk my own path, and know what I need to do next if I want to learn more.

What's the work culture like at Lululemon?

Lululemon is a laid back company, but very fast-paced, and full of energy everywhere I look. People really live the Lululemon "Sweat Life" and I am yet to meet anyone who does not like to be active.

What's your day-to-day look Like?

As a scrum master, my day is filled with different responsibilities working with and for the team in several initiatives, coaching, mentoring, helping remove roadblocks and keeping our awesome team energized to breath the values of Agile and Scrum and being truly high performing, one step at a time.

Have you been working on any side projects?

For a few years now I have been a part-time project coordinator with Lucalex.ca, a Toronto-based company that helps international startups (and some well established companies) to settle in Canada. I work very closely with our web admin and, although I don't develop, I've been bugging him with ideas lately...

What, if any, advice would you give to people considering a part-time course?

In my experience, after taking one of the Lighthouse Labs part-time courses, you will not be an expert in the field. You will, however, have a broad view of whatever you are studying, and will know where to go from there.

Whether you decide to go full-time, or take it slower and learn at your own pace, you'll certainly have the foundations to know how to proceed.

Any interesting stories from your time here that you want to share?

The instructors are super friendly and always ready to help or just have a laugh together.

I lived in the UK for a few years and one day I saw a tiny Manchester City scarf on the far wall behind our instructor. Now, I am a Fulham supporter and that becomes our warm up talk before every class - unfortunately Fulham hasn't been doing so well in recent years, so I would lose 100% of the arguments, but that was still funny.

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