A Day in the Life of Pablo

This week, we launched the last part of a series of episodes showing our employees’ life in Quebec City. Today, Animation Technical Director Pablo Toscano is giving a unique access to a day in his life. Enjoy!

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I have the chance to wake up every morning full of energy, ready to accomplish new challenges in a job that motivates me. As much as my days are super busy, I love a calm morning and that’s why I usually start my day slowly, knowing that the rest of my day will be really fast paced. And that is one of the things I really love about my job. We never get bored! The video game industry is so dynamic and the projects we’re working on at Ubisoft are so innovative that we’re never running out of opportunities to find new solutions to improve our way of doing things. A perfect combination of technological and artistic creativity where people around us are making a big difference. At Ubi, we’re never alone. We face challenges together. We always try to communicate in a better way. We progress and grow in a healthy and efficient environment. That’s the environment I’ve been working in for the past 14 years and that’s what I like about my job; a perfect mix of humans, challenges and creation.

5:00 AM – COLD SHOWER AND YOGA

I love starting off my day with a boost of energy. In my opinion, there’s nothing better than a cold shower to activate my system. When it’s done (and I guarantee that there’s nothing like the cold water of Québec to wake you up), I’m ready for my morning yoga practice. Usually, I do 75 minutes of yoga. It’s really good for me and it helps me keep a nice smile for the whole day.

6:30 AM – WAKING UP THE KIDS

I really like waking up the kids slowly, it’s a magical moment for me. Since we need to be ready to leave at 7:30 and we like having breakfast together, we got to get ready fast. In our breakfast, there’s always some maple syrup! I even put some in my mate (traditional tea of South America). That’s crazy! What a nice discovery I made back when I moved to Québec.

 

7:28 AM – LEAVING FOR SCHOOL

Yes, we’re still sitting at the table! We’re on the panic mode, we run and jump in the car to get to school on time! By chance, we always get to school before the bell rings.

 

 8:30 AM – READY TO START MY DAY!

The start of my day at work is going slowly. I really love being at the studio in the morning, it’s really calm. I make a quick stop at the Atrium to grab some fruits and I then I go to my work space to start reading my emails and looking at my task of the day. I have a cool desk that allows me to work standing up and I adore it!

9:00 AM TO NOON – THE MORNING

Normally, in the morning, we take advantage of the time to chat with our colleagues from Europe. In the animation department, we work a lot with people from the Montpellier and Bucharest studios. Collaborating with other studios is something I really enjoy at work. There’s a nice culture diversity at work that makes us feel like we’re constantly travelling. In our teams, we have people from all around the world!

 

NOON – IT’S NOW TIME TO TRAIN, MEDITATE AND EAT

My lunch time is never the same and it depends on my day. One of my favourite activities during the lunch break is going outside to run, whether it’s summer or winter! The Parc linéaire de la rivière St-Charles is offering us a wonderful place to go running during lunch.

On Wednesday, it’s poutine day! That’s a tradition I have with ten of my work friends. It’s good for the soul to eat some junk food sometimes. Poutine, another nice discovery I made when I arrived in Québec.

On Thursday, we stop time during the lunch break. It’s time to breathe slowly and meditate. Since I’m soon going to get my yoga teaching licence, what’s better than practising and sharing different breathing and meditation technic with my friends. The perfect occasion to relax a little bit and to give a break to the hamster that never stops running in our head.

 

1:30 PM – IT’S TIME TO DRINK MY MATE

After lunch break, there’s nothing better for me than to drink my mate. I love that drink, even if the way of drinking it is a little bit exotic. That proves, once again that I really feel like home when I’m at Ubisoft.

1:00 PM TO 5:30 PM – MY AFTERNOON

The afternoon is the most intense time of day for me. I have multiple meetings in my agenda, I need to reply to my emails and support the production team. I also have a lot of fun training production team members. Here at Ubi, we are constantly evolving. We are always developping new technologies or trying to improve our production pipelines. There is always an opportunity to share our ideas and knowledge. It’s one of the part of my job I love the most.

 

5:30 PM – TIME TO PICK UP THE KIDS AT SCHOOL

It’s time to pick up the kids. Usually I take the bus, but today I have a little bit of shopping to do so I took the car this morning. A few minutes of driving on the street of Québec and I’m there. That’s another thing I adore about my city. You can get anywhere within 20 minutes. Compared to Buenos Aires in Argentina, the city I grew up in with more than 10 million citizens, when I’m in Québec, I feel like I’m in a village with big town infrastructure. Even if there are still some changes that need to be made with the public transportation, the trafic is far from being as dramatic as it is in the metropolis.

 

6:00 PM – DINNER WITH THE FAMILY

Everyone is hungry and we need to hurry making the food. To calm everyone’s hunger, we snack a little bit and we cook together. It another nice moment of my day.

 

7:00 PM – TIME TO RELAX WITH THE KIDS

Our dog, Max, is excited because it’s time for his walk! It feels good for the whole family to go outside.

7:15 PM – PIANO BREAK

While walking Max, our dog, my son Manu (who knows where all the public pianos are in the city) asks me to make a stop to the one he really likes. There’s no way I’m saying no to this. It’s so beautiful to share this passion with my son.

 

8:00 PM – IT’S TIME TO RELAX

The kids are in their bedroom. Not too sure they’re sleeping but it’s super quiet in the house. It’s now time to read a good book, listen to good music or a good game to end the night

(photo / Présentement, je jeu à Red Dead Redemption II)

 

10:00 PM – IT’S NOW TIME TO GO TO BED

Yes, we don’t go to bed late here. My battery is low. Another beautiful page of my book of life has been filled!