Relax and clear your head. Listen to some music, audio books.
Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
11–20 of 116 posts
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#12I have a side project and usually in the morning I have a pile of emails waiting in my inbox, so I reply to as many of them as I can on my bus ride to work. Basically doing support.
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#13Meditate.
This. But keep awareness of your surroundings while you do :)
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#14Does it have to IT-related? I find audiobooks, both fiction and non-fiction, to be a great way to pass time during commute. The Great Courses offer a bunch of interesting lectures, for instance.
The OP is right to consider professional development during their commute, but it's not the only thing they could do. Instead driving time being professional development time, it could be hobby time. Listening to the news or audio books could free up time spent doing that at home for other things. This assumes, of course, that the OP has hobbies that they pursue at home that could be shifted to car time.
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#15I have an Audible subscription, so I listen to audiobooks on my way back and forth to work (43 miles one way). The only IT related stuff I listen to is podcasts and that's mostly news. I'm not sure its a good idea to listen to anything super, technical that might require more attention than just listening to songs on the radio. You are driving after all.
I guess the trick for me is that the audio substitutes for other entertainment time so I can watch a training video when I am not occupied by driving.
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#16You can't. I tried. It is impossible to concentrate enough to absorb anything in rush hour traffic.
I ended up quitting and taking a job to which I can take public transportation.
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#17Try listening to some 'non technical' podcasts. That is what I do on my 1 hour walks in the morning. It is strangely refreshing not to have to focus on technical talks all the time, but I find creative talks tend to inspire me and get me thinking in different ways about my work.
Added bonus is that you don't have to be 100% focused on what you are hearing, you can kind of drift in and out as something interesting catches your attention and still not lose the thread of the topic.
Two of my favourite podcasts are "99% Invisible" (creativity, architecture) and "The Tim Ferris Show" (biohacking, inspiration, interesting people etc.)
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#18Here are the two things I do during my commute: 1. listen to programmers podcasts (e.g. Full Stack Radio) 2. listen to entertaining/news podcasts and audio-books. Everything else just doesn't work.
Thanks, can you suggest me one or more particular podcast or a site to download podcasts from?
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#19My life changed when I started to listen to audiobooks while driving to/from work. However, the audiobooks are usually not pure technical, but always topics that can help me become better in many aspects in life in general, including professionally.
Re: Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work?
#20My life changed when I started to listen to audiobooks while driving to/from work. However, the audiobooks are usually not pure technical, but always topics that can help me become better in many aspects in life in general, including professionally.
Indeed. Exposure to different areas is a great way of expanding one's perspective. The mind is a great associative device, sometimes connecting ideas we wouldn't otherwise. Plays well with the "I get my best ideas in the shower"-style phenomena.