Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

plumshell.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 147 posts

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#101

Post by Tistron »

kqr wrote: post #46
cyberferret wrote: post #11

I did it for 10 years, but more recently have moved away from phone support as much as possible (or delegated to others to do). The main reason - I am a solo developer. And the brain mode for 'developer' is VERY different from the brain mode for 'support agent'. It was basically impossible for me to get into 'flow' state during a normal working day. Even one phone call during the day took me away from my creative, pr…

> And the brain mode for 'developer' is VERY different from the brain mode for 'support agent'. This is something I can have trouble with even personally. I have noticed that when I get home from a long day of cold, analytical problem-solving, I mbrain bad at shifting my brain to empathetically listen and provide emotional support for my wifes problems.

This was the biggest reason I switched from working as a programmer and spent some semesters becoming a high school teacher teaching mathematics and programming. I feel I can be much more available for my (to be) wife and my friends now. (it's paid less oc but I have been lucky and don't need so much).

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#103

Post by megaman22 »

fivre wrote: post #27

My experience with doing phone support for applications is that it is excellent if well-augmented, and absolute garbage otherwise. Due to a variety of factors, my previous employer provided about 50-50 phone and email support, often with phone as the first point of contact. That worked because phone calls came in with proper context (essentially providing information about who is calling and information about their a…

Screensharing is absolutely essential. In these days, it should be table stakes. Much as I sometimes hate it in general, it's a huge point in favor of Skype for Business; being able to step into a screenshare or a whiteboard is invaluable.

I cringe when I have to dial into a regular phone bridge. And as much as possible, I try to keep my landline in non-operable condition, so that support requests come in on a more useful channel.

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#104

Post by shrimp_emoji »

codingdave wrote: post #96
nicoburns wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found a short (20 minute) nap can help a lot with this.

I've found that a short (20 minute) commute can help a lot with this. I'm actually serious -- the commute is like a palate cleanser between work and home. It helps even more when I ride a motorcycle, as the concentration on my safety totally wipes the coding from my brain, and I walk in the house with a clean slate.

But some people's work continues after the commute. Humanity is untenable; embrace the cold, unempathic autism. It is the only way.

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#105

Post by doomlaser »

cdubzzz wrote: post #92
doomlaser wrote: post #5

I created a shareware Tetris clone for OS X in the mid 2000s and provided my cell number in the readme. I'd get a trickle of calls from all over the world at all times of day. That's where I learned never to have a serial number generator that included the number 0 since it looks so close to the letter 0. It was weird to be out and about and suddenly get a tech support call, but people were usually really nice.

What clone? I was involved with Quinn on OS X back in the day until we got a C&D from The Tetris Company.

Descender http://web.archive.org/web/20081225163958/http://www.sloppyd...

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#106

Post by hutzlibu »

wjnc wrote: post #77
kqr wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the brain mode for 'developer' is VERY different from the brain mode for 'support agent'. This is something I can have trouble with even personally. I have noticed that when I get home from a long day of cold, analytical problem-solving, I mbrain bad at shifting my brain to empathetically listen and provide emotional support for my wifes problems.

I've found that repeating a little mantra of what to expect of myself exactly at that moment of switching helps. For me that moment is getting out of the car, hungry and with a full head, after a long commute. Diving head first into family life with small children is hard, but they deserve my fullest attention before bed time even before my own needs (food, rest, possibly work some more). Just breathing and repeating…

Erm, I would call spiritual something different ...

What you do, is just helpful, applied psychology ;)

edit: spiritual, I would more call, praying to whomever, to fill you with love, before going into your family life ... which can also work, wheter for psychological or divine reasons ...

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#108

Post by lwansbrough »

PetahNZ wrote: post #81
danso wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or if you can't switch jobs just yet, and you have time to kill at an Apple store, sit in on one of their daily tech sessions. I once went with my mom to the "Basics: iPad" session and couldn't believe how basic the topics were in the description [0]. But the attendees had even more fundamental issues than could be covered, such as file management, e.g. how to move a photo from the iPad to their home desktop hooked t…

As a developer, a backend app developer for that matter, I still don't know an easy way to do this. I would either sync it to my Google Drive, or fire up a local FTP server on my phone to do it.

> fire up a local FTP server on my phone to do i

I see you’re an Android user!

Simple joke, don’t get flame baited. I’m sure there is something similar on Android but on iOS all you have to do is AirDrop to your computer. Takes 2 seconds.

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#109

Post by jdironman »

dkersten wrote: post #89
koliber wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed that it is trainable if you are bad at it in general. I don't think the parent was saying that he is bad at emotional support and being empathetic. He said he is having trouble switching from the developer brain mode into the empathetic human brain mode. This is something I noticed myself as well, especially when working from home. When I worked in an office, the commute home provided time to decompress and sw…

> I guess you could say that there are benefits to a commute after all! Absolutely, its forced idle time where your mind can drift. Although, over time, I find myself just getting more and more tired during my commute to the point where anything I do think about is quickly lost now... :/

Maybe, just for the fun of it, take a different route home one day. Even if it is a good few minutes out of the way. A road you haven't been down yet to re-engage your mind and senses as you navigate that new path.

Re: As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support

#110

Post by crispyambulance »

kqr wrote: post #46
cyberferret wrote: post #11

I did it for 10 years, but more recently have moved away from phone support as much as possible (or delegated to others to do). The main reason - I am a solo developer. And the brain mode for 'developer' is VERY different from the brain mode for 'support agent'. It was basically impossible for me to get into 'flow' state during a normal working day. Even one phone call during the day took me away from my creative, pr…

> And the brain mode for 'developer' is VERY different from the brain mode for 'support agent'. This is something I can have trouble with even personally. I have noticed that when I get home from a long day of cold, analytical problem-solving, I mbrain bad at shifting my brain to empathetically listen and provide emotional support for my wifes problems.

The daily transition from work to home is difficult for many couples and this problem has existed since forever, but it has _nothing_ to do with "being analytical" at work and then having to "be empathetic" at home.

It doesn't matter what your job is or if you're a husband or a wife, there's a period of time after coming home from work that is beset with opportunities for arguments. Lots of people experience this, not just rocket-scientists and developers :-)

There's no sure-fire solution, but a little bit of buffer time seems to work, followed by deliberate accommodation for the needs of the other.

Post reply on HN