91–100 of 308 posts
Learning the right tools is an important part of being a high performing dev.
> Buy a whiteboard and write the goals for the day on it, for instance As a solo dev the biggest productivity booster for me, from a physical and mental aspect, was purchasing a whiteboard. It honestly feels like some sort of hack. Prior to having one I would use pen and paper but that didn't quite scratch my itch - if I made a mistake I would have to scribble it out and that space was now wasted. I can't quite expla…
I picked one up almost 3 years ago for my home office. Also happened to document the process of building one here: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/build-your-own-8x4-foot-white... I don't mind spending money but it's hard to pass up $15 worth of materials at home depot and 20 minutes of work instead of buying a pre-made whiteboard for $200. If anyone is curious, even ~3 years later with a decent amount of usage it wor…
The whiteboard that I've been using for the past six or seven years cost me $15 - $20 depending on whatever the exchange rate was back then. I could go measure it, but it's about 40 cm tall by 60 cm wide.
Here's another angle - not saying it's correct, just different. Why would you want to perfect working from your bedroom? It's ok to WFH for a while, but i would not recommend perfecting it long term. As a human being you should be looking to interact and socialize with other humans, in person, as well - this makes us better humans, more empathetic, more understanding to the needs and pains of others.
That's what one has a family and friends for, not necessarily work colleagues.
I have switched from working in bedroom, to working in a dedicated office, to working in a co-working space, to working from home in a dedicated office. 1. Working from the bedroom is hell. It's fun for the first few months but then you are likely to have severe eye strain and become very sleepy. 2. Working from a real office sets boundaries and forces a schedule. You have to wake up at xx:xx time and drive to office…
I also vary my work space, but I don't think one is necessarily the best, I think the mind is just made for variety.
I personally hate working from home, and will only do it if there are reasons I can't work somewhere else, such as needing to be home for a plumber or being sick. I'd rather work anywhere else, whether that's an office, a library, or even a cafe. My house is my sanctuary, it's my safe space where I can retreat back to after a day of work. I put a high priority on keeping my work life and my personal life separate. I…
Why are you working if you're sick?
Quote: "5. A snow-white owl to bring you your posts (just kidding)." Here is the non-kidding no. 5 item: a rubber-duck (who knows, knows)
re: snow-white owl: I have a parrot and when he is being a good boy, I let him hang out in my office. Cheerful background presence.
Sometimes I have unproductive weeks . It can be hard to overcome the miasma by refactoring code or picking favourites. I have found the easiest way to get out of the funk is to start making Todo lists of my life. Get the things out of the way that are bothering me or need to be done as a priority and then slowly chip away at it. Productivity isn't something you can hack. There is a maximum that you can do without sac…
I can attest to the efficacy of scheduling life things with respect to mitigating the ambient cognitive load of life. Otherwise, you can fall prey to what feels like boredom, or the next best thing, which is cleaning the house/doing chores as a form of procrastination.
Beware: getting things out of the way first is a common mindset leading to never achieving long-term goals. There are always important tasks in life that aren't the most important at any given moment (and perhaps never are.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I picked one up almost 3 years ago for my home office. Also happened to document the process of building one here: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/build-your-own-8x4-foot-white... I don't mind spending money but it's hard to pass up $15 worth of materials at home depot and 20 minutes of work instead of buying a pre-made whiteboard for $200. If anyone is curious, even ~3 years later with a decent amount of usage it wor…
The only problem with hardware store melamine is the performance degrades quickly and they ghost badly with almost any brand of marker that remains on the board for a week or so. I’ve tried a bunch of hacks including wiping the board with WD40 and have since moved on to glass write boards when and where I can. I’ve had times in my career where I didn’t have $200 to spend, and the hardware store option is great, but $…
I've had mine for almost 3 years and it's holding up just fine using EXPO markers (also listed in the post). I haven't counted an exact number of times I've used it, but it's a lot. Hundreds of times for sure. I just make sure to clean it semi-regularly which takes about 20 seconds once a month. Maybe yours wore out quickly because you didn't clean it?
I personally hate working from home, and will only do it if there are reasons I can't work somewhere else, such as needing to be home for a plumber or being sick. I'd rather work anywhere else, whether that's an office, a library, or even a cafe. My house is my sanctuary, it's my safe space where I can retreat back to after a day of work. I put a high priority on keeping my work life and my personal life separate. I…
> I personally hate working from home, and will only do it if there are reasons I can't work somewhere else, such as needing to be home for a plumber or being sick. Why are you working if you're sick?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I picked one up almost 3 years ago for my home office. Also happened to document the process of building one here: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/build-your-own-8x4-foot-white... I don't mind spending money but it's hard to pass up $15 worth of materials at home depot and 20 minutes of work instead of buying a pre-made whiteboard for $200. If anyone is curious, even ~3 years later with a decent amount of usage it wor…
$200?!? The whiteboard that I've been using for the past six or seven years cost me $15 - $20 depending on whatever the exchange rate was back then. I could go measure it, but it's about 40 cm tall by 60 cm wide.
Google around for 8 foot x 4 foot whiteboards (244cm x 122cm). The pre-made solutions are all in the ~$200 USD range.