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Best practices for remote software engineering

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Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#151

Post by odshoifsdhfs »

bit_logic wrote: post #118

The most important thing is the whole team being in the same time zone. Even a 1 hour difference is too much. That may seem extreme, but I've had so many important discussions happen around 5pm near end of day when everyone's done with their main task and meetings and have time to think about something else. Then they realize it's really important and need to chat right now. If the team is not in the same time zone,…

I like to separate remote and work from home. Remote is mostly async, timezones aren't that important (I have worked with both +10 and -9 without a problem) etc. Work from home is to try to mimics the office environment but distributed (work hours, daily calls, etc).

And when you mention just one hour timezone difference is a problem, I really do wonder how you deal with flexible work times, or you just expect 9-13, one hour break, 14-18 for everyone? Myself, and many others I know would refuse to work like that (I don't do lunch breaks as I don't have lunch, I prefer to get in late and work late as my brain is mush before 10am, Others that work with me seem to like to start as 7am and leave early)

You seem to want work from home developers to work like part makers in a factory.

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#152

Post by flafla2 »

TeeMassive wrote: post #121
titanomachy wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped being able to get work done at all. It gradually tipped me into a low-self-esteem death spiral. I tried lots of different approaches to fix it: more accountability with my manager, new medication, more regular exercise, therapy, a bit of disability leave, even moved to a bigger apartment where I could have my own office. Nothing got me past the block. I quit my job, spent six weeks studying and interviewing…

I'm in the same boat right now. Since my company insists on using an "air-gapped" development network (it basically means no internet connection, but that didn't stop the Chinese from copying our code and designs but I digress) we have to go through two different VPNs, which means remote desktop lag. Usually I don't mind for a few days, but after more than one year I just can't stand it, especially when we're we're f…

> I'm getting contacted by headhunters left and right every months but I'm still reticent to leave because we're short on staff and the project I'm working on is really important for the company and I've was kinda hired to bring those things into reality as the other devs are mostly technical experts in their fields than actual developers and in addition the code is ugly.

Red alert. You basically just wrote “I should quit tomorrow”.

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#153

Post by PoignardAzur »

flir wrote: post #100
titanomachy wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped being able to get work done at all. It gradually tipped me into a low-self-esteem death spiral. I tried lots of different approaches to fix it: more accountability with my manager, new medication, more regular exercise, therapy, a bit of disability leave, even moved to a bigger apartment where I could have my own office. Nothing got me past the block. I quit my job, spent six weeks studying and interviewing…

If you don't mind me asking, how did you find programming on meds? I can't do it.

I sometimes take modafinil before starting a day of work.

So far there hasn't been a single instance where I did that and didn't get sidetracked thinking up a new software project I could start using technologies I barely understand to solve a problem I just learned about.

The upside is you're a lot more focused, so you can get a lot done. The downside is it's really easy to nerd-snipe yourself, and the increased focus means it's hard to stop thinking about whatever problem caught your attention.

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#155

Post by PoignardAzur »

TeeMassive wrote: post #121
titanomachy wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped being able to get work done at all. It gradually tipped me into a low-self-esteem death spiral. I tried lots of different approaches to fix it: more accountability with my manager, new medication, more regular exercise, therapy, a bit of disability leave, even moved to a bigger apartment where I could have my own office. Nothing got me past the block. I quit my job, spent six weeks studying and interviewing…

I'm in the same boat right now. Since my company insists on using an "air-gapped" development network (it basically means no internet connection, but that didn't stop the Chinese from copying our code and designs but I digress) we have to go through two different VPNs, which means remote desktop lag. Usually I don't mind for a few days, but after more than one year I just can't stand it, especially when we're we're f…

Wait, is there an ethical reason you think the project should be completed? Like, it's really going to help starving orphans or something?

Because otherwise you should quit yesterday, like the others say. You don't owe them nuthin'.

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#156

Post by PoignardAzur »

treeman79 wrote: post #42
philangist wrote: post #2

I was just having a discussion about this with my manager during 1:1. I'm curious how any fellow devs with ADHD have managed the transition to remote work over the last year? I love the freedom and ability to focus that working from home provides, but I often find myself taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests.

So I have ADHD. Official diagnosis. My kids have it. Official diagnosis. My mom and sisters clearly have it, but refuse to be tested. If something is sufficiently interesting I can hyper focus like crazy. For decades any level of boredom was physically painful. Remote is the worse for me. Staying on task is a nightmare. What helped? Pair programming. This keeps you engaged and on task. I try and pair as much as possi…

Have you considered modafinil? It allegedly has fewer side-effects, but a similar effect as adderal.

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#157

Post by PoignardAzur »

nomy99 wrote: post #39
philangist wrote: post #2

I was just having a discussion about this with my manager during 1:1. I'm curious how any fellow devs with ADHD have managed the transition to remote work over the last year? I love the freedom and ability to focus that working from home provides, but I often find myself taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests.

I'm not sure if it's wise to publicly post this "taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests."

https://xkcd.com/137/

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#158

Post by oaw-bct-ar-bamf »

notJim wrote: post #46
morelisp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most software engineers are not experienced software engineers.

Hmm, is that true? Just from a numbers perspective, it seems like there would be far more experienced software engineers than brand new ones.

From personal experience there is 1 "senior" person (>5 years ) that has to support ~6 freshers.

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#159

Post by woutr_be »

bit_logic wrote: post #118

The most important thing is the whole team being in the same time zone. Even a 1 hour difference is too much. That may seem extreme, but I've had so many important discussions happen around 5pm near end of day when everyone's done with their main task and meetings and have time to think about something else. Then they realize it's really important and need to chat right now. If the team is not in the same time zone,…

I disagree, for the past 4 years, I've worked in remote teams that were across different timezones and different countries. There are days were half the team is offline because it's a holiday in their country, and it doesn't really impact our team. We know that some people will have a day off, and that's fine, we don't bother them, and nobody expects them to be online.

Same with timezone differences, it's generally understood we work 9-6. If it's after 6PM in someone's time, we don't bother them, because we expect them to do the same. Does it take some more planning? Sure it does, if I want to talk to someone on the same day, I just use Skype to find a time that works for the both of us. Otherwise I schedule a meeting for the next day.

> Then they realize it's really important and need to chat right now.

Having a "really important" issue where you need to chat with someone right now is usually just a matter of perception. Usually those issues can wait a couple of hours, or even a couple of days.

All in all, working across different timezones and countries works perfectly fine, I have plenty of time during the day to schedule calls with my colleagues.

Re: Best practices for remote software engineering

#160

Post by daniellarusso »

titanomachy wrote: post #71
philangist wrote: post #2

I was just having a discussion about this with my manager during 1:1. I'm curious how any fellow devs with ADHD have managed the transition to remote work over the last year? I love the freedom and ability to focus that working from home provides, but I often find myself taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests.

I stopped being able to get work done at all. It gradually tipped me into a low-self-esteem death spiral. I tried lots of different approaches to fix it: more accountability with my manager, new medication, more regular exercise, therapy, a bit of disability leave, even moved to a bigger apartment where I could have my own office. Nothing got me past the block. I quit my job, spent six weeks studying and interviewing…

How long were you able to push your start date from when you accepted the offer?

Weeks? Months?

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