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How to work remotely as a software developer

markcampbell.me

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Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#21

Post by benjamincburns »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #13

I've never tried working from a coffee shop but it seems people do. How does that work out financially? I imagine they aren't too pleased if you just buy a coffee and then occupy space for 5 hours. But I don't really want to spend a fortune on excessive caffeine consumption and $5 bagels.

I think if you work a whole day in a coffee shop, you're kind of a jerk. I occasionally go to a coffee shop to work for an hour or so. Many times it's been the most focused hour I had that week.

The biggest thing is to remember that you're in a place of business. If you're going to take their space, buy something, tip well, and be courteous to the people around you.

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#22

Post by nutmeg »

simonsarris wrote: post #2

I really enjoyed this article, and I'd like to add that software developers working remotely could probably learn a lot from the wisdom of writers, which has been collected in hundreds of articles on the web. (search for "advice from best authors" or "daily routines of great writers", etc, and you're bound to find many such articles. Some are good, most are puffery, but so it goes with anything). Not all of the advic…

Roald Dahl had a writing hut in his garden: http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/discoverdahl/exploring/

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#23

Post by ewheeler »

Good advice. I'd like to add something that has helped me in the last year or so of working from home: have a dedicated work device (in my case a laptop + monitor) that is exclusively for work. All other browsing, personal side projects, etc that I do in the morning before I begin work or in the evening is done on my "personal" devices (second laptop or ipad). This way my workstation is in the state I left it in the next day and there aren't any distracting tabs I have to prune before I get to work.

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#24

Post by nraynaud »

That's strange, there is nothing I hate more than routine. But everything is this world seem made around routine and the expectation that tomorrow will be the same as today. Did anybody have the same aversion as me and try to tackle that?

How do you work without common everyday routine in the team etc.?

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#25

Post by hopeless »

fein wrote: post #6

The only thing that I have grown to despise a bit is timeboxing. Coding is a job and a hobby to me, and sometimes setting those hard limits kills my ability to improve code by forcing me into a rigid schedule. It turns what I view as play into unpleasant work, and that's how burnout starts. Sometimes its faster to come up with a solution without setting hard time limits, and just let your mind churn passively on a co…

I think you've misunderstood the Pomodoro technique if you think it's 25mins per hour. It's simply 25mins blocks of time, 5mins non-work, rinse-and-repeat.

When I timebox, I use Vitamin-R which let's me extend the time slice to finish a task. Probably the hardest part is breaking tasks down into 25min chunks

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#26

Post by MartinCron »

jgj wrote: post #18
joel_perl_prog wrote: post #14

I have to laugh at this. Not because he's wrong, but because it's so indicative of the programmer's mind. Structured, orderly, formulaic. Laying down rules and procedures. Which is fine--nothing wrong with that, however... Let me offer a counter-example, for what it's worth, which perhaps isn't a whole lot. I've been working at home for almost a year, after being in the office for six. It's very simple. In the mornin…

I worked from home for 4 years straight and never gave it more thought than "work when I feel like working or when the situation requires it." Look at that, my method fits in a tweet!

I'm glad that you found a tweet-sized strategy that works for you. I can say from experience that it doesn't work for everyone.

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#27

Post by 1337biz »

DavidHogue wrote: post #19
jiggy2011 wrote: post #13

I've never tried working from a coffee shop but it seems people do. How does that work out financially? I imagine they aren't too pleased if you just buy a coffee and then occupy space for 5 hours. But I don't really want to spend a fortune on excessive caffeine consumption and $5 bagels.

I did it for a few months while moving to a new city before I had my own place. It wasn't too bad. I'd buy a basic coffee (and sometimes a cheap bagel) and find a corner to setup in. At lunch, I'd pack up and find something to eat, then head to a different place and buy a coffee. Sometimes I'd go to the library instead. It wasn't any more expensive than going out with coworkers for lunch every day... Most businesses…

This is pretty much exactly the way I do it. Best places are usually the big chains with low wage workers who do not care the slightest how many hours you are hanging around there. I have about 4-5 shops within walking distance and rotate them around. In half of them they already discount my drinks and greet me like an old friend.

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#28

Post by ChiperSoft »

joel_perl_prog wrote: post #14

I have to laugh at this. Not because he's wrong, but because it's so indicative of the programmer's mind. Structured, orderly, formulaic. Laying down rules and procedures. Which is fine--nothing wrong with that, however... Let me offer a counter-example, for what it's worth, which perhaps isn't a whole lot. I've been working at home for almost a year, after being in the office for six. It's very simple. In the mornin…

Do you live alone? That would never work in my household, between my wife and daughter, the livingroom is the last place I could ever get any work done. I've tried, it's impossible to focus with all the distractions.

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#29

Post by ChiperSoft »

GlennCSmith wrote: post #4

I worked alone from a home office for 20 years in my consulting practice until, in the last year, as my company has grown, I've moved to commercial office space for the first time. I found working at home a delight, and enjoyed many years of jokes about my short commute (18 feet.) However, in the end, I found the repeated advice of friends to be correct: I'm more productive with an outside office. The extra focus mor…

It doesn't sound like you are the target audience of this article.

Re: How to work remotely as a software developer

#30

Post by stormbrew »

I went back to remote last year after not doing it for quite a while and it turned into a bit of a disaster. I won't deny that my being out of practice with it and not doing some of the things this guy and others talk about contributed massively to it not working out, but I want to add one piece of advice since I don't think this talked enough about external factors:

Be careful who you do it for. When he talks about all the communication tools you need to use in order to be successful at it, make sure they already have a bunch of those already set up, unless you're in a position to make sure they set them up and use them.

In particular, the company I was working for had no company-wide chat system at all, and clearly didn't feel they needed it since most of their employees were in-office or only temporarily remote. Various attempts at getting one going were hampered by lack of support from above. They'd get maybe 5 random people using them off the bat and it'd dwindle from there. At various times there were competing solutions active.

In the end I gave up, they gave up, and it just didn't work out and was frustrating for everyone involved.

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