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How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

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Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#121

Post by velodrome »

Nition wrote: post #120
mstade wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kill two birds with one stone: my apartment is actually two in disguise. I have two front doors, one leading to a third of the apartment (it's a rather large 4-bed) which is quite literally closed off from the rest by simply locking the internal door that connects the two. It may sound silly to have to literally exit the apartment to enter the office when it's literally next door, but it does have some value. Also…

I'm not sure about the US but here in New Zealand, even if you just work in a room in your usual home, you can claim that percent of your home's costs in your business expenses.[1] So I definitely wouldn't say you're doing anything immoral tax-wise. [1] http://www.ird.govt.nz/business-income-tax/expenses/homebus-...

Yes, the US has the home business deduction.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/index.html

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#122

Post by BatFastard »

velodrome wrote: post #121
Nition wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about the US but here in New Zealand, even if you just work in a room in your usual home, you can claim that percent of your home's costs in your business expenses.[1] So I definitely wouldn't say you're doing anything immoral tax-wise. [1] http://www.ird.govt.nz/business-income-tax/expenses/homebus-...

Yes, the US has the home business deduction. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/index.html

But most accountants suggest you don't take that deduction since they tend to be audited at a much higher rate.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#123

Post by derefr »

erikb wrote: post #41

Now that I've experienced the start-up world twice I have to say: What's the big deal about working full time in big corp? Not all of them have cubicles and ask their devs to wear suits. T-Shirt, free coffee, huge desk, free hardware, other smart people who are just like me, reliable income, some level of attractiveness to the other gender due to stable life. Honestly I don't know why I didn't do that from the start…

I've got to believe that—besides what reasons people are consciously aware of—it's at least a little bit that startups, due to volatility and risk, are far more addictive environments than stable salaried bigcorp jobs are.

People will find themselves preferring "startup life", going from startup to startup, never staying past acquisition, without really knowing why; and then they'll invent all sorts of clever justifications for that. But really, they just enjoy the fact that their job is a gamble and could disappear at any moment, and will miss that and "feel bored" whenever they don't have it.

Just like some people who are "natural soldiers" find it hard to find jobs they enjoy after coming back from a war (e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/68v9dv/photo...), some people who are "natural startup people" find it hard to find jobs they enjoy that aren't in startups. Because the risk/stress isn't there, and that's what they really want out of a job.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#124

Post by derefr »

erikb wrote: post #106
zzzcpan wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's possible to work as a software engineer full time and have enough mental energy to do meaningful work on your own projects in your spare time.

I also thought so. But I have yet to experience one start-up project that doesn't demand so much of your time that you worry you won't get to take the 10 minute walk to the super market today. If you can do that, you can easily with the same amount of energy work a side project.

Physical energy/time, and mental/emotional energy, are different things.

Software development, for whatever reason, directly spends "spoons" (in the sense of https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine...) at a high rate.

Because of this, it's hard to do much else that requires willpower after putting in a day's work as a programmer. You can do habitual things just fine; or procrastinative things. But, outside of those two activity-classes, it's hard to even do the most enjoyable of things—like, for example, watching a serious, dramatic movie—because you won't get anything out of such activities if you don't invest some emotional energy into them, and you've just plum run out.

---

In a more technical sense, it's my understanding that the activity of programming somehow "uses up" a lot of dopamine, and so gradually depletes one's available store of dopamine over the course of the day in much the same way that stress, cold environments, and surprising loud noises are known to.

Thus, a neurotypical person who spends eight hours programming in a day, will end up effectively equivalent in behavior/mentality to a person with ADHD for the rest of the day, until they can sleep it off and recover.

(This means you could probably restore your "spoons" by taking ADHD medication just after leaving work... but that seems ill-advised, for multiple reasons.)

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#125

Post by jdmichal »

throwanem wrote: post #117
ChemicalWarfare wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> You probably don't need a $1000 aeron chair... my most productive setup is a self-made workshop desk and a $40 craftsman workshop stool :)

Not gonna lie, I'm in love with my Aeron at home. I've never had such a comfortable chair. But I'm building a desk from scratch to go with it - just a few more coats of polyurethane and a weekend spent getting it set up, and I'm good to go. Tips from the process: - The "get a solid core door and stick legs on it" process really works. You don't need to get fancy unless you want to - legs can be as simple as chunks of…

You can also get something like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-Workbench-or-S...

Comes with brackets and screws for all the joints. You just buy the wood and make the cuts. I got some thick MDF for the top and shelf instead of plywood, which is something I definitely recommend if you're going to use it as a desk-type surface instead of a working surface.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#126

Post by Tushon »

BatFastard wrote: post #122
velodrome wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the US has the home business deduction. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/index.html

But most accountants suggest you don't take that deduction since they tend to be audited at a much higher rate.

I'm gonna call a hard citation please on "most accountants don't recommend" you taking a deduction that could get you a boatload of reduced tax liability.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#127

Post by gm-conspiracy »

bartread wrote: post #118
Arizhel wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't have a separate office; I'm stuck with the office my employer provides me. I could go find another job of course, but it's going to be the same there, or worse, since all the employers have jumped on the open-plan office bandwagon. At home is the only place I get a little peace and quiet, aside from my cats jumping in my lap. Kids would eliminate that.

I feel similarly. Where I'm working at the moment, apart from the noise and distraction of an overcrowded open plan office, there are people in my face literally all the time due to meetings, questions, pairing, dealing with outages, and other miscellaneous interruptions. As an introvert this all becomes seriously draining so home is very much my escape. I don't think I'm alone in this either - plenty of introverts i…

Find another job, please.

Even if you made less, not having to commute would make you feel better.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#128

Post by gm-conspiracy »

ferentchak wrote: post #100
return0 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This actually does the trick. I go to a nearby coffee shop to get my coffee. It's like, changing context allows you to switch to "work mode".

This is my trick too. It works out nicely if you have a dog, then you can walk them at the same time.

My dog doesn't wake up that early.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#129

Post by ChemicalWarfare »

throwanem wrote: post #117
ChemicalWarfare wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> You probably don't need a $1000 aeron chair... my most productive setup is a self-made workshop desk and a $40 craftsman workshop stool :)

Not gonna lie, I'm in love with my Aeron at home. I've never had such a comfortable chair. But I'm building a desk from scratch to go with it - just a few more coats of polyurethane and a weekend spent getting it set up, and I'm good to go. Tips from the process: - The "get a solid core door and stick legs on it" process really works. You don't need to get fancy unless you want to - legs can be as simple as chunks of…

Very cool info. I'm not that handy though. My setup is basically an L-shape plywood top with rubberized covering.

Re: How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

#130

Post by pharrlax »

leesalminen wrote: post #112
zzzcpan wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's possible to work as a software engineer full time and have enough mental energy to do meaningful work on your own projects in your spare time.

I've done it successfully. It was not easy. One of the hardest things I've ever done.

In my experience it requires sacrificing "some level of attractiveness to the other gender due to stable life" by investing an enormous amount of your free time.
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