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150 days of living and coding in a van

ruby-on-wheels.github.io

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Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#181

Post by ido »

zepolen wrote: post #162
mmahemoff wrote: post #94

I'm curious - don't people miss big monitors when coding on a laptop? I've done a fair amount of coding on laptops while travelling and it's okay, but I feel like a big monitor is optimal for most work and wouldn't want a permanent situation with just laptop. I like to have logs, command line, and editor all visible, and ideally a browser too. The editor alone is much more useful in a big window where you can see a f…

I've used all types of setups from triple 24" and dual 27" monitors, and every laptop from 11" up to 17" In the end, I'm most productive on a 15" macbook at 1920x1200 resolution, the main reasons are: 0. I have my full perfect environment with me at all times, there is no switching between laptop/desktop etc. This is huge. 1. It's small and light enough that I can carry it around everywhere (unlike 17") - increasing…

I find the ultra high-res (what apple calls 'retina') modern displays make reading much easier on the eyes.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#182

Post by blondie9x »

I like the ideas behind the writer of this post. However I have worked remote for over a year and I have to comment.

First of all working in a van for a long haul will probably be painful for your back. No standing desk no office chair and desk set up will not be comfortable to code for more then a few hours.

Most of time working remote you need power and wifi. There is an expectation that you will be online during similar hours as your co-workers as peers. Maybe not exactly but similarly. So you gotta have a pocket wifi if doing this.

Working in a van most days alone can be isolating. Trust me you will feel it. Even when you go to an office and don't speak much to people it still helps with social aspect. Being online and talking to co workers does too. If you have a pocket WiFi and are not totally off grid able to engage with famile or friends and colleagues online then it will be helpful.

With climate change worsening sometimes it's hot really hot. It will be difficult to be outside for long stretches of time in a wide variety of places due to worsening climate change. When you are in the office you will not notice how bad it's getting less. Reading the news daily and seeing all the issues connecting to climate changes helps but working outside you really feel it directly. Historically a town might have had temperatures of 23 C now it's 28 C to 30 C on the bad days. However during working at an office you are usually in an AC building from 9 to 18 missing the hottest parts of day. When you work remotely to you will know how bad things are and it will trouble you more if you try to work in a van connected to nature. It's gonna be hot.

Working remote is great but there are some drawbacks like everything in life. Those you need to be mindful of before onsetting on that path.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#183

Post by coldtea »

jstewartmobile wrote: post #115
coldtea wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm curious - don't people miss big monitors when coding on a laptop? No. Some of us work even more focused on a single smaller screen even than having 10 BS windows asking for our attention (and I include debuggers in those, the ultimate hop-around time sink for some developers). Besides, people managed to write software for several decades before larger than 14" screens became the norm. Heck, until the late seven…

And that's the way it was, and we liked it , dag nabbit!

The core thing is that some people STILL like it -- including people who never lived in that era, and could trivially buy 3 30" monitors.

And not because of primitivism reasons ("who needs fancy IDEs" etc), but because of a quite concrete reason: increased focus.

In the era of 1000 distractions for programmers, it's perhaps more valid than it would have been in 1984. Then, if you had dual monitors, they'd still show just your code, some log, some documentation, etc. At best, xeyes.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#184

Post by DonHopkins »

classisch wrote: post #49
d--b wrote: post #7

Good for him... I would totally hate the lack of space and comfort. I'd sleep really poorly at night when it's super hot in summer and cold in winter. I'd hate it to have to look for a good internet to work. I'd miss my friends all the time. I'd dislike having to socialize with random van neighbors every time I want to not dine alone. I wouldn't last a month of this...

Hey! I'm the author of that article. I respect your opinion and I totally agree that van life is not for everyone. However it's seems funny that I've never experienced one of your concerns: > I would totally hate the lack of space and comfort. I have 12 square meters and my bed is super comfortable. Most of the time I'm outside. Works perfect for me. > I'd sleep really poorly at night when it's super hot in summer an…

Do you give motivational speeches to kids, like Matt Foley? ;)

https://youtu.be/Xv2VIEY9-A8?t=2m16s

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#185

Post by cfn »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #167
cfn wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inland Portugal can be freezing cold in the Winter, we got -2 C several days in a row last year (I know, -2 C is balmy elsewhere but try it without central heating). You should be okay if you stick to the coast as the sea breezes keep the temperatures in the 10-15 C most of the time.

If you've got a good sleeping bag, -2 C isn't that bad. I've spent the night with those temperatures in the high country of New Zealand. I know people that have spent the night in -15 C temperatures.

That may be OK for sleeping but it is very hard to work. I spent a couple of Winters coding without heating with indoor temperatures around 12 Celsius and it was very hard. I wore mittens, bubble hat, a blanket and even an electric foot warmer and still had to stop working and walk a bit every now and then to warm up.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#186

Post by ido »

bshimmin wrote: post #35
grecy wrote: post #24

I am doing something somewhat related. I built a Jeep Wrangler into a house on wheels [1], and am driving around Africa for two years. I am freelancing for Magazines, and earning money through my website and social presence. I have not done any coding on this trip, mostly becuase I find it hard to get remote work that meets my flexibility needs - i.e. weeks off-grid and only occasional checkins/calls. Last time I dro…

I think work is the big issue with this sort of lifestyle (leaving aside children, as others have mentioned). Many remote gigs still want a daily standup, a weekly sprint retrospective and planning session, etc, and none of that really works if you're truly nomadic and can't really guarantee where you are or how good your Internet connexion is at any given time. The article talks about the flexibility of his lifestyl…

I've done almost completely remote freelance coding for a few years now & the only thing that you really need is to mostly stick to places with a reliable internet connection (which is still a pretty big chunk of the world).

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#187

Post by coldtea »

maaaats wrote: post #109
coldtea wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm curious - don't people miss big monitors when coding on a laptop? No. Some of us work even more focused on a single smaller screen even than having 10 BS windows asking for our attention (and I include debuggers in those, the ultimate hop-around time sink for some developers). Besides, people managed to write software for several decades before larger than 14" screens became the norm. Heck, until the late seven…

That's some serious gatekeeping.

Keeping the gate of what?

As I wrote "some of us" prefer smaller/single screens for focus. If it doesn't work for you, or if you can manage NOT to get distracted by 5 open windows in 2 x 24" monitors, then more power to you.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#188

Post by coldtea »

aidos wrote: post #172
coldtea wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm curious - don't people miss big monitors when coding on a laptop? No. Some of us work even more focused on a single smaller screen even than having 10 BS windows asking for our attention (and I include debuggers in those, the ultimate hop-around time sink for some developers). Besides, people managed to write software for several decades before larger than 14" screens became the norm. Heck, until the late seven…

This seems to have attracted a lot of downvotes, I guess because it's overtly antagonistic. But I too prefer to work on a smaller screen (and I have tried much larger monitors). I switch context and then just work in that context. I don't feel the need to be able to see a load of different things at the same time. Really though, it's subjective and everyone should just do what works best for them. It's the same discu…

>This seems to have attracted a lot of downvotes, I guess because it's overtly antagonistic

Not exactly antagonistic -- meant to give some historical context to answer the parent's question which made it seem like big monitors are some physical necessity that people just can't do without. It's not like big monitors where any kind of norm before at least 2000.

I know tons of people happily coding away on a laptop with no external monitors attached.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#189

Post by we_re_new »

sealjam wrote: post #78
justonepost wrote: post #64

I think it's really sad and pathetic that someone can enjoy such a simple, non consumerist based life. How are you supporting the global economy? How are you proving that you are worthy? This sounds like homelessness to me. Without a home, are you really a worthwhile human being deserving of a mate? I don't think so. Unless you shop and own, man, you don't really exist.

I think (hope) the downvoters have missed the sarcasm in this comment

I think that removing the downvote button altogether is a good idea on this site.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#190

Post by majewsky »

> The amount of water that I used in Berlin to brush my teeth is probably enough for a whole day in my van. Maybe 80% of the water just flowed from the tap right into the drain without even touching my body.

I hear things like that time and time again, and I can literally not understand it. Why would any sane person leave the water running while brushing their teeth? When I brush my teeth, the water runs for one second to wet the brush, then for another second to draw water into a glass for rising my mouth with, then for another five seconds (on a low setting) to clean the brush. That's maybe 100 ml. I literally drink 15-20 times as much per day.

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