Becoming a high performing software developer working from your bedroom

https://zephony.com/remote-software-developer-productivity

by kevinpaladin • 6 years ago

641 296 6 years ago

working from your bedroom

If you read your contract as a remote worker, they often say that you must work from a dedicated work room in your house, so not working from your bedroom. Not sure if there's some specific legal reason for that.

p1necone• 6 years ago

Obviously you set up a home office in case they want to see it, and then still just work from your bedroom :)

Insanity4• 6 years ago

life-hack: set up a greenscreen behind your bed and set it to an office-like background during video chats!

globular-toast2• 6 years ago

It's pretty unhealthy to spend 90% of your time in one room. For me, the bedroom is for sleeping and sex only. No work happens in there. When I work from home I get dressed like normal and go to my study. Then I'm in work mode.

chrisseaton3• 6 years ago

I guess some young people don't have any other space - perhaps literally if they share a house.

TallGuyShort2• 6 years ago

The bedroom is for sleeping only. Sex happens all over the house.

codingdave3• 6 years ago

I've been working remotely for years, both in 100% remote companies, and in a company where we are the minority. And I have never heard of this. Where do you work that they put this in a contract?

Insanity4• 6 years ago

That might be very specific advice for _your region_. Never heard of that - but if you legally register as having an office in your house for tax reasons (as you can do in certain countries), your bedroom might not count.

TallGuyShort2• 6 years ago

I've been remote for 8 years at 2 companies and interviewed at many others, and I've never heard of this. It's mostly unenforceable except maybe when you're on video conferences, and then seriously - leave your bedroom or have a professional backdrop. But I'll echo other comments: working from your bedroom isn't a great idea for anybody for a lot of reasons.

bobx11• 6 years ago

This is a great write up that has the potential to save many beginners the headache of discovering these methods the hard way.

petargyurov2• 6 years ago

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 explain why but on a whiteboard my brain juices just flow. Made a mistake? Wipe it off. Need more space? Wipe it off (or purchase additional whiteboards).

My high school maths teacher once said something that has stuck with me since - "When you're stuck on a problem, start fresh on a blank piece of paper." - he must've meant a whiteboard ;)

globular-toast2• 6 years ago

My PhD supervisor had me do all my writing in pencil. I still do it to this day. Being able to erase is great, but I prefer the permanence and limitless space of paper.

enriquto2• 6 years ago

try a fountain pen with erasable blue ink

vicmiclovich• 6 years ago

I too still use pencil and paper

rubidium• 6 years ago

I had the opposite experience in research. I switched from pencil to pen. Reading later (e.g. 15 page math derivations) I could see some of the dead ends I took and mistakes made, while still following the thread.

Additionally, some research results should be stored in an immutable material.

bschwindHN2• 6 years ago

The Frixion pens they sell in Japan are incredible for this. They're truly erasable, not like the shitty ones I remember from my childhood. The multi-color pens are especially useful. All the fun of brainstorming and erasability, without the bad smells and imprecise lines of whiteboard markers.

http://www.frixion.jp/lineup/work.html?pid=product_ball-3-sl...

petargyurov2• 6 years ago

I've used those. I would say that they're not perfectly erasable and it still takes more effort to erase compared to a whiteboard.

I think the biggest thing here is the size of the canvas and the speed at which you can make changes. Sure, markers can be messy and smelly, I will give you that. Regarding the imprecision: when I am brainstorming I am not looking to be precise and I would argue that noone should be aiming for that; prototyping should be messy and quick to mutate.

7839284023• 6 years ago

I would never use those to write something important in a notebook. I did this and left it in my bag, the sun shone on the bag and because of the heat most of my notes got erased. Well because friction = heat, so it was the same thing.

prostheticvamp• 6 years ago

They sell them everywhere, under the PILOT brand.

tasogare• 6 years ago

Be careful with those. Their ink is erasable because of the heat generated by friction (hence the name), which also mean content can be erased by other heat sources or in some situation like a notebook put in a car parked under the sun in summer. Moreover, doesn't seems super durable, so for notes that much be keep for long time, it is also not the best solution.

anonsivalley6522• 6 years ago

Here's some good low odor dry-erase pens in bulk ($20 USD for 60)... because I lose them, or the monster that also steals remotes and New Zealand from maps has a taste for whiteboard markers too.

Not an affiliate link

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NXVH31G

andruby• 6 years ago

on a whiteboard my brain juices just flow.

Maybe standing up is also key in making your brain juices flow? Or the act of stepping away from your desk. (Assuming that's your setup)

I have a whiteboard that takes me 5 steps to reach and that definitely helps me

Frost1x• 6 years ago

There have been studies that show walking gives a cognitive boost with respect to creativity. Some related to increased blood flow.

For me it's that act that helps, plus gathering stimuli you don't have at your desk which may bump you over a hurdle.

Whiteboards only tend to help me when I get to a problem I can't hold in short-term/working memory.

Insanity4• 6 years ago

I started working remotely a few months ago and I've been considering buying a whiteboard instead of the pen and paper approach.

Your post convinced me that it's a good thing to explore, thanks!

alexpetralia• 6 years ago

Also convinced me! Thanks as well.

pts_• 6 years ago

I don't need either, my brain is enough. I sincerely believe if you eat and breathe this, you don't need either.

threatofrain• 6 years ago

Are there any large standing whiteboards that people would recommend?

setnone• 6 years ago

I move a lot so i'm carriyng a nice rollable sheet of pvc whiteboard.

nickjj3• 6 years ago

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 works great.

leetrout• 6 years ago

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 $200, in the end, is a small price to pay if you use the board for more than a year.

dotancohen2• 6 years ago

$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.

polygotdomain• 6 years ago

My problem with those boards was that they would not erase at all. It didn't matter which solution I used, the only one that did anything was Goof-Off, which still took a bit of scrubbing for things that had been left on the board for a little while.

telesilla• 6 years ago

I have the Trello desktop app staring me in the face all day from a third otherwise-redundant screen, it serves me well to know what is top of the to-do list. A whiteboard is on my to-buy list however.

koheripbal• 6 years ago

I just use a Google Doc. It allows me to link to details, paste images, etc... ... and if I actually need to diagram: draw.io.

I add a new section for each day in bold, and then list todos beneath.

It's the only productivity habit I've ever kept for more than a year.

akeck• 6 years ago

For me, whiteboard plus phone camera equals flow. Idea -> snap -> iterate -> snap -> ...

bardackx• 6 years ago

I have an iPad pro with the "Goodnotes" app installed, I don't miss either whiteboard or paper

PretzelFisch• 6 years ago

This is how I justified getting a Surface Hub for the wall. White board for work, TV at break time. Also nice large screen for watching virtual conferences and training videos.

robinduckett• 6 years ago

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 sacrificing the quality of your work, and your goal should be to maximize quality, not to plan your day out in five minute intervals, that's a great way to burn out.

Nevermark• 6 years ago

I have had months and probably an unproductive year. But 25 years developing one application from conception to sell out is a long time. The payoff for creative work isn’t controllable or predictable.

Cthulhu_• 6 years ago

Chiming in, I've had several low-productive years at my previous jobs, the assignments just weren't for me and I had some over-eager colleagues who I couldn't keep up with.

Switched jobs and I've got a ton of stuff to get on with, mostly self-managed as well. So far (a few months in) it's done wonders for my productivity and I've churned out more code (that I'm actually quite happy with) than I have in the year preceding it.

Not a remote job, but 1-2 days / week are spent working from home and given that my task list is still quite fresh and I'm not bogged down yet with my own poor decisions / tech debt they're usually pretty productive as well.

prox• 6 years ago

Achievable goals for the day on a sheet (digital or real) that you can cross off is a great perpetual motivator, especially if you reinforce it -if you need it- with rewarding yourself (peptalk or giving yourself a little slack/something)

It can also can be very satisfying at the end of a project to take at the long laundry list you’ve conquered (and sent the final invoice ;)

blueboo• 6 years ago

You might be interested in the dynamic described here: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200130-the-life-hack-...

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.)

andai• 6 years ago

The most important things are long-term, and therefore don't seem urgent. The days may be long, but the years are short, and unless you specifically make time to work on important long-term things, they just won't get the attention they deserve.

That said, people often use less important things as a way to avoid dealing with the big ones. I often get to the end of the day and know I got a lot done, but also know I was avoiding something bigger all day.

odyssey7• 6 years ago

plan your day out in five minute intervals, that's a great way to burn out

Oh for sure. I've tried planning the day's development into discrete tasks in 15, 30, etc. -minute blocks, and it's chaos. It's essentially micromanaging yourself onto an obstacle course where every 15, 30, etc. minutes you have the pressure of a hurdle to get over or else you're behind and feel demotivated. And development isn't linear - especially not on the scale of a day where you'll be revisiting and revising things - so making the development tasks discrete and completable in 30 minutes is a model that just doesn't match how reality works.

A more successful approach for me has been to set high-level targets on the scale of 5 or 10 hours that I can pace myself toward.

superbrane2• 6 years ago

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.

colechristensen2• 6 years ago

During my worst commute I was spending 4.5 hours traveling to and from work each day. A long day at work meant doing nothing but work, travel, and sleep and still being deprived of sleep. I didn't last six months, and I have no family or anyone to depend on me.

When I worked from home I lived in a difficult climate which became overly pleasant. The worst snow storm didn't bother me in the slightest, if I didn't feel like going outside I just didn't. When bearing the cold became optional, it was a pleasant luxury going outside instead of a chore.

The human interaction you are talking about is real, but so is losing a large chunk of your life getting to work.

superbrane2• 6 years ago

4h daily commute is horrific. the alternatives to your solution would be to get another job, closer to home or move closer to the job...just saying.

Drakar1903• 6 years ago

Anything close to an hour would have me thinking about moving closer.

On that note, I don't know if there's any research to it, but I feel like commute is an exponentially increasing nuisance. To illustrate: Moving from a 15 minutes commute to a 20 minutes commute will bring me less irritation than moving from a 55 minutes -> 60 minutes commute.

AndrewDavis• 6 years ago

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.

I don't disagree. But your assumption is that you would have less social interaction WFH is wrong (at least in my case).

My current commute is 2.5 hours a day. WFH would give me an additional time to do different activities each day (most with other people). Currently I'm limited because my preferred activities, I won't get home till close to midnight.

Having that commute time cut to zero would allow me to pursue my interests and have more social interaction than I currently do going into the office each day.

sethammons2• 6 years ago

I went from around 2.5 hours or more each way for a commute to working from home. I socialize less now. Work accounted for the majority of my daily socializing. I have three kids and a wife. My returned time is spent with them (I don't consider this under socializing) or on hobbies.

kranner• 6 years ago

As a human being you should be looking to interact and socialize with other humans, in person, as well

That's what one has a family and friends for, not necessarily work colleagues.

jborichevskiy• 6 years ago

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.

Half a year plus of a remote work now - I'd argue I have a healthier social life now compared to before when working at an office. I actually have energy after work to go out for dinners and meetups and develop/maintain the personal connections I couldn't before.

balfirevic3• 6 years ago

Is it because you work less, or because of no commute, or something else?

hknd• 6 years ago

off-topic: I like how that agency is selling "Faster pages" / "just like this website hence resulting in lightning fast websites."

But sending 1.3MB over the wire for a super simple website :D

chenhan• 6 years ago

Is it really sending 1.3 MB of content over the wire? My network tab in browser shows only 75 KB of transfer size.

kevinpaladin4• 6 years ago

I just checked the bundle size and it's around 70KB, not 1.3MB. I guess you summed up the images being loaded as well?

And "Faster pages", since it's an SPA. And SPAs usually have the whole website bundled into a single JS file and an optional CSS file - hence bigger than a static website rendered on the server :)

PS: I designed the website.

csomar• 6 years ago

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. But traffic for a downtown area is hell, so is finding a parking spot, finding a reasonable place to eat, etc... After a while, I got bored of the fact that there is little human communication since I was alone in the office. Also, I thought about all the time I wasted commuting to the office.

3. Working from a co-working space was a boost for the first 2-3 months then downhill. I need multiple monitors, my own whiteboard, where to put stuff, etc... It's not very sustainable. And everyone seeing what you were working on was not really for me.

4. Working from a dedicated office in my apartment was a good change; but after 1.5 years, I feel like I have become super-lazy to do any going outside and more likely to instead go to the bedroom for a quick nap.

I'm thinking now of renting an office but instead in the residential area I live in (think 2-5 minutes drive, 10 max). That should be the best of both worlds; though my only concern is that the residential area is super sleepy and it might affect my mood.

mxschumacher• 6 years ago

Do you exercise on a regular basis and do you have sufficient in-person social contact?

The trade-offs you describe ring true to me, I'm in a similar situation. I'm not sure changing your office will be a permanent solution for you.

jamil7• 6 years ago

I moved to doing basically what you suggest at the end and would highly recommend it. I rent space in a shared office about 10 minutes walk from my apartment. I still have a desk and monitor at home if I ever feel like working there too.

fsajkdnjk2• 6 years ago

The best for me was working out of co-working space BUT not the one you imagine. It was actually from an office of a company I worked for before. About 5 people, modern, spacious, 15 minutes walking distance from my home. Literally not a single con. I just paid for my old desk space and that was it. I always suggest people to do the same - don't go to dedicated co-working space. I never understood that concept. Try to find a company that would rent you out a desk, in a walking distance from your home. Ideally with 24/7 access ass well. I had my screen there and only carried my notebook. Unfortunately after years, the moved to smaller space and there was no space for me, which sucks. I haven't worked outside home since :(

lentil_soup• 6 years ago

For dedicated co-working spaces I think it depends on the person. For me I really like having different people working on different projects around me, developers, artists, writers, etc. I am a fairly social yet introverted person so I really enjoy the atmosphere of a co-working.

neilalexander2• 6 years ago

I tried renting a desk at a co-working space as an alternative to working from home. The space was nice - modern, nicely decorated, quiet. However, the internet connection was managed by monkeys who hard-limited everyone to 5mbps on the Wi-Fi network and blocked everything non-HTTP on the wired one. As an employee of a company who makes heavy use of video conferencing and, well, lots of non-HTTP things, it was completely unworkable. Got a refund and cancelled two days later.

xur17• 6 years ago

It was actually from an office of a company I worked for before. About 5 people, modern, spacious, 15 minutes walking distance from my home. Literally not a single con. I just paid for my old desk space and that was it.

I have always felt like there is a market here. I work remotely, but want somewhere to work from consistently for a few days a week. I've tried coffee shops, coworking spaces, etc, but none of them replicate the social aspect of working in an office (which is something I somewhat miss). I'd love to find a local company that has some extra space that would rent me a desk, but I'm not really sure how to approach it short of cold calling a bunch of places.

christophilus• 6 years ago

If you can rent an office in walking distance of your home, there’s nothing better. It gets me out and walking around a bustling little one-stoplight town. I get privacy, focus, and quiet, but I also get fresh air and connection to people in my town. Commuting by foot is really pleasant, if you live in a pedestrian-friendly place.

al_• 6 years ago

I think the optimal solution is to be able to alternate between the last 3 ones.

arkadiytehgraet• 6 years ago

It seems like you are just enjoying the change of the scenery and surroundings, which gives you the boost of energy and productivity. After a while you get used to a new location too much and the start finding some issues and inconveniences, explaining in hindsight to yourself why you dislike that particular place.

Perhaps you can just switch your working area every 4-6 months (does not really matter where) and be happy and productive all the time?

joemclarke• 6 years ago

I rent an office two minutes from my home and it’s been a huge productivity boost for me since switching from my dedicated office at home.

smichel17• 6 years ago

I've been working at a dedicated office at the house of a family member who also works from home, ~2.5 miles away. As long as it's not raining or too cold (below ~25°F/-4°C), I bike there in the morning. Other days I either drive or work from home. Although I prefer on site, this feels ideal for remote:

- Exercise most mornings - Ability to socialize - Comfortable space - Privacy - Work/home boundaries - Fridge to store food in, and ability to leave my laptop there so I don't have to carry anything on my bike ride (I use my desktop at my house).

This would also be workable at the house of a sufficiently close friend, I think.

I also like voice or video conferencing with others, without actually talking to them, just working at the same time. It helps build some of that "coworking space feel" without most of the downsides.

Robin_Message• 6 years ago

There is some law that changing environmenteal conditions increases productivity, which then reverts to the mean, regardless of what the change is. I wonder if that's what's happening here.

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.

sokoloff• 6 years ago

Related (but maybe not exactly on the head of the nail): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect

dazc• 6 years ago

'I'm thinking now of renting an office but instead in the residential area I live in (think 2-5 minutes drive, 10 max)...'

I have been on a similar journey and now rent an office in small town centre (10 minutes drive from home). It gives me the discipline to work set hours and also the freedom to walk around where other people are going about their business so I don't feel isolated. It's also useful for shops, cafes, bars (for after work) and such.

No solution is ever going to be ideal but this is the nearest I have come so far.

agumonkey2• 6 years ago

Thanks for reporting. It feels like web 2.0 made us all wanting to reevaluate the old habits, only to realize that they were good compromises (unless you have a crazy team member, a crazy commute etc)

balfirevic3• 6 years ago

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.

Do you mean actually working from bed? If not, I don't understand this. I work from a spare bedroom and it's as good as any office. It is an office, in a way.

UK-Al05• 6 years ago

I think it he means, using your normal bedroom where you sleep as an office.

Spare bedroom that is an office, is basically your office.

LeonM• 6 years ago

I went from bedroom > home office > shared office

The shared office space has been by far my best situation. My main drive is preventing loneliness, working from home can be very isolating for me. My shared co-working space is expensive, but gives me a sense of having colleagues. Given this situation/requirement I don't think I would want to 'upgrade' to renting a private office.

My office is about a 20 minute bike ride away from my home. I think I have used my car maybe twice in the past year.

mustafabisic1• 6 years ago

I like the concept of working on your favorite part of the project when you don't feel like it.

Great trick!

codingdave3• 6 years ago

You would think that the more time you spend working, the more results you produce.

No, if you are a remote worker who sits at a desk and forces yourself to work at specific times solely because you feel you should be working, you are doing it wrong.

Go the other way. Figure out what times naturally work best for you, and work at those times. If you are sluggish in the afternoon, take breaks. Work early mornings, late nights. Go spend time with kids if you have them. Then sit down and work while they spend an hour at a friends house after dinner.

If you are remote, you should not be spending more time working. You should be working less hours, but more effectively.

Insanity4• 6 years ago

I don't know about this to be honest.

I don't feel like I'm being more flexible than when I was working in an office, because I worked in a company with a "get stuff done, butt-in-chair doesn't matter" attitude. Hence I could just go to the dentist in the middle of the day or arrive at 11.30AM if I wanted to.

But now that I work from home, I actually like having a predictable schedule. Plus on top of that, even when you work remotely you still have meetings so that limits the flexibility a bit.

I don't think I'm doing it wrong. But it might not work for everyone.

codingdave3• 6 years ago

If that works for you, then you are doing it right, even if it is a traditional schedule. The "wrong" part is when you force yourself to a schedule that doesn't work, simply because of expectations of the "proper" hours to be in your seat.

neilalexander2• 6 years ago

I would tend to agree with this. I might be working from home but that doesn't mean that I want work to bleed into all of my waking hours.

Nobody at work would mind if I needed to pop out during the day or do something, but equally, I think it's important to have some boundaries where I can turn the computer off after a certain time and not think about work. I certainly wouldn't want to be going back to it at 9pm unless there was a good reason to.

kevinpaladin4• 6 years ago

I agree. That was a rhetorical statement, but looking back in hindsight, maybe I wasn't clear.

I didn't mean that the more time you spend working, the more results you produce. The Parkinson's law states the opposite - if you have more time in your hand, you will most probably be less productive and produce less results compared to the actual time you spent working on it.

planetzero• 6 years ago

This doesn't work if you have a family or involved with anyone that has a regular 9-5.

Most businesses will also have meetings during regular business hours.

nabnob• 6 years ago

Go the other way. Figure out what times naturally work best for you, and work at those times.

As someone with a tendency to procrastinate, this advice would easily turn into an excuse to avoid working at all. The best advice I ever got is that you don't need to feel motivated to do something - waiting to feel motivated is a trap. I think self-discipline is really important for remote work or working on personal projects at home.

mnm12• 6 years ago

I agree, but my employer runs a scrum meeting each morning. I've talked to them about moving the time later, but they are inflexible. Thus, I typically work starting at that time until quitting time. It's far from my most productive time, but it's forced upon me. They get whatever productivity I can scrounge up. If that's not much because I'm not working at peak hours, and often working at the worst possible hours for productivity, that's their problem. If they were flexible with this inane, pointless, stupid meeting, they would get productivity. Instead, they only get it when I need to do other things during the day, simply by coincidence. It's frankly amazing to me how employers ignore little changes that could impact things in a major way. But they do it on purpose. No one expects peak productivity anyway, and if they do, they really need to provide the incentives towards that goal. Otherwise, they get what they get, whether that be a new feature or bugfix or a few hours of HN. It's a crap-shoot. Whatever, it's literally not my business and therefore, I do not give a fuck about productivity since there are no incentives to do so.

ek750• 6 years ago

seems like a no-win situation, unless everyone is on the same productivity curve as you. if they moved the meeting, couldn’t that negatively affect your coworkers?

i'm a morning person and am pretty useless later in the day now. it wasn’t like this when i was younger.

huffmsa• 6 years ago

The best thing to do in that situation is to accept the fact that you are not feeling in the zone. But the solution is not to give in into that feeling and start binge watching NetFlix either

Ah I disagree, as a sample side of one.

I tried pushing through for a while and doing a small amount of work / refactoring, but it didn't really click.

Finally decided to try not working on the days I wasn't in a groove, and have found that if I do, I have much better ideas and crank out a massive amount of work over the next couple days until I wake up feeling out of the zone.

Most people would probably benefit from not having a 2 day block weekend, but rather having downtime on say Sunday and Thursday. In the same way athletes have staggered rest days.

I'm lucky enough to have a job where I can do this, but it was also a semi-requirement during my last job search.

m0zg• 6 years ago

For me 2 things helped to overcome the "drag" work:

- I only work from one place in my house, and it's not the bedroom. It's a dedicated desk. I do not work from anywhere else, and I don't do anything other than work at that desk.

- When I need to work on something boring, I set the time on my Apple watch to 1 hour, and get to work. When the timer is done, whether the work is done or not, I take a break.

In rare cases where I need to keep track of a ton of stuff, I haven't found anything better than a spiral bound notebook.

djurovicmarko• 6 years ago

For years I have worked remotely. And I think that I was more productive these days than when work regulary. All these advices I saw here, in my opinion are rubbish. Just sit down and do your work, all you need is your PC , pen and notebook. If you have difficulties to work in such manner change your job.

unnouinceput• 6 years ago

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)

mark_l_watson• 6 years ago

I have a very nice home office, but still sometimes work at my local library. Change is rejuvenating.

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.

janpot• 6 years ago

I always have a blocnote next to me which is basically one continuous checklist. New tasks that I think of go to the bottom with an empty checkbox on the left. Whenever I finish something, or a task becomes irrelevant I cross the checkbox. Works well for me.

cbm-vic-20• 6 years ago

Is there a reasonably priced VESA-monoitor-arm attachable whiteboard out there? Something like this[1] that's cheaper, or should I just build my own?

[1] https://www.ergotron.com/en-us/products/product-details/98-4...

corobo• 6 years ago

No idea, but if you can't think of anything else there's bound to be an iPad mount and a whiteboard around that size you could combo up

OJFord2• 6 years ago

My gut reaction is that that's way too niche for a VESA mount adaptor/spacer, normal whiteboard, and glue not to be cheaper.

toomanybeersies• 6 years ago

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 won't work on weekends unless it's an emergency (I'm also usually not sober enough to work for those 48 hours anyway, even if the called).

legooolas• 6 years ago

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?

fancy_walrus• 6 years ago

You mean you actually get sick leave in your country? cries in American

tayo42• 6 years ago

colds are contagious for almost 2 weeks, but the symptoms are really mild and not disruptive.

clarry• 6 years ago

Why do you hate working from home?

frenchman99• 6 years ago

The API example seems a bit weird once you learn about API generators such as API Platform (Symfony), which basically generates the whole thing the author talks about in a couple of commands.

Learning the right tools is an important part of being a high performing dev.

jonny3832• 6 years ago

As someone who developed their career from the comfort of their bedroom, I always find it very interesting to see people all over the world from different cultures experiencing the same basic issues with this kind of work set up.

I absolutely loved working from my bedroom for years. It was great (despite the common down falls like the ones listed here). My family used to make fun of me at parties and seasonal celebration "OH YOU'RE NOT IN YOUR PAJAMAS TODAY", but joke was on them after a couple of years - I was making 5 to 10 times what they were per year, and I was waking up at 8:50am with no commute.

I eventually ended up investing in building my own "detached" office in the back yard - a dedicated space set up for working. This was by far the best thing I ever did. It created a visible boundary between home and work life, and I still didn't have to commute or work in any clothes other than my pajamas the majority of the time.

I couldn't image going back to a bedroom now. But even more so, I can't imagine how painful it is for people to sit in traffic every day, stressing they might be late, burning money on fuel and their car, and waking up earlier than they really should.

It's pretty reasonable to think you might spend $100 a week on a commute straight out of your own pocket. That money is gone forever. Now consider if you invest that money over 30 years in some low to medium risk areas and average 10 - 15% per year. That's a healthy addition to your retirement fund of around $1,500,000, plus a good amount of extra sleep.

EDIT: Okay 15% is maybe a bit hopeful and lucky. But still 7 - 10% will make a difference in your retirement.

vsareto2• 6 years ago

There's really no other words for it: a six figure job from the comfort of your own home/office is fucking magic

Everyone should get the chance to experience it.

rjkennedy98• 6 years ago

Yes, and some of us reject it. When you work with people you never or rarely meet in person loneliness can be a big issue. If you have addiction problems, having the freedom to drink, game, smoke, ect whenever you want can also be a huge issue. Yes, not having a commute can be great, but if you are young you can usually find apartments close to your work (I bike to work for instance). What I feel is best is having the flexibility to wfh when you want or feel its appropriate.

amelius• 6 years ago

Yes, but you need some people around the house. Spending entire days without any human interaction is mentally hazardous.

Ocerge• 6 years ago

I experienced it and got more depressed than I'd ever been before. It's absolutely not for everyone.

dragonwriter2• 6 years ago

a six figure job from the comfort of your own home/office is fucking magic Everyone should get the chance to experience it.

Most people don't get to experience a six figure job, period; the median income at peak earning agree is around $80k.

jbb1232• 6 years ago

low to medium risk areas and average 10 - 15% per year.

Where can I get this return reliably at "low risk"?

jonny3832• 6 years ago

Firstly, it was "low to medium" risk, not "low" risk.

Secondly, pretty much any reputable ETF (or combination of ETF's) can quite easily achieve this over 30 years.

poulsbohemian2• 6 years ago

There are places in the US where this is the rate of appreciation on real estate. While there are periodic setbacks (see: 2008-2012), real estate is remarkably stable across the country, especially in major cities. The small, somewhat rural area I live in had an average appreciation of 13% last year, which is not sustainable for this area but still indicative of the overall trend.

newnewpdro• 6 years ago

It doesn't seem difficult to avg +1% per month doing relatively basic trading in my experience.

The challenge I have is remembering to actually care about it and do the trades, life gets too busy and before I realize it a month has gone by.

But whenever I'm on top of it, 1% gains have been very easy over the past decade, I'm rarely in the market for more than a few hours. But I risk having a pile of cash to trade with I suppose, the dollar could crash.

If you do +1% per month you're already +12%/yr, I consider 12%/yr the minimum acceptable yield for any kind of investment given how easy it seems to be to DIY.

TimTheTinker2• 6 years ago

I suggest buying low-fee domestic index-tracking ETFs like "Vanguard S&P 500 ETF" (VOO), using a low-fee brokerage app like M1 Finance.

... or not. Your situation may call for something else. Any specific suggestions people give you will likely sound unnecessarily specific and perhaps arbitrary, unless you have spent a lot of time learning about the modern investing landscape -- you really need to do that for yourself.

Ididntdothis5• 6 years ago

“Now consider if you invest that money over 30 years in some low to medium risk areas and average 10 - 15% per year”

How do you do that?

Scarbutt• 6 years ago

vanguard funds, but the good ones I have know of require a $500k initial investment.

nfriedly• 6 years ago

I agree that 10-15% is a little optimistic, but even with a more realistic 4-7% you'd still have $300,000-500,000 at the end of 30 years, which is nothing to sneeze at.

krn7• 6 years ago

How do you do that?

For the last decade, 10-15% average annual return would have required keeping 70-90% of the funds invested in Nasdaq-100[1].

Also, Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFIAX) currently has a 10-year average of 13.52%[2].

The general advice is not to keep more than (110 - your_age)% of your retirement portfolio in these high risk / high rewards funds.

Therefore, it's entirely possible to receive 10-15% annual returns until you turn 40, but as the period of time until retirement shorters, it becomes too risky.

In other words, what is a "medium-risk" at 35, can be a "high-risk" at 55, because one might not have enough time to recover from an economic crisis at an older age.

[1] https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/when-performance-matters%3A-...

[2] https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/overview/...

zrail2• 6 years ago

I eventually ended up investing in building my own "detached" office in the back yard

This is the thing I want most in work life right now. I have a separate semi-dedicated office room but it splits time as the guest room and has basically no auditory separation the rest of the house including a 3yo and a 1yo.

Edit: OP would you be willing to share pictures of your space? I love seeing how people set up separate office spaces.

zeroonetwothree• 6 years ago

My job is flexible and I could work from home 1-4 days/week. But I still come in 4 days. The socializing is something that I really find worth it. I’ve made a lot of friends at work, and it’s also just nice to discuss technical problems in person.

dwild2• 6 years ago

But even more so, I can't imagine how painful it is for people to sit in traffic every day, stressing they might be late, burning money on fuel and their car, and waking up earlier than they really should.

It's not only cash spend directly, it's also time spend. I was spending 2h a day in public transit, but when I tried to do it in car, it came down to less than 45 minutes a day. The parking was quite expensive so I doubted, I was paying 150$ a month for my public transit pass, but the closest available parking would be 250$ a month. Lets round it up to 1h a day and say that a month is 4 weeks, I was spending 20 hours a month. For some absurd reasons, I wasn't considering my time stuck in movement as part of my job hours. By refusing to pay for the parking, I was essentially saying that my time was worth 5$ an hour.

This is so weird that we all forget that our time lost while we go to work, is still part of our work time. Spending 2h a day in transit, that's accepting a 20% pay cut from the get go.

tspike• 6 years ago

Conversely, on public transit you can engage in other activities. When I take the train to work, it takes twice as long but I'm able to catch up on e-mails, take a nap, read a book, watch a show, etc. That's not possible while driving so I view it as a net time gain.

sailfast4• 6 years ago

Working in a different room (NOT your bedroom) is critically important to me. Sometimes it's fun to kick back and code, but the separate space that is yours, optimized for work, and assigned mentally to work is useful in that you can walk away from it and also leave your work behind. Going to bed at night with your laptop stashed close by does not inspire relaxation / restfulness.

dionidium2• 6 years ago

I recently started working from home, which coincided with a move. This is the specific reason I insisted on a two-bedroom apartment. I think it's made a big difference. I was remote before this, but had a private office in a WeWork, which I went to everyday, even though it wasn't required. This kind of separation is crucial.

PaulDavisThe1st• 6 years ago

Last year we moved out of our old (large) home in Philadelphia, where I had stolen the back 1/3 of the separate garage to be my office. My commute was about 50 feet, but it was to a separate (physically, acoustically, psychically) building.

Now we live in a lovely but much smaller house where I still have an office, but it is inside the house. We've been here for 9 months so far, and we have still not really figured out the details of how I can still "go to work" the way I used back in Philadelphia. My wife only has to speak here, somewhere in the house, and I can hear her.

This may improve when some specific physical details are addressed, but I think they won't solve the whole problem, which is a psychological/emotional/relationship one: how to be in the same "space" as someone else but also make it clear that you're not available.

flukus• 6 years ago

Through the joys of expensive real estate I don't have the luxury of separate rooms but personally I've never found it that important. I have a desk that is almost exclusively used for work that seems to fill the role, but even that is more for ergonomic reasons than anything. I feel the social isolation others mention, but that's solved with more regular nightly visits to the pub.

The big thing I need to improve on is simply getting outside more and going for walks during the day. A significant part of my commute was walking and now that's gone.

datingscientist2• 6 years ago

but... dat time savings!

Seriously, I'm in a major metro area and my commute is considered "not bad" by local standards...

Working at an office costs me at least three hours a day: - 30 minutes of "getting ready"

- 60 minutes of commute there, at rush hour

- 30 minutes of lunch (usually just grab a sandwich at home)

- 60 minute return commute at rush hour

Bonus Time Savings:

Popping on a headset and taking a walk around the neighborhood during low-participation conference calls and one-on-one discussions (I'm a manager). I can flip 30 - 60 minutes a day into "dual use" time (work + exercise)...

foxyv• 6 years ago

Don't forget the fact that you don't have to buy/rent a home in the more expensive areas of a city. Meaning the money you make is money you can keep and speed up your retirement savings.

Solvitieg4• 6 years ago

You drive home to get lunch?

dionidium2• 6 years ago

I eventually ended up investing in building my own "detached" office in the back yard

I want to know more about this!

chrisjc• 6 years ago

Same. Would love some pics or some advice about what you've done to make this a place that is conducive to getting work done.

tikiman163• 6 years ago

I think you've no idea what commuting costs anymore. 100 a week would be absolutely ridiculous. If the company provides parking you're looking at around 70 per month. If you have to pay for parking that might be as much as 250 per month, so still way below 100 per week. This kind of contribution certainly adds up, but you're not looking at 1 million in retirement funds. Also, you built yourself a detached office, which isn't uncommon and you frequently needed to purchase office supplies and I'm guessing your own hardware and computer software. That's a substantial initial overhead that eats away at how much you might be saving by working from home.

Also, consider that many companies now allow employees to work from home for part of every week while still supplying hardware and office supplies. That 250/70 per month commuting cost is down to about 150/40. Just accounting for the expense of building your home office you could already be in the hole compared to people commuting only some of the time for the same job.

Also, none of this accounts for the additional considerations office's typically provide like free lunches and social/professional networking opportunities.

Personally, I'm a software developer so I can pretty much decide for myself if I want a job that allows me to work from home, and after doing the real math, I found you can basically go either way and expect roughly the same financial outcome, so the real choice is about what you actually want. I like the social aspects, so I take jobs where I can come in and expect coworkers to be present. What you want may be different, but neither option is inherently more advantageous.

HammockTester• 6 years ago

If you use the IRS standard rate of $.58 per mile as the cost of driving, then if you have a ~17 mile commute (each way), you'd expect to spend about $100 per week on average. That doesn't include the opportunity cost of your time or parking.

A quick googling suggests that the average driving commute is 16 miles so $100/week seems like a reasonable estimate (again assuming parking is free and you value your time at $0/hr).

mendeza• 6 years ago

How did you teach yourself structuring large projects and test driven development? Did you have any senior engineers mentor you when you just started, or did you just force yourself to pick important skills in software development. I ask because I work remotely a lot of the time, and I am skilled in creating a solution, but I am always worried about if it will be maintainable over time and not be overwhelming when I add features.

atilaneves• 6 years ago

I work remotely and I agree with everything here except the title: don't work from your bedroom, have a dedicated space for it at home even if it's part of the living room. If you can afford a separate room for it, do that instead.

rammy12342• 6 years ago

And most importantly, turn off your WhatsApp and Instagram notifications on your phone.

This one thing will make you high performing software developer working from anywhere in the world.

terminaljunkid• 6 years ago

Jokes on you, I hardly get one Instagram notification a day.

rammy12342• 6 years ago

hahaha,They are Great Time Killing Machine. They take time away from you before you even realize it.

eurasiantiger• 6 years ago

Refactoring usually is not going to be as tasking as working on a new feature

Maybe if you wrote the entire codebase yourself just a week ago so everything is still fresh in your memory.

In most real-world situations that is not the case, and refactoring becomes a careful task that leads to regressions even with testing in place.

kevinpaladin4• 6 years ago

I agree with you. Refactoring some one else's code, or even your own code after a few months is definitely not going to be a no-brainer.

andrewzah2• 6 years ago

When people envision working from home, it seems that "wearing pajamas" is a common trope.

That is not a good idea.

The thing about clothes is that they're part of a routine. I.e. I wake up, make some tea, put some fresh clothes on, turn on my computer, and now I'm in work mode. Ideally. In practice it doesn't always work like that, but it's still far better than waking up and just sitting down in front of my computer. Having a routine is really important for not getting lost.

They don't have to be business clothes or whatever, but just something fresh for the day. I'm the sort of nerd that wears chinos and a button up shirt even though I work from home and don't have video calls.

---

In addition, blurring work and personal life isn't good. You ideally don't want to work in the same room that you sleep, but this can't be avoided sometimes.

Variety is also key. Sometimes I go out and get work done from a local cafe for a change of pace.

RegBarclay• 6 years ago

Agreed. When I worked from home I did everything I would do to prepare for a day in a regular office except the clothing selection was fully casual. My one biggest rule was that I had to wear regular street shoes. If I was wearing slippers or just socks, my mindset was that I wasn't "at work."

bproctor• 6 years ago

I agree that having a routine is important. But I think what makes the routine is up to the individual, clothes may be important for some, but not for others.

sjf• 6 years ago

As a woman the opportunity to wear clothes just for their warmth and comfort is something I will never turn down. Being able to wear pyjamas was definitely one of the top things about working from home. Men don't have the same issues of unpractical clothing and being judged on their appearance.

octokatt• 6 years ago

This so much. During the winter, I've had the option to work from home, and taken it just to wear lined sweatpants and sit by my personal heater in my home office rather than in an open office with a door one row open.

growlist• 6 years ago

Men don't have the same issues of unpractical clothing and being judged on their appearance

You missed the incessant satire of Trump's appearance then?

andrewzah2• 6 years ago

This misses the point I was making. Wearing pajamas is fine, I was referring to the clothes that one slept in. Changing to something fresh is what I meant.

I'm male but my legs get cold from time to time, also, so I keep a small blanket near my desk and a space heater during the winter.

SAM_BAL• 6 years ago

maybe to elaborate OP's point; I never feel fully waken up if I haven't taken a shower and put on a clean set of clothes. I'll also just muck around and procrastinate way more, because the line between working and not working hasn't been crossed yet. Hope this makes sense

throwawaylalala• 6 years ago

"Men don't have the same issues of unpractical clothing and being judged on their appearance"

There's research to indicate that attractive men make more than unattractive men, and the variance is greater than with women:

"Results indicated that more attractive men had higher starting salaries and they continued to earn more over time. For women, there was no effect of attractiveness for starting salaries, but more attractive women earned more later on in their jobs."

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229657356_Attractiv...

While that doesn't address unpractical clothing, I think it does address the last part.

orev• 6 years ago

There’s a difference between pajamas and comfortable clothes though. One can wear jeans, sweats, workout clothes, or other things that you could leave the house in, while not getting into full “office” attire.

I think this is a critical item for working at home. You want to be wearing something that you wouldn’t mind answering the door in, or if you had to run an unexpected errand. (and contrary to what the People of Walmart site shows, it is not appropriate to be doing those things in pajamas).

sailfast4• 6 years ago

Agreed. Mindset / routine is important here - not just to get you started but also to separate home and work.

I wear office dress code most days (or some comfier version that is "nice-enough-for-video"). I work in a separate room, whose door I can close when the day is over. I've asked my family to text me or call just like they would at an office if they need something or want to talk.

When the day ends, the laptop and door closes, and my commute is short, but those subtle differences make it a change that works, and allows me to relax.

DaveSchmindel• 6 years ago

To those who have invested time in making a "task breakdown table":

Have the benefits of contextualizing your short-term goals outweighed the cost in time it takes to make the table for small tasks?

Solvitieg4• 6 years ago

Yeah I wonder.

Seems optimistic to be able to breakdown a project into 15 minute intervals.

Personally I do keep Todo lists, but it's more like scratch that I append many notes to.

I don't see the advantage in guessing how long each task will take down to the minute and then writing that into a table.

citrons• 6 years ago

I think it helps more with the issue of you just overcoming laziness and wasting time otherwise - naps, games, phone,...

tbergeron• 6 years ago

Not high performing enough to make sure your website shows something with javascript off? That's a freaking blog and all I see is a white blank page. Using React for a blog is kinda over-engineering it nope?

Pfhreak• 6 years ago

Using React for a blog is kinda over-engineering it nope?

No? Use what makes you happy as an engineer. If that's react, use react. Sure, you might miss some viewers who haven't enabled JS, but if the above comment is representative then they weren't going to give constructive feedback anyhow.

kevinpaladin4• 6 years ago

Maybe it is, but as long as the site works, it's fine by me ;)

If we want to try something fancy later, that's hard or hacky to do with WordPress, all I have to do is add a bit of JS and create some new endpoints in our Flask app.

Ultimately, like the other comment said, I enjoy working with React and I wanted to see where it would take me.

phreack• 6 years ago

Probably echoing something that's already been said here, but my number 1 advice to being high performing from your bedroom is _don't_ work from an actual bedroom. There's a psychological baggage of being in the room that you sleep in that shorts circuits the part of your brain dedicated to being up an active. It's not always possible but if there is another room with a flat surface in your home, do anything to make that your distraction free workstation. Did wonders for my productivity.

FpUser• 6 years ago

Working from home is my natural mode for the last 20 years. I use basement so privacy/distraction is not a concern. So far works just fine for me. I own/co-own couple of companies but no other employment. I mainly develop and maintain/sell/lease my own products and do the same thing as a consulting gigs for other companies.

Waterluvian• 6 years ago

Everyone is different so this is only a "maybe think about this" tidbit and not advice:

I carved about 100sqft out of the corner of my bedroom for an office. And it worked well for a while. But I eventually found that I needed complete separation between home and work. I found myself always kind of at work and not sleeping as well.

So I moved my office into a basement room. The view isn't as nice but there's a concrete concept of leaving the office, shutting the door, and that's that. And now my bedroom is for sleeping (or sometimes building a fort).

armandososa• 6 years ago

I've been a remote employee for 10 years now (plus 4 being a freelancer) and I've tried every productivity hack under the sun and the only thing that has worked for me is: do meaningful work.

luckyscs• 6 years ago

And be ready to catch that wave of productivity when it hits. Personally I can't work 8 hours straight. I try to make work a part of life, and it's not bad since it's a creative job. Have some structure to fall back on but take advantage of the flexibility when it is useful. Get Excersise in during the day, your mind a body will have more energy. Go to a coffee shop/library and get around other people. Get in your 8 hours in the most comfortable way possible.

irishloop• 6 years ago

The author's spelling of "NetFlix" bothered me a lot more than it should.

archon810• 6 years ago

More than the lack of padding on mobile?

cmplxconjugate• 6 years ago

I have been very lucky in that I’m completely flexible for working at home (in my study) or the office. I can say with certainty that I’m more productive (on average) at home than in the office. However, something I never imagined would be the case became reality:

I enjoy going into the office more. I simply miss the social aspect and the ability to chat about difficult problems in a break out space.

There’s definitely something to be said about the desire or dream of working from home and the reality of what your personality prefers.

quantguy11959• 6 years ago

What are some good ways to avoid distractions? I often find myself watching YouTube/Netflix or on steam for endless hours before realizing it

fbelzile• 6 years ago

Check out my app: https://getcoldturkey.com

allochthon• 6 years ago

I start a timer on my phone and run it up to ~ 8 hours to mark the end of the day. While the timer is running, I don't do anything too leisurely (e.g., playing video games). If I want/need to do something unrelated to work, I stop the timer.

The idea isn't to work exactly 8 hours per day. It's to get a sense of how much of my time is going towards work-related activities.

danial2• 6 years ago

I find that reducing the number of decision making events by relying on a routine helps. When and where are you endlessly watching Youtube or Netflix? Is it the first thing in the morning after you grab your phone or is it happening at your desk. Depending on the answer, you want to establish a routine so you don't have to think about what you want to do next.

Let's say it's your phone first thing in the morning that is causing this problem. You could put your phone and charger far away from your bed. Then establish a sequence of actions that take you from bed to desk, without getting anywhere near your phone.

This is not an all-or-nothing method, where you fail even if you miss one step in the sequence in your routine. You start by making one or two adjustments and then build on your success.

Solvitieg4• 6 years ago

Recognizing that you cannot produce value while multi-tasking was enough for me.

You're just doing surface-level work if you're able to watch Youtube videos.

jldugger2• 6 years ago

Any home office post that doesn't mention leafblower noise mitigation is unprepared for the rest of society =(

logicalmind• 6 years ago

Cities near me have banned the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Not specifically because of the noise, but this is a good side effect.

danial2• 6 years ago

Indeed. I have these for yard cleanup days and garbage days:

https://twitter.com/danialranjha/status/1212991364142551041

rehasu• 6 years ago

Nowadays I find it more important to define what "high performance" means to me and enjoy it when it happen by itself instead of forcing myself into a scheme while destroying my health and happiness.

Sometimes for me the KPI is digging deeper than anybody else can and solve a real root cause issue. Sometimes it means simply not being in zombie mode in the evening (i.e. yes, actually working less). Sometimes it means finding something that may be less efficient but everybody can agree and do together.

In each of these cases having the right kind of tea and tea cup at hand is much more important than training the best scheduling techniques. ;-)

frostyj2• 6 years ago

This is very unrealistic. Real life is, I will be constantly disturbed by slack, email, meetings, people petting on my shoulder. Other than all these, I probably can have 1 or 2 hours a day to concentrate on the actual development

frostyj2• 6 years ago

but yeah, working remote could avoid some of that, but only some

rossboss2• 6 years ago

I'd love to work from home but can't seem to find any remote gigs. I've applied to quiet a few with little to no response. I get tons of responses from non-remote / relocation opportunities. Any secrets? this article doesn't mention how to find one effectively.

travelton• 6 years ago

Have you checked the "Who is hiring?" threads? There are several remote positions listed each month. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22225314

rossboss2• 6 years ago

Yes I have. Put in a few applications for remote positions but never hear anything back. I hear back from others though. Maybe I need to be less picky

inviromentalist• 6 years ago

I'm more curious how a 12 year self taught programmer can make 6 figures.

My Engineering job pays too well to jump into software

AlexandrB• 6 years ago

This article had many good ideas for improving remote work, but I had to laugh at this:

That is why funded startups and companies spend millions of dollars in a really good office environment.

The proliferation of open offices says otherwise.

kova12• 6 years ago

High-paid developers do not typically do "Finalize the columns of the Users table" kind of tasks. Typically, you have a set of complex products, and spend your days in reviewing designs and defining product requirements. The kind of tasks in this article is for beginner devs, and these rarely work fully unsupervised, hence pajama work is off the table

erulabs• 6 years ago

If finalizing the data scheme for a core concept like "users" is a junior task, I fear for your ops team. At any rate, they're example tasks...

predictabletide• 6 years ago

Why are we sharing such click-baity articles that do nothing to accomplish what they promise? At best, it should be titled "2 self-evident tips for increasing productivity". Either way, anyone who has reached the age of 20 would have learned these from experience. Quite honestly, reading this goes counter to what the title promises. Not sure why this is ranking so high...

person_of_color• 6 years ago

Can you get a FAANG salary working remotely (without somehow negotiating after working at FAANG for a few years?)

idealstingray• 6 years ago

I'm a college student and do most of my work from my dorm room, which is also where I sleep, eat, and socialize. For me, lighting is the main thing that helps me differentiate "work mode" from not-work mode. I have a video light mounted above my desk and a couple of bright 5600k plant lights in my window, all of which are on a light timer, in addition to my desk lamp. When I do work during the day, my desk is very well-lit. At night all of these get turned off (sometimes I turn the video light back on but set it to a much warmer color temperature and lower brightness for ambiance).

niclupien• 6 years ago

I'm single dad with 3 young kids and I would never change from working from home. After leaving the kids at daycare in the morning, I come home and quickly clean up the house. I do stuff like meal prep and laundry in pauses during the day. I spend quality time with my kids in the evening instead of doing chores. When they go to bed, I can relax, read a book and workout. I don't know how I would do any of this with 1-2 hours of commute.

In term of productivity, I'm more productive at home without the distraction of a workplace. I don't have any special setup. Just a laptop really. Not even headphones. I have a nice office space setup in my basement with a whiteboard and an extra monitor but I rarely use it. I'm more often working from the kitchen or living room.

I still love going to the workplace (or another place) from time to time. There's no substitute to interacting with people in real life.

Friedduck• 6 years ago

I experienced a dramatic positive impact changing my home work environment from a dark, cramped area to a bright, sunlit room. Similarly I found that my productivity is significantly better standing (queue standing desk.) What’s remarkable in this story is how long it took me to realize how important the environment is to how successful you are.

Becoming a high performing software developer working from your bedroom

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