I recently published a new post about How to Work from Home as a Software Engineer sharing some tips that I'm applying to be comfortable at home. In this post, I'm going to share my tips to work from home as a software developer.
1. Plan your day working from home the NIGHT before
I allocate 10 minutes the night before to plan my next day by making a list of prioritized tasks. So when I wake up, I have a clear idea of which tasks I should work first. That routine helps me to keep myself accountable and have a "productive Day"
2. Pair programming with VSCode
Doing pair programming nowadays is one of the best mechanisms to keep myself closer to my co-workers while having fun working on a project or feature together.
Six or seven months ago, Kyle Welch (@kylewelch) introduced me to an extension for VSCode to do pair programming for real-time Collaboration with Live Share.
3. Pomodoro technique for developers
When I started to work from home two months ago, I was very anxious to check my Slack every 5 minutes or anytime I receive a new notification. My mindset was, "I need to be online all the time, so in case my peers need me, I'll give them a quick answer."
Being connected all the time didn't let me have full control over my schedule, and I was less focused because I was online all the time. Instead, now I'm using "Be focused" a Pomodoro timer for Mac so that I can have in-depth focus work sessions.
Somedays I don't use Pomodoro, it depends on the type of tasks that I'm planning to work on, but overall, I'm pleased with it.
4. Work From Home on Your Couch
I spend 80% of my time working from my desk, but sometimes I get too stressed out and bored by the same routine, so I like to change small things like the place where I work.
Especially in the afternoons, you can find me on my couch, or working from the garden or my bed. My disclaimer is that while I can spend 20% of my time working away from the desk, I'd not take the habit of doing 80% o my work on the coach.
5. Work on personal projects
Doing personal projects has given me great benefits: keep learning new skills, connect with more people, keep myself creative. After work I dedicate as many hours as I can to work on personal projects, like creating videos for YouTube, writing articles like this one or launching a new project like Developers In Depth
๐ง Bonus: Noise cancelling headphones
In my last video about Work From Home as a Software Developer, I got many people sharing that having a noise-canceling headphone is useful when working in a highly noisy environment. So I thought it would be useful to share that tip here as well. I personally use WH-1000XM3 or this other one
That's all! What's your fav tip? Any more tips I should include? Send me a Tweet
