43 ms·

Becoming a high performing software developer working from your bedroom

641 points by kevinpaladin 7y ago

chrisseaton 7y 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 7y ago
  Obviously you set up a home office in case they want to see it, and then still just work from your bedroom :)
  - Insanity 7y ago
    life-hack: set up a greenscreen behind your bed and set it to an office-like background during video chats!
- globular-toast 7y 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.
  - chrisseaton 7y ago
    I guess some young people don't have any other space - perhaps literally if they share a house.
    - LessDmesg 7y ago
      Many young post-grad people in today's economy are living with their parents while repaying their humongous student loans, yeah. Ironically, programming from the bedroom instead of going to a physical college may be a better way to obtain a place of your own sooner, heh.
    - iso1210 7y ago
      If you're a remote worker and sharing a house you really should think about moving somewhere more affordable
      - swiley 7y ago
        With the exception of extremes like California on the high end and rural Appalachia on the low end cheap housing costs about the same (differing by ~ a few hundred a month) in most American cities. I would recommend moving to a different country before I’d recommend moving to the rural US, that’s a dead end especially if you need the internet for work.
        iso1210 7y ago
        I see 2 bed apartments in Columbus Ohio for under $800 a month.
    - mhd 7y ago
      Studio apartments aren't a thing anymore? Pretty common in Europe and AFAIK not entirely unknown in high-rent Metropolitan areas worldwide (NYC, Tokyo etc.)
      - chrisseaton 7y ago
        > Studio apartments aren't a thing anymore? Where did I claim that? I think you’ve misread. I said _some_ young people. How have you expanded that to think I was writing _all_ young people? Not everyone can afford a studio to themselves. This does not imply studios do not exist.
        mhd 7y ago
        I was more talking about _not just_ young people. Studio apartments/small "bachelor pads" exist outside of pure age brackets or even affordability. Something bigger might not be available if you want to live close enough to work/city centre/etc. and/or it might be more common in your culture (Japan/Europe vs. US). In other words: I don't see why a one-room situation should be restricted to young people.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
        bairngorm 7y ago
        A studio apartment is a one room apartment that usually has living space, bed and kitchen utilities all in one room. I’m not sure if you understood that. People tend to go for them because they’re cheaper.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
  - TallGuyShort 7y ago
    The bedroom is for sleeping only. Sex happens all over the house.
- codingdave 7y 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?
- Insanity 7y 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.
- TallGuyShort 7y 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 7y ago
This is a great write up that has the potential to save many beginners the headache of discovering these methods the hard way.
petargyurov 7y 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-toast 7y 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.
  - enriquto 7y ago
    try a fountain pen with erasable blue ink
    - cpach 7y ago
      I had no idea that erasable ink (for fountain pens) is a thing. That’s awesome!
      - enriquto 7y ago
        Invented by Pelikan in weimar germany!
      - kaybe 7y ago
        You're going to need this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink_eraser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink_eraser (We called it 'ink killer' in school, you were however not allowed to use it the first few years after switching to ink from pencil.) addendum: And you can get ballpens with the ink as well.
robinduckett 7y 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 7y 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_ 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago
superbrane 7y 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.
- colechristensen 7y 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.
  - superbrane 7y 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.
    - colechristensen 7y ago
      I could also have just won the lottery, just saying. There are other realities to contend with, like how it looks bad to have a six month job on a resume, or leases that are expensive to break, or how moving when your lease ends to somewhere better to commute to a job you've lost confidence in, or waiting for a vesting cliff and promised raise, or moving far enough away that your friends might as well be in another state... Not to mention if you have a family or partner. In the long commute case, much of that was true. I tried to stick it through hard times after they moved offices to be significantly further away and burned out. It happens. Life isn't always so simple and you can't always optimize your life around your job.
hknd 7y 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 7y 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.
- kevinpaladin 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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.
- fsajkdnjk 7y 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 :(
mustafabisic1 7y ago
I like the concept of working on your favorite part of the project when you don't feel like it. Great trick!
codingdave 7y 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.
- Insanity 7y 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.
  - codingdave 7y 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.
  - neilalexander 7y 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.
huffmsa 7y 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.
RestAndVest 7y ago
I hope remote work is banned by law sometime soon. It's utterly dreadful for everyone involved - the worker(unless they are slackers and have no problems being unproductive while getting paid), the co-workers, customers, society.
- duiker101 7y ago
  sounds like you had some pretty bad experience with it. in my experience, remote work has been an absolute bliss and I never want to have to be chained to a desk in an office again. Sure, it's not for everyone, but it's not dreadful for everyone.
- neilalexander 7y ago
  Remote working works plenty of well for plenty of people. I work for a company that is based in London and I live in Scotland. I enjoy the flexibility that remote working gives me, including not having to uproot everything in order to move to have a job that I actually wanted.
- nathanlied 7y ago
  > the worker(unless they are slackers and have no problems being unproductive while getting paid) You mean, as opposed to office-work 8 hours a day, where it's extremely common to hear people talk about browsing Facebook and other social media a lot of the time because there's not enough cognitive capacity to be working the full 8 hours? Or, often enough, just not enough work? > co-workers I'm assuming you view it as bad for coworkers because they can't just get up and interrupt you at any time they need something from you; for me, that's a feature, not a bug. Asynchronous communication allows you to have an uninterrupted productive streak without worrying someone's going to need something that really isn't that urgent. > customers, society. I'm at a loss for those, though. Why would it be bad for customers and society?
m0zg 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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/98-408#/ https://www.ergotron.com/en-us/products/product-details/98-4...
- corobo 7y 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
- OJFord 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago
    You mean you actually get sick leave in your country? cries in American
    - sethammons 7y ago
      While lots of American companies have utterly shit sick and vacation policies (I have friends who lose vacation days if they use up sick days which is fucked up), the company I work for has been very good at this. If you are sick, stay home. If you feel like working, eh ok, but you are encouraged to rest up. There are better companies out there.
  - tayo42 7y ago
    colds are contagious for almost 2 weeks, but the symptoms are really mild and not disruptive.
- clarry 7y ago
  Why do you hate working from home?
frenchman99 7y 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.
- LeSaucy 7y ago
  I find "create x entity API" is a lower focus type task. I would argue that high functioning differentiator is the thinking/focus time deciding what and how to build. The implementation details are obviously very important to be able to execute skillfully, but the idea generation and "big picture" vision of how software engineering projects will come together is more valuable than how many loc/apis/whatevers you can crank out in a day.
jonny383 7y 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.
- jbb123 7y ago
  > low to medium risk areas and average 10 - 15% per year. Where can I get this return reliably at "low risk"?
  - jonny383 7y 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.
    - akavi 7y ago
      There is no reputable ETF that will give you 15% return. Even 10% real return is incredibly unlikely.
atilaneves 7y 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.
rammy1234 7y 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 7y ago
  Jokes on you, I hardly get one Instagram notification a day.
  - rammy1234 7y ago
    hahaha,They are Great Time Killing Machine. They take time away from you before you even realize it.
eurasiantiger 7y 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.
- kevinpaladin 7y 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.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
andrewzah 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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.
DaveSchmindel 7y 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?
- Solvitieg 7y 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 7y ago
  I think it helps more with the issue of you just overcoming laziness and wasting time otherwise - naps, games, phone,...
tbergeron 7y 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 7y 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.
- kevinpaladin 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago
The author's spelling of "NetFlix" bothered me a lot more than it should.
- archon810 7y ago
  More than the lack of padding on mobile?
cmplxconjugate 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago
  Check out my app: https://getcoldturkey.com https://getcoldturkey.com
- allochthon 7y 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.
- danial 7y 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.
- Solvitieg 7y 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.
jldugger 7y ago
Any home office post that doesn't mention leafblower noise mitigation is unprepared for the rest of society =(
- logicalmind 7y 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.
- danial 7y ago
  Indeed. I have these for yard cleanup days and garbage days: https://twitter.com/danialranjha/status/1212991364142551041 https://twitter.com/danialranjha/status/1212991364142551041
rehasu 7y 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. ;-)
frostyj 7y 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
- frostyj 7y ago
  but yeah, working remote could avoid some of that, but only some
rossboss 7y 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 7y ago
  Have you checked the "Who is hiring?" threads? There are several remote positions listed each month. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22225314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22225314
  - rossboss 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago
Can you get a FAANG salary working remotely (without somehow negotiating after working at FAANG for a few years?)
idealstingray 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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.

641 points by kevinpaladin 7y 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 7y ago
Obviously you set up a home office in case they want to see it, and then still just work from your bedroom :)
- Insanity 7y ago
  life-hack: set up a greenscreen behind your bed and set it to an office-like background during video chats!
globular-toast 7y 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.
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  I guess some young people don't have any other space - perhaps literally if they share a house.
  - LessDmesg 7y ago
    Many young post-grad people in today's economy are living with their parents while repaying their humongous student loans, yeah. Ironically, programming from the bedroom instead of going to a physical college may be a better way to obtain a place of your own sooner, heh.
  - iso1210 7y ago
    If you're a remote worker and sharing a house you really should think about moving somewhere more affordable
    - swiley 7y ago
      With the exception of extremes like California on the high end and rural Appalachia on the low end cheap housing costs about the same (differing by ~ a few hundred a month) in most American cities. I would recommend moving to a different country before I’d recommend moving to the rural US, that’s a dead end especially if you need the internet for work.
      - iso1210 7y ago
        I see 2 bed apartments in Columbus Ohio for under $800 a month.
  - mhd 7y ago
    Studio apartments aren't a thing anymore? Pretty common in Europe and AFAIK not entirely unknown in high-rent Metropolitan areas worldwide (NYC, Tokyo etc.)
    - chrisseaton 7y ago
      > Studio apartments aren't a thing anymore? Where did I claim that? I think you’ve misread. I said _some_ young people. How have you expanded that to think I was writing _all_ young people? Not everyone can afford a studio to themselves. This does not imply studios do not exist.
      - mhd 7y ago
        I was more talking about _not just_ young people. Studio apartments/small "bachelor pads" exist outside of pure age brackets or even affordability. Something bigger might not be available if you want to live close enough to work/city centre/etc. and/or it might be more common in your culture (Japan/Europe vs. US). In other words: I don't see why a one-room situation should be restricted to young people.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - bairngorm 7y ago
        A studio apartment is a one room apartment that usually has living space, bed and kitchen utilities all in one room. I’m not sure if you understood that. People tend to go for them because they’re cheaper.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
- TallGuyShort 7y ago
  The bedroom is for sleeping only. Sex happens all over the house.
codingdave 7y 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?
Insanity 7y 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.
TallGuyShort 7y 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 7y ago

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

petargyurov 7y 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-toast 7y 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.
- enriquto 7y ago
  try a fountain pen with erasable blue ink
  - cpach 7y ago
    I had no idea that erasable ink (for fountain pens) is a thing. That’s awesome!
    - enriquto 7y ago
      Invented by Pelikan in weimar germany!
    - kaybe 7y ago
      You're going to need this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink_eraser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink_eraser (We called it 'ink killer' in school, you were however not allowed to use it the first few years after switching to ink from pencil.) addendum: And you can get ballpens with the ink as well.

robinduckett 7y 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 7y 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_ 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago

superbrane 7y 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.

colechristensen 7y 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.
- superbrane 7y 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.
  - colechristensen 7y ago
    I could also have just won the lottery, just saying. There are other realities to contend with, like how it looks bad to have a six month job on a resume, or leases that are expensive to break, or how moving when your lease ends to somewhere better to commute to a job you've lost confidence in, or waiting for a vesting cliff and promised raise, or moving far enough away that your friends might as well be in another state... Not to mention if you have a family or partner. In the long commute case, much of that was true. I tried to stick it through hard times after they moved offices to be significantly further away and burned out. It happens. Life isn't always so simple and you can't always optimize your life around your job.

hknd 7y 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 7y 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.
kevinpaladin 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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.
fsajkdnjk 7y 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 :(

mustafabisic1 7y ago

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

codingdave 7y 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.

Insanity 7y 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.
- codingdave 7y 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.
- neilalexander 7y 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.

huffmsa 7y 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.

RestAndVest 7y ago

I hope remote work is banned by law sometime soon. It's utterly dreadful for everyone involved - the worker(unless they are slackers and have no problems being unproductive while getting paid), the co-workers, customers, society.

duiker101 7y ago
sounds like you had some pretty bad experience with it. in my experience, remote work has been an absolute bliss and I never want to have to be chained to a desk in an office again. Sure, it's not for everyone, but it's not dreadful for everyone.
neilalexander 7y ago
Remote working works plenty of well for plenty of people. I work for a company that is based in London and I live in Scotland. I enjoy the flexibility that remote working gives me, including not having to uproot everything in order to move to have a job that I actually wanted.
nathanlied 7y ago
> the worker(unless they are slackers and have no problems being unproductive while getting paid) You mean, as opposed to office-work 8 hours a day, where it's extremely common to hear people talk about browsing Facebook and other social media a lot of the time because there's not enough cognitive capacity to be working the full 8 hours? Or, often enough, just not enough work? > co-workers I'm assuming you view it as bad for coworkers because they can't just get up and interrupt you at any time they need something from you; for me, that's a feature, not a bug. Asynchronous communication allows you to have an uninterrupted productive streak without worrying someone's going to need something that really isn't that urgent. > customers, society. I'm at a loss for those, though. Why would it be bad for customers and society?

m0zg 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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/98-408#/ https://www.ergotron.com/en-us/products/product-details/98-4...

corobo 7y 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
OJFord 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago
  You mean you actually get sick leave in your country? cries in American
  - sethammons 7y ago
    While lots of American companies have utterly shit sick and vacation policies (I have friends who lose vacation days if they use up sick days which is fucked up), the company I work for has been very good at this. If you are sick, stay home. If you feel like working, eh ok, but you are encouraged to rest up. There are better companies out there.
- tayo42 7y ago
  colds are contagious for almost 2 weeks, but the symptoms are really mild and not disruptive.
clarry 7y ago
Why do you hate working from home?

frenchman99 7y 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.

LeSaucy 7y ago
I find "create x entity API" is a lower focus type task. I would argue that high functioning differentiator is the thinking/focus time deciding what and how to build. The implementation details are obviously very important to be able to execute skillfully, but the idea generation and "big picture" vision of how software engineering projects will come together is more valuable than how many loc/apis/whatevers you can crank out in a day.

jonny383 7y 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.

jbb123 7y ago
> low to medium risk areas and average 10 - 15% per year. Where can I get this return reliably at "low risk"?
- jonny383 7y 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.
  - akavi 7y ago
    There is no reputable ETF that will give you 15% return. Even 10% real return is incredibly unlikely.

atilaneves 7y 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.

rammy1234 7y 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 7y ago
Jokes on you, I hardly get one Instagram notification a day.
- rammy1234 7y ago
  hahaha,They are Great Time Killing Machine. They take time away from you before you even realize it.

eurasiantiger 7y 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.

kevinpaladin 7y 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.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

andrewzah 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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.

DaveSchmindel 7y 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?

Solvitieg 7y 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 7y ago
I think it helps more with the issue of you just overcoming laziness and wasting time otherwise - naps, games, phone,...

tbergeron 7y 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 7y 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.
kevinpaladin 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago

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

archon810 7y ago
More than the lack of padding on mobile?

cmplxconjugate 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago
Check out my app: https://getcoldturkey.com https://getcoldturkey.com
allochthon 7y 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.
danial 7y 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.
Solvitieg 7y 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.

jldugger 7y ago

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

logicalmind 7y 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.
danial 7y ago
Indeed. I have these for yard cleanup days and garbage days: https://twitter.com/danialranjha/status/1212991364142551041 https://twitter.com/danialranjha/status/1212991364142551041

rehasu 7y 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. ;-)

frostyj 7y 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

frostyj 7y ago
but yeah, working remote could avoid some of that, but only some

rossboss 7y 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 7y ago
Have you checked the "Who is hiring?" threads? There are several remote positions listed each month. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22225314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22225314
- rossboss 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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 7y ago

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

idealstingray 7y 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 7y 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 7y 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.