Useful tips for home-office newcomers
I have been working as a web developer for 7 years and, finally, in 2018 I started working remotely. Since I started working from home, I have been facing a lot of challenges which I believe many people also go through on a daily basis.
This is my first public article and I took a long time to decide whether or not I should write it. So, be patient and kind to me 😌.
I have come up with some tips that helped me a lot at the beginning of my ‘home-office career’ (and still does) and I believe they might also help you if you have just started working this way weather temporarily because of the COVID-19 pandemics or not.
Avoid too much flexibility 📆
Flexibility is very common when working from home. This can be good or bad depending on how you manage your time and prioritize your tasks. At the same time, you can be very productive since you can manage your own time, sometimes you may find yourself facing an almost insurmountable challenge to achieve productiveness
To avoid this, try to keep at least some semblance of a routine. A good thing to do is to create reminders for your daily activities like when to start working, when to take a break and when to stop. Try also not to do so many extra hours. It is not healthy.
Having a routine will help you measure how much you can produce in one day of work and estimate the effort needed for each one of your daily tasks.
Take notes at the end of the day 🗒
If you work with a team that manages a development project using Scrum, for example, you probably have at least one daily meeting to talk about what you have done in the previous day, what you plan to do in the current day and if you have any blockers or not.
At the end of the day, take notes about what you have done, the problems you have faced and the new things you have discovered. Doing this simple task will prepare you and make things easier for you and your team in the following day’s meeting.
Do not be afraid of calls ☎️
When I first started working from home, I was expecting to be left alone to do code and would not have to talk to anyone during the day. I was afraid of calls and I always used to try to solve things by messaging the other developers instead of or accepting one.
It turns out that this usually harms the team as a whole since talking is much more effective than writing and helps to reduce misunderstandings and clarify doubts very quickly.
Besides, there is likely to be someone who has some difficulty and needs your help, so answering their calls will keep them from waiting or feeling ignored.
P.S. turn on your camera while in meetings! It is important for your colleagues to see you because it helps them to familiarize themselves with each other and makes these moments a little bit more personal which contributes towards the team's harmony.
Proofread your messages ✍️
Even though calls are nice to help to solve complex problems quickly, sometimes messaging can also be an alternative for fast communication. Make sure to always proofread your messages. Writing a message to someone seems trivial but when it comes to software development it is very important to make things very clear. To avoid misunderstandings and to improve the team’s communication, make sure to check the content of your messages very carefully before sending them. Look for spelling mistakes and ambiguity. This will save you a LOT of time, trust me! Because if your message is clear, you will not need to spend time explaining it more than once.
Review your own code (before pushing it) ✅
“But Pablo, shouldn’t the code review be done by a developer other than the one who wrote the code?” Yes, it should. But I am not telling you to approve and merge your own pull requests (please, do not do that!). I am telling you to check your code before sending it to the repository. You can do that when opening a pull request, for example. I can tell you for certain: reviewing your own code before asking others to review it will save you a lot of time because you will be able to catch gross errors and, most of the time, avoid your PR being rejected as a result. Look for typos, debug code, variables names, etc. in the same way you do when reviewing someone else’s code. It is very common for us to leave some things behind after a long time coding.
(Try to) Have an environment dedicated to work 🖥
First of all, do not code lying in your bed 🤦♂. This may seem cool at the beginning but will probably decrease your productivity and screw up your spine. If you are not able to have an office or a room that can be used solely for work, try to have at least a fair set up with a desk, a chair, and (good) headphones. If your financial situation is still not so comfortable, try to start saving some money so you can afford better pieces of equipment later.
Remember: this is your job! If you have an exclusive, comfortable and ergonomic environment to work, you will be able to make even more money out of it.
Explain to people who live with you that home-office means work 🗣
If you live with family or roommates, explain to them that, even though you are at home, you are working. Let them know that you need to focus and ask them to avoid calling you frequently or asking you to do things while you are working. When everybody is aware of your work style things will be easier to manage and you will avoid embarrassing situations.
Working from home can be very effective, productive and comfortable but you need to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of it so that you are able to find a balance and reach out to the next level.
