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Dev Diary #1: About Me - A Lone Programmer

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Dev Diary #1: About Me - A Lone Programmer
J
John Eric

A Dev based on PH. Loves to drink coffee and nap

Part of seriesDev Diary

A Brief Introduction

Hi I'm Eric a developer based from Philippines. I am currently working as a fulltime back-end developer for a client that whose project is a large Parcel Company.

Right now I am working alone on a co-working space, it means that I work on a shared desk where I could be sitting beside from someone that works for a different company.

It's kinda hard, as a developer it is very hard that there's no one I could talk with something technical, an on the spot scenario where I could talk to a co-worker or a teammate. If you wanna know, my teammates for this projects are currently located at Cebu (a faraway province from where I reside) and at Sweden (where my clients and the rest of team are).

As of now, I have made it actually work for me - working alone comfortably by devising a routine or something that I could cope up with.

My Routines

Being An Early Bird

Like the old saying said:

The early bird catches the worm.

But for me, it should be:

The early bird catches the early worm.

Kidding aside, yes - being early has a lot of advantages. You could start and get things done early in the morning. While you have that hype, you could use that hype to do those priorities. I'm working on a company where we obliged to send a report about the past days activities, just for tracking purposes; so doing it early in the morning is very advantageous.

Bug fixes, that "hyped" feeling that I talked about - you could possibly come up with a solution on your bugs while your brain is still fresh condition.

Good Music

lofisample.png

I really love to listen on some of relaxing musics. I recommend a Lo Fi genre, best for helping me to get myself focused on my task.

I usually tune up the volume of my laptop's on a level that I could hear a nearby voice if someone will approach me.

Coffee and Nap

programming-coffee-to-code-cover.jpg

Yep, I guess every programmers' favorite drink - COFFEE. Coffee makes a stimulation on our brain to have this good sensation, a sensation that keep us awake.

I usually take a good cup of coffee twice a day, 1 every 10:00 AM and another one every 3:00 PM.

A nap is also helpful, I always take a 30 minutes nap after lunch break. Against sleepiness actually makes my head hurt, so it would be wise to take a nap if needed.

Conclusion

Though it is very hard for me, at least personally - to don't have someone to speak up, it doesn't mean I'm not actually alone. I could still make a Slack Call on my remote teammates if they're not busy or just engage them on a chat.

Maybe I should level up my social skill so I have the courage to make a connection to some people around here.

This is for now, for my first post on HashNode. You could comment down your routine as a programmer or your thoughts about this entry.

Happy programming everyone.

#devlife#developer#developers#tips
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Comments (3)

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C
Clod Gozon6y ago

That made me hyped when I found out you're from the Philippines. Bravo!

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Max6y ago

Hey Eric,

I'm a dev from France and for various reasons I'm going to try and change jobs by the end of the year (my actual job is also my first one, I graduated 2 years ago and been doing it since).

Thank you for your entry, I find it interesting because I've been seriously considering to find a remote position since there aren't that many opportunities around me anyway. But since I've never done it, I'm kind of dreading exactly what you're talking about.

I guess working remotely is indeed socially challenging, you have to make more efforts to create connections with others, and if I did that I'd definitely go to a coworking space (and/or hang-out at coffee places) instead of staying home. Also if your team is working as one in another place I guess it's pretty easy to feel left out.

However I find it odd that there isn't anyone you can talk about something technical in your coworking space... are you the only dev there? If so, I'd consider switching to another space. If not, then I'd definitely make small efforts to connect with them, I definitely think it would help you.

Does anyone else here work remotely (or used to) and would like to share their experience?

2
J
John Eric6y ago

Hi Max,

Thank you for finding my entry interesting, I'm not a fan of writing or anything related but I'm doing this during my free time.

It is indeed a social challenge, making connections to some new strangers. Yep, there are many developers here but they're working on a different company, I hope I could approach them if there's a chance,

M
Max6y ago

Great! Keep in mind that's what coworking spaces are for: people with different jobs/interests and from different companies working alongside each other. If they work there it most likely means they're open to having conversations with other people as well. I'm sure you'll definitely hit it off with a few of them.

Best of luck to you!

1
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Juni Brosas6y ago

Hi Eric,

I am also a developer from Philippines and I have been into that situation because I worked remotely for almost 5 years.

I agree, having no one to talk to, constantly battling with procrastination, poor stress management, keeping up with the motivation are some of the struggles I've been through. It was last 2017 when I decided I had enough, so I took a huge leap of faith and moved to Cebu and everything turned out great!

If working remotely works for you, that is fine. I'd like to suggest to look for activities (make sure that does not involve with a keyboard and monitor :D) that could "reset negativity back to zero". That includes stress, feeling lonely, wrong perceptions and other things that you could be feeling.

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John Eric6y ago

hello Juni Brosas, it's really admiring that some dev / employee like you that reconsidered of making some big changes - like you gone to a new place to work with. Well, I hope I could make the same thing in the future.

About the workspace, yeah it helps me to stay focused and keeping the sanity of not having someone to talk to is a real challenge, but in the end of the day getting the tasks done is that really matters.

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