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Emmett Naughton
Emmett Naughton

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What is your best tip for working remotely as an software engineer?

I am starting my first fully remote full time job on Monday. What is your best tip?

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Top comments (12)

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bekahhw profile image
BekahHW

Make time to meet your teammates and also if you're working from home, set boundaries. Make time for lunch away from the computer. Make sure you shut your computer at a certain time. When work and home are in the same space, it can be really hard to feel like you're done working.

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zwacky profile image
Simon Wicki

set boundaries

this! be it spacial boundaries or mental ones, without them I see my productivity decreasing.

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cerchie profile image
Lucia Cerchie

Congrat Emmett!
People say "I have trouble working remotely because I get distracted by dishes/laundry etc".
But---
It's ok to make these kinds of 'distractions' a 5 min break or even a reward for finishing a meeting or debugging a file. You'd do the same in the office environment (take a break by heading over to the water cooler), so why punish yourself for doing it at home?
Also: activities on screens will not be refreshing breaks. Here's looking at you, Twitter XD

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audmasiulionis profile image
Audrius Masiulionis

Have a seperate space where you work. Be at that place during your work hours. I foud that is impartant to seperate work space and your home space, because you shouldn't mix work and your personal time.

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nickytonline profile image
Nick Taylor

It's True - Dwight Shrute

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

My new years' resolution is "make space", and that refers to ensuring I fork off the time for myself so I'm not cramming it with good work. Like, maybe if my Friday looks "light", I don't automatically assume that's an opportunity to find ways to be hyper-productive. Maybe I just end up being "normal productive", and find time for a walk.

This isn't unique to remote work, but I think it requires being much more deliberate when the context of work and life are muddied.

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silviaespanagil profile image
Silvia EspaΓ±a Gil

I read some of the other comments just because I didn't want to repeat any. Also I would add that, if you leave with someone else, roomies, partners, family, let them now is work time even if you are at home.

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mistval profile image
Randall

Stay on top of emails and Slack DMs! Concretely: if you are not immediately going to deal with an email or DM, mark it as unread. Then aim for zero unread DMs and emails.

As a remote worker, this is something I hope my coworkers do, and appreciate when they do. Don't let your inbox be a black hole.

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amyshackles profile image
Amy Shackles

If it's possible for you, have a dedicated space for work that's separate from everything else. If that's not possible, try to have a system that changes your environment when you're in "work" mode and when you're not in "work" mode. This helps to cement the idea that there is a difference between time "at work" and time "at home" despite both of those times now being at home. It's a good way to try to prevent work time from bleeding into the rest of your time and to promote work/life balance.

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canro91 profile image
Cesar Aguirre

Make sure to schedule pauses in your day and create a routine to signal the end of day (switch computers, go outside)

Some of my conclusions:

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isesar profile image
isesar

Walk, exercise, and/or find a hobby beside of programming and using screens/technology etc... Both, mental and physical health are important.

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cgifl300 profile image
cGIfl300

I guess, most of us ever work remotly.

My main tip is to be sure I have enought coffee. :-)