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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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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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Nick Taylor •

It's True - Dwight Shrute

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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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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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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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silviaespanagil profile image
Silvia España 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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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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cgifl300 profile image
cGIfl300 •

I guess, most of us ever work remotly.

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

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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.