
Becoming a high performing software developer working from your bedroom - kevinpaladin
https://zephony.com/remote-software-developer-productivity
======
jonny383
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
> low to medium risk areas and average 10 - 15% per year.

Where can I get this return reliably at "low risk"?

~~~
poulsbohemian
There are places in the US where this is the rate of appreciation on real
estate. While there are periodic setbacks (see: 2008-2012), real estate is
remarkably stable across the country, especially in major cities. The small,
somewhat rural area I live in had an average appreciation of 13% last year,
which is not sustainable for this area but still indicative of the overall
trend.

~~~
ticmasta
and you know lots of real estate deals that are low risk, pay 10-15% and
available for participation @ $100 / week?

>> an average appreciation of 13% last year, which is not sustainable for this
area but still indicative of the overall trend.

not sustainable but indicative of the overall trend? What does that even mean?

~~~
poulsbohemian
It means we aren't going to see 13% every year in my localized market, but we
will see a continued upward march - where the data from the past 30 years
bears that out. Other markets like Seattle, given the geography and current
restrictions it isn't much of a jump to think you could average a 10%
appreciation for the next decade.

I don't recall anyone saying anything about participation @ $100 / week, so
don't be flippant. The comment was made about low risk at 10-15%. If you had
$100/week to spend, I'd put it in a drip and buy pharma stocks because there
are many paying a sizable dividend, but I'm not your broker so get your own
advice.

~~~
swiley
Ah real estate: the rent keeps going up and there’s no easy way for
individuals to benefit from it.

------
petargyurov
> 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 ;)

~~~
bschwindHN
The Frixion pens they sell in Japan are incredible for this. They're truly
erasable, not like the shitty ones I remember from my childhood. The multi-
color pens are especially useful. All the fun of brainstorming and
erasability, without the bad smells and imprecise lines of whiteboard markers.

[http://www.frixion.jp/lineup/work.html?pid=product_ball-3-sl...](http://www.frixion.jp/lineup/work.html?pid=product_ball-3-slim)

~~~
7839284023
I would never use those to write something important in a notebook. I did this
and left it in my bag, the sun shone on the bag and because of the heat most
of my notes got erased. Well because friction = heat, so it was the same
thing.

~~~
eitland
You can get it back by throwing it in a freezer, at least I was able to when I
should prove someone wrong... :-)

(pilot frixion, blue, bought in Norway)

~~~
GrantZvolsky
Here's[1] a proof I recorded a long time ago. Enjoy my notes on virtual
memory.

[1]: [https://youtu.be/hM4-4G36H7U?t=31](https://youtu.be/hM4-4G36H7U?t=31)

~~~
jldugger
Yea, but if you reuse the paper, it becomes an accidental palimpset with all
the layers visible.

------
andrewzah
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.

~~~
sjf
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.

~~~
andrewzah
This misses the point I was making. Wearing pajamas is fine, I was referring
to the clothes that one slept in. Changing to something fresh is what I meant.

I'm male but my legs get cold from time to time, also, so I keep a small
blanket near my desk and a space heater during the winter.

~~~
LilBytes
Ah right. I got it.

I'll invest in bed pajamas, work pajamas, breakfast pajamas and lunch pajamas
& dinner pajamas.

I'm not at all being snarky here. I haven't decided if I'm being serious. I
would happily wear flannel clothes EVERYWHERE given the chance. Being naked
has never really appealed to me but wearing soft, fragranced, soft, woolen
clothing every where?

Sign me up!

------
robinduckett
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.

~~~
blueboo
You might be interested in the dynamic described here:
[https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200130-the-life-
hack-...](https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200130-the-life-hack-to-
reduce-admin-and-carve-out-downtime)

I can attest to the efficacy of scheduling life things with respect to
mitigating the ambient cognitive load of life. Otherwise, you can fall prey to
what feels like boredom, or the next best thing, which is cleaning the
house/doing chores as a form of procrastination.

Beware: getting things out of the way first is a common mindset leading to
never achieving long-term goals. There are always important tasks in life that
aren't the most important at any given moment (and perhaps never are.)

~~~
andai
The most important things are long-term, and therefore don't seem urgent. The
days may be long, but the years are short, and unless you specifically make
time to work on important long-term things, they just won't get the attention
they deserve.

That said, people often use less important things as a way to avoid dealing
with the big ones. I often get to the end of the day and know I got a lot
done, but also know I was avoiding something bigger all day.

------
csomar
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.

~~~
fsajkdnjk
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 :(

~~~
xur17
> 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 have always felt like there is a market here. I work remotely, but want
somewhere to work from consistently for a few days a week. I've tried coffee
shops, coworking spaces, etc, but none of them replicate the social aspect of
working in an office (which is something I somewhat miss). I'd love to find a
local company that has some extra space that would rent me a desk, but I'm not
really sure how to approach it short of cold calling a bunch of places.

~~~
fsajkdnjk
i made a website for renting and selling real estate - worldwide. visually
close to airbnb(ie. big map on the screen) and quite unique filtering
mechanism for the ads(i've yet to see anything close to it). essentially the
point was to connect buyers and sellers directly because i think real estate
agents are just leeches that have no place in 21st century. it was completely
free and the goal was to sell ad space. it had not only homes and flats but
warehouses, offices and anything else you can think of. one of the things i
made point of having was exactly what we are talking about - a rentable desk
space. unfortunately, these days, these types of projects live and die with
how much money you are willing and able to put into advertising. it is not
like in early 2000s or 2010s where a good idea could make it. today,
everything has been done and everything has top players(whether service or
software). so innovation won't do shit anymore. your success is solely based
on ads and getting the name out there(essentially brute-forcing your way to
the market). so in the end i killed the project.

though one thing i began working on was my own map tile rendering. i had a
free provider(since google and others are insanely expensive for this specific
type of project) but i wanted to make my own, for fun. and recently i quit
working on a one of my big projects so with a ton of free time on my hands i
am thinking of trying again and relaunching the project.

------
codingdave
> 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
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.

~~~
neilalexander
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.

------
phreack
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.

------
toomanybeersies
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
> 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
You mean you actually get sick leave in your country? _cries in American_

~~~
sethammons
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.

------
rammy1234
> 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
Jokes on you, I hardly get one Instagram notification a day.

~~~
rammy1234
hahaha,They are Great Time Killing Machine. They take time away from you
before you even realize it.

------
armandososa
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
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.

------
eurasiantiger
> 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
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.

------
m0zg
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.

------
niclupien
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.

------
huffmsa
> _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.

------
quantguy11959
What are some good ways to avoid distractions? I often find myself watching
YouTube/Netflix or on steam for endless hours before realizing it

~~~
danial
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.

------
atilaneves
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.

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

~~~
archon810
More than the lack of padding on mobile?

------
DaveSchmindel
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
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.

------
kova12
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
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...

------
FpUser
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.

------
djurovicmarko
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.

------
mustafabisic1
I like the concept of working on your favorite part of the project when you
don't feel like it.

Great trick!

------
frenchman99
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.

------
rehasu
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
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
but yeah, working remote could avoid some of that, but only some

------
idealstingray
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).

------
Waterluvian
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).

------
cmplxconjugate
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.

------
Friedduck
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.

------
cbm-vic-20
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/98-4...](https://www.ergotron.com/en-us/products/product-
details/98-408#/)

~~~
corobo
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

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

~~~
danial
Indeed. I have these for yard cleanup days and garbage days:

[https://twitter.com/danialranjha/status/1212991364142551041](https://twitter.com/danialranjha/status/1212991364142551041)

------
rossboss
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
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
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

------
janpot
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.

------
AlexandrB
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.

------
unnouinceput
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
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.

------
bobx11
This is a great write up that has the potential to save many beginners the
headache of discovering these methods the hard way.

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

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predictabletide
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...

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inviromentalist
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

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hknd
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

~~~
kevinpaladin
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.

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tbergeron
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
> 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.

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superbrane
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
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
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
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.

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chrisseaton
> 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.

~~~
globular-toast
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
I guess some young people don't have any other space - perhaps literally if
they share a house.

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mhd
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
> 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
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.

