
Ask HN: As a developer, how can I take advantage of time spent driving to work? - d_man
I work as a developer (Java full stack if it makes any difference) and live quite far from my workplace: it usually takes me one hour and a half to and from work by car. Moving closer to my workplace is not an option nor is it using other means to go back and forth (eg train&#x2F;bus).
I feel like my time spent on the road is mostly wasted: I&#x27;d like to find something IT-related to do (both listen to and reason about) that can help me learn new stuff. 
Since I&#x27;m passionate about Linux, I usually have a few Linux (or BSD) podcasts to listen to while driving but I found that to be not really instructive, just more enjoyable than listening to the radio or some music playlist. 
I&#x27;m looking for any kind of suggestion from fellow developers who are in the same spot and have found any interesting way or resources to &#x27;spend wisely&#x27; their travel time. 
What resources would you suggest (if any exists) to learn something while driving (much like you would do with a foreign language audio course)? Is it even possible? Has anyone tried or can share an experience of &#x27;audio learning&#x27; IT related?
======
kayman
I suggest leveraging the meditative process driving has on the brain.

I went through a process where I was trying to be extremely productive every
minute of every day. That meant filling every minute with productive tasks
including commute time with Podcasts and educational material.

But you get into this productivity loop without any real productivity.

In the end I found the best use of my drive time is just relax and let your
brain run. Enjoy the sights and smells, the air coming through the window.
Observe your brain how it notices cars and avoid potential disaster.

If you play it right, you'll have 2 hours per day to just do nothing. Let your
brain work freeform while focusing on something simple like deep breaths.

~~~
Schwolop
I second this, but would also add that I've started motorcycling instead of
driving. Even a commute on a motorbike is a thing of wonder, using parts of my
brain and fight-or-flight responses I've left dormant for years.

But to the primary point, I also thoroughly agree that downtime is important,
and there's a danger of trying to optimise every waking hour too much.
Learning the art of structured procrastination (neither too much nor too
little) should be part of every pragmatic programmer's toolkit.

~~~
Declanomous
I started bicycling to work earlier this year, and it's much less stressful
than driving. My commute is about 7 miles when riding my bike, or about 10
miles when driving. Driving takes about 25 minutes on the way to work, and
about 35 on the way home.

Cycling is about 40 minutes both ways. I take it a little easier on the way to
work because I don't want to sweat too much, and then change in to my work
clothes and do a hobo shower in the single stall bathroom. On the way home I
can choose my pace, unlike when I'm driving. I can mash the pedals and let off
some steam when I need to, or I can mosey home when I'm getting burned out.
Stopping along the way is much easier. I'll grab coffee, or a snack, or check
out a used book store I've never seen before. Plus, you are much more a part
of the world when you are cycling, and you can look around more and notice
things you wouldn't when driving. I'm sure a lot of these things hold true for
motorcycling as well.

I'm not much of a morning person, but I find it much easier to concentrate
when I arrive at work after cycling in. I also find myself much more energized
when I get home, even if I'm pretty tired when I leave work. I find taking
public transportation provides some of the meditative aspects, since I can
reflect on my day more when I'm not driving in Chicago traffic, but bicycling
allows me to combine my commute with exercise, which is amazing from both a
mental health and physical health perspective.

That being said, riding a bicycle is certainly more dangerous than driving or
taking public transportation. While I can take steps to mitigate the risk, I
need to cross a number of bridges and go under a number of viaducts on my way
to work, and the risk is substantially higher while on a bike than in a car,
bus or train. I don't think I'd be comfortable riding my bike on my current
commute if I had a kid.

------
a3n
Do you ever solve problems or have other insights while not working on those
things? Like when you sleep, or in the shower?

Your brain needs rest and distraction, both for professional health and
general health.

If I worked, say, 8 hours a day, and then added in your three hour commute
every day, that would be borderline death march.

Besides all the utilitarian suggestions, you could _consider_ something
unrelated to your work or profession, at least part of the time.

I sing. I put a couple hundred singable (by me) songs on a usb stick, and play
them. When I land on one that I want to learn, I put it on repeat, and learn
it.

I didn't used to be able to sing, from lack of singing at all and self-
consciousness. I didn't used to even sing in the car alone, I was that self-
conscious. Now I've improved (my voice has been complemented, singing and
not), and I've sung songs among friends and co-workers.

Sometimes I don't sing, and think about something at work or elsewhere. It's
not all or nothing.

Maybe listen to old radio shows like The Shadow Knows, The Honeymooners,
Dragnet, or whatever you find that appeals.

~~~
Demcox
This guy has a very solid point which is especially important in todays world
with the immense amounts of distractions and so on.

I would actually recommend not doing anything specifically work related, but
maybe listing to a developer/problemsolving/relevant podcast could be one way
to entertain yourself with somewhat relevant content if you really feel the
need to. Being "bored" is time better spent than you would think :-)

------
AkiraMichi
I've tried listening to university lectures and varies conferences talks. But,
I find them distracting on the road. I've found, consuming really technical
stuff to be much easier. When I can give it my full attention.

Personally, I like to listen to podcasts that cover new and upcoming
technologies in the field. They could be about high level stuff or even the
nitty and gritty, like new language syntax or upcoming improvements to the GC.

Though, I prefer listening to audio books just as much. And, I find them to be
a great supplement for professional growth along with podcasts. When I'm not
listening to fiction or sci-fi books, which isn't much. I try and listen to
books about soft-skills and anything relating to software development that
doesn't involve having to read code.

I can't really give you any hard suggestions here. Because, I mostly, work
with languages like Ruby & JS/ES6. But, there should be similar options
available for at least the JVM, if not the Java ecosystem.

~~~
jgill
What are some of your favorite more technical podcasts?

~~~
diegoperini
Not technical but CGPGrey from Youtube has "Hello Internet" which is fun and
relaxing.

~~~
AkiraMichi
That and “Cortex” by CGPGrey. Both of these can be quite entertaining and
relaxing.

------
benzesandbetter
I think you're solving the wrong problem here. Let's start with some math.
With your current arrangement, you're losing 3h of productive time a day, 15h
each week, and a staggering 750h yearly. That's the equivalent of 18.75 40h
workweeks of lost productivity. Pause for a moment and consider what you could
do with that time.

If you feel your current employer is compensating you fairly for that
sacrifice, then you likely have money to spend on a car service, use your
commute time to work or study and still come out ahead.

If your compensation is not inline with the sacrifice you're making, it's time
to start looking for a different job. There are plenty of remote gigs for
full-stack java devs. Start looking for one of those.

~~~
robbrown451
It's not lost time if you are doing something productive. I find driving is
good for the type of thinking I can't do with a computer in front of my face.
(although I like walking better, given a choice)

------
blunte
After more than two decades as a developer, I have just now begun to realize
all the other valuable skills, outside of technology, that I have not
developed. And consequently, I've been very hungry for this additional
education.

I understand you're looking for IT education, but I would recommend audio
books (or language courses). If you haven't done any of these, give some a
try:

* If you don't know a second language, try the Pimsleur courses.

* How To Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

* Getting to Yes, by Bruce Patton, Roger Fisher, and William Ury

* How We Choose to be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People, by Greg Hicks and Rick Foster

* Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review Classics), by Peter Drucker

It's easy to learn the technical things with hands-on time and night time
efforts, but sometimes the tech is so much fun that some of us just simply
ignore topics that have longer term value and frankly can enable us to really
make the most of our technical abilities.

~~~
mos_basik
>Pimsleur courses

I was wondering if that would show up in this thread. I have a fairly
frequent, though not regular, ~45 min commute, and I've been working on one of
their Korean courses. Each lesson is 30 min long, so it fits pretty well.

The only concern I have is that it can be very mentally taxing to, say,
correctly respond using Korean to a question asked in Korean. I'd rather not
die on the highway than learn a new language, so fairly frequently I have to
drive first and ignore the audio for a few seconds.

To help fix this I've been doubling up, playing the same lesson on two
commutes. More practice is always good in a language, I guess. I'm also fairly
young and have only been driving for about six years, so it's not all
autopilot yet.

The lessons are a bit dry, tbh. I've been wondering if there are any other
audio-only language lesson publishers I should try that might provide some
different styles.

~~~
blunte
Oh I would listen to the same CD over and over, and now I cannot get it out of
my head if I tried :P. I definitely was not working toward a goal; I just
found it surprisingly fun (and pleasantly distracting) while suffering
commutes.

I didn't investigate alternatives for audio. If I were riding a bus, I would
use DuoLingo app (which I found almost addicting).

------
gorbachev
You can't. I tried. It is impossible to concentrate enough to absorb anything
in rush hour traffic.

I ended up quitting and taking a job to which I can take public
transportation.

~~~
amorphid
I love coding on a train.

------
ivan_ah
I have a nice "life hack" which I use to keep entertained while doing dishes
or cooking: I make the computer read to me HN articles (not all of them... god
no!), but the select few long reads that seem interesting. I select the text
of the article and press a shortcut to enjoy a "custom audiobook" for the next
5-15 minutes. I use the built-in Mac OS X text to speech functionality[1], but
I'm sure you can adapt this to other OS.

I have to go back to the computer and "play" a new article every 4-15 minutes
which is not good while driving, but you can probably script the whole process
and make longer recordings:

    
    
        manually select a list of articles that seem worth reading
        urls list --> main content recognizer --> html2text | `say` --> .wav --lame--> .mp3
        concatenate all the mp3 files to form a 2h long podcast
    
    

[1]
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mApa60zJA8rgEm6T6GF0yIem...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mApa60zJA8rgEm6T6GF0yIem8qpMmnaBFYOgV32gdMc/edit?usp=sharing)

------
goshx
My life changed when I started to listen to audiobooks while driving to/from
work. However, the audiobooks are usually not pure technical, but always
topics that can help me become better in many aspects in life in general,
including professionally.

~~~
grzm
Indeed. Exposure to different areas is a great way of expanding one's
perspective. The mind is a great associative device, sometimes connecting
ideas we wouldn't otherwise. Plays well with the "I get my best ideas in the
shower"-style phenomena.

------
rawfan
Here are the two things I do during my commute:

    
    
      1. listen to programmers podcasts (e.g. Full Stack Radio)
      2. listen to entertaining/news podcasts and audio-books.
    

Everything else just doesn't work.

~~~
d_man
Thanks, can you suggest me one or more particular podcast or a site to
download podcasts from?

~~~
sant0sk1
We do our best to produce high quality and interesting podcasts for
developers. Give us a listen: [https://changelog.com/](https://changelog.com/)

------
wcummings
Focus on driving, you could kill someone.

~~~
pmiller2
Came here to say this. Take advantage of the time by making sure you get to
work in one piece.

------
Eric_WVGG
I’m sure you have some very good reasons for explicitly stating that moving
closer to work is not an option, but I’m really dying to know why you’re
trapped in such a miserable circumstance.

~~~
twblalock
Yeah, this seems odd to me, considering that a reasonably successful software
engineer can afford to live pretty much anywhere.

~~~
m3talridl3y
Not in the Bay Area. Every developer or ops person I know either has roommates
or has a similar 1.5-hour commute.

~~~
twblalock
I live in the Bay Area too, and I only know one or two people in the tech
industry who have that kind of commute. Many of my coworkers rent their own
apartments without roommates.

------
autodidacticon
1\. Install Duolingo on your phone 2\. Change your phone's microphone default
language to Spanish 3\. Practice by dictating spanish directly to your phone
without typing

------
romanhn
Does it have to IT-related? I find audiobooks, both fiction and non-fiction,
to be a great way to pass time during commute. The Great Courses offer a bunch
of interesting lectures, for instance.

~~~
spoonie
The OP is right to consider professional development during their commute, but
it's not the only thing they could do. Instead driving time being professional
development time, it could be hobby time. Listening to the news or audio books
could free up time spent doing that at home for other things. This assumes, of
course, that the OP has hobbies that they pursue at home that could be shifted
to car time.

~~~
d_man
My hobbies are mountain biking and windsurfing but I'm not particularly
interested in listening to news or stuff related to those. As for books, I
find it far more enjoyable to read from paper rather than to listen to someone
reading, although it also depends on who's reading... I really enjoyed a few
audio books narrated by Stephen Fry.

------
sairamkunala
I know a group of colleagues who used to car pool and discuss about IT related
topics from their previous experiences.

A group of 3-4 like minded people on a conference call would be a good way to
share topics about what you know and learn from others.

This may work best while in cars (as opposed to when using public transit)

------
Something1234
Pay attention to the road. Distracted driving is the ultimate jerk move, its
saying that other peoples lives don't matter.

------
cyberferret
Try listening to some 'non technical' podcasts. That is what I do on my 1 hour
walks in the morning. It is strangely refreshing not to have to focus on
technical talks all the time, but I find creative talks tend to inspire me and
get me thinking in different ways about my work.

Added bonus is that you don't have to be 100% focused on what you are hearing,
you can kind of drift in and out as something interesting catches your
attention and still not lose the thread of the topic.

Two of my favourite podcasts are "99% Invisible" (creativity, architecture)
and "The Tim Ferris Show" (biohacking, inspiration, interesting people etc.)

------
e19293001
I memorize a certain algorithm/code snippet and recall it while driving. My
favorite is Paul Graham's ANSI Common Lisp[0]. From the code snippet, I choose
a certain function to recall. It would be hard at first (I suppose that only
few that can) but once you've repeatedly recall those functions everyday then
you'll be amazed on the benefits when you've got into the flow. I got this
idea from reading about Richard Feynman[1] that cause this to divorce with his
wife since he is doing calculus in his head while driving: _the appointee 's
wife was granted a divorce from him because of appointee's constantly working
calculus problems in his head as soon as awake, while driving car, sitting in
living room, and so forth, and that his one hobby was playing his African
drums._

[0] -
[https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/paulgraham/acl2.lisp](https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/paulgraham/acl2.lisp)

[1] - [http://gizmodo.com/5916502/richard-feynmans-fbi-files-
make-f...](http://gizmodo.com/5916502/richard-feynmans-fbi-files-make-
fascinating-reading)

------
protomyth
I have an Audible subscription, so I listen to audiobooks on my way back and
forth to work (43 miles one way). The only IT related stuff I listen to is
podcasts and that's mostly news. I'm not sure its a good idea to listen to
anything super, technical that might require more attention than just
listening to songs on the radio. You are driving after all.

I guess the trick for me is that the audio substitutes for other entertainment
time so I can watch a training video when I am not occupied by driving.

~~~
douche
I would pay double or triple for Audible if they didn't wrap their audiobooks
up in an awful DRM that doesn't work with my ipod-knockoff.

~~~
grzm
They put the DRM in place so they can continue to charge lower rates that more
people are willing to pay because the content isn't as easily pirated (for
which they make no money at all).

What device do you have? What prevents that device from supporting the DRM
Audible uses?

~~~
douche
Oh, it's some sort of $20 SanDisk copy of the original iPod Nano from ten
years ago. Plays MP3s beautifully, but that is about it.

So I ended up buying some files from Audible, then had the choice of resorting
to torrenting the ripped versions or using some dodgy converter to extract
something useful. Or cancelling the subscription and getting a refund, which
is what I did.

~~~
grzm
Sounds like Audible has pretty good customer service!

I see a little incongruity here.

You're willing to pay $20 10 years ago for media player.

Audible subscriptions are about $15/month, with additional titles
approximately $15 (or more) a piece. You're willing to spend perhaps
$30–$45/month for a subscription or $30–45 per title?

    
    
      1 year Audible subscription: $360 (at $30/month)
      10 years: $3,600.
    
      Apple iPod nano: $150.
      1 year Audible subscription: $180 (at $15/month)
      Total for first year: $330.
      Each additional year: $180.
      After 10 years: $1,950
    

If you don't care for Apple, I'm sure there are comparable choices available.

There are likely other trade-offs you're likely taking into account as well
(e.g., some people are opposed to DRM on principle, but it's not clear to me
that's your argument). But if money can solve your problem which you imply by
offering to pay more, it looks like you have options to use Audible for the
price you're willing to pay.

If I've done the math wrong, or made some assumptions you don't agree to,
please feel free to correct me.

~~~
douche
No, you're correct; I ought to just knuckle under and spend the money, if I
want to consume from Audible. But I picked up the current MP3 player on a
flier, and have become used to it - it does what I want it to, in a very
simple and straight-forward way.

The content that I've spent money on already dwarfs the purchase of the
player. Although that content is DRM-free, so I am free to use it on this
player, or any of my various laptops and desktops, and any future devices that
I buy. And it is in a standard format that virtually any audio playback
application understands. And I can just download those files normally, without
having to install the weird Audible download manager.

~~~
Nadya
I believe the selection is smaller but there is also Downpour [0]. DRM-free
which means you should be just fine playing on your MP3 Player. The cost is
comparable to Audible ($13/mo instead of $15/mo) and you get much the same
deal: 1 audio-book per month with the "credit" you get.

[0] [http://www.downpour.com/](http://www.downpour.com/)

~~~
grzm
Hadn't heard of this! Thanks for the link. I wonder what their business model
is like. It looks like they've been around for at least 3 years, so that's a
positive sign that they're doing something right.

~~~
sergiMunoz
Just testing.

------
douche
I listen to podcasts or audiobooks on my commute. This summer I went through
all of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. It's true that it's not IT-related, but
it's learning, and it is a good break from work. Now I've moved on to going
through Game of Thrones once more.

It helps if it is something that you can enjoy without paying rapt attention -
it's kind of important to have most of your brain focused on the road if you
are behind the wheel.

~~~
BooneJS
If you're into the subject matter, there's the History of the Crusades podcast
by Sharyn Eastaugh. In depth content, some levity, and I found it to be
totally engrossing.

------
apoclyps
I really enjoy listening to Tech podcasts that contain a little humor; I would
highly recommend:

\- Hansel minutes: [http://hanselminutes.com/](http://hanselminutes.com/)

\- This Developers Life:
[http://thisdeveloperslife.com/](http://thisdeveloperslife.com/)

\- Coding Blocks:
[https://www.codingblocks.net/](https://www.codingblocks.net/)

------
bainsfather
I listen to the bbc's 'in our time' programmes [0] whilst driving. They are
(much) more general than you want, but they are excellent programmes covering
the whole spectrum of human knowledge. I've become a more broadly educated
person by listening to those podcasts.

[0]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl)

------
reitoei
Relax and clear your head. Listen to some music, audio books.

~~~
tunap
In my experience, audiobooks are excellent for wide open freeway miles, and
much less beneficial in traffic. One small event(close call) becomes an
attention tangent and I miss last 10 or more seconds of content. Which leads
to fiddling to scan back which becomes a distraction/irritation.

Try driving in silence. It allows me to process yesterday and anticipate the
coming day.

~~~
reitoei
Processing yesterday or the day just gone is not always a good idea,
especially if you had a bad day. This used to happen to me, I'd mull over
things I should have said or done and basically torture myself for an hour
until I made it home. Fuck that.

~~~
tunap
Yup, different strokes. If I don't take time to reflect my life becomes messy
and my decisions become reflexive instead of weighted. When I am heated, I do
go through the thoughts and let emotions run(alone) to allow the release long
before I act.

edit:removed unnecessary anecdote.

------
qwrusz
I live in LA, traffic is an issue here too. I see other comments mentioning
take a brain break from IT stuff. They have a point, but up to you how much
you need or want this.

 _Another option: instead of learning something new during this time, use it
to teach or mentor someone over the phone._

Whether talking to a student or beginner dev, a couple of the commutes you can
schedule weekly mentoring sessions while you drive. Similarly, one could offer
tutoring over the phone if relevant. Up to you if you want to charge $ for
your time or do it just for the good karma of helping someone.

Either way, chatting on the phone while mentoring/tutoring in my experience
affects the brain differently than learning something via audiobook, and it is
still possible to concentrate on driving while giving good advice.

------
rodhan
I highly recommend Clarke Ching's "Rolling Rocks Downhill" audiobook [1] which
is a novel that teaches/refreshes agile software development in a really
engaging way. I'd love to know if there are more novels like that out there -
I haven't managed to find any.

I'm getting bored with podcasts these days because most of them have too much
idle chat. Shows like "99% Invisible" that are well produced and low on chit
chat are fine but I think audiobooks are the way forward.

[1] [http://www.rolls.rocks/podcasts-video/2016/2/23/rolling-
rock...](http://www.rolls.rocks/podcasts-video/2016/2/23/rolling-rocks-
downhill-audiobook-part-1-free)

------
Kaedon
Listen to software conference talks! It's true that some of the more technical
ones will not translate as they require too much concentration. Ideally, you
can find some that are more conceptual or do not rely directly upon watching
the slides.

I posted a few of my favorites from last year here:
[https://www.kevinlondon.com/2015/09/10/10-software-talks-
to-...](https://www.kevinlondon.com/2015/09/10/10-software-talks-to-listen-
to.html)

I, too, generally dislike software podcasts in the car. For me, they usually
are paced more conversationally, so I find that I get disinterested.

~~~
garysieling
I've been working on a catalog of tech conference talks, which you might find
interesting -
[https://www.findlectures.com/?p=1&type1=Tech%20Conference](https://www.findlectures.com/?p=1&type1=Tech%20Conference).

I'm hoping soon to have additional facets for things like programming language
/ framework.

------
tmaly
I have a commute of between 45 minutes and 1 hour where the majority of it is
a straight shot on the highway.

I try to learn something new on every drive, and for me this comes from two
activities.

1) try to work out design of something I have not done before or something
that needs to be done. Iterate over some use cases in my mind, look for leaky
abstractions etc.

2) listen to technical podcasts or podcasts about programming or developing
some skill related to programming. examples podcasts The Changelog, Go Time,
SE Daily, Software Engineering Daily, Full Stack Radio, YC Podcast

------
mustaflex
I have 4 hours of commute(train + tram/metro) daily..., read a dozen of novels
from Isaac asimov and Arthur C. Clarke in 2 months. After work, I don't even
have time to open my computer or do anything besides eating, shower.

~~~
mustaflex
Sometimes I'm so absorbed by a novel, I seriously consider to arrive 'late' at
work :D.

------
gina650
I have enjoyed making tech podcast especially for the 20-30 minute commute.
They are fun and informative with a kick of inspiration and have been a side
project to help me network with cool people in the tech space. So far I have
had on the show Grammy & Emmy award winning talent, space experts, angel
investors, Billionaires, AI, AR and VR leaders and a few new YC founders to
boot.

Tomorrow's Tech -
[https://soundcloud.com/user-925097294](https://soundcloud.com/user-925097294)

------
unhammer
> (much like you would do with a foreign language audio course)

How about trying just that? It's a lot of fun if you get a good course (e.g.
Pimsleur), since you can really feel the progress. I've never managed to learn
much from technical audio stuff; I feel like I need pen&paper/computer at hand
to grasp new technical cocncepts, while language actually works better when
i'm not able to distract myself :-) (Step Two: use newfound language skills to
move to a place where you don't need the commute.)

------
itamarst
One useful way to spend dead time like that is to plan what you'll be doing at
work, especially if you have a hard problem to solve. One of the ways you can
improve your skills even if you're working limited hours
([https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-
so...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-software-
engineer/)).

------
Zelmor
Consider partial work-from-home for a couple days a week. I don't miss
commuting at all, and for me, it would only involve a 45 minute bus-ride
during which I can read all I want, since its an end-to-end ride. But working
with a cat in the lap sure does beat those cold winter commutes.

------
throwaway2016a
Audio books. But not software audio books (that sounds like torture). Listen
to books on things that broaden your horizon. I listen to a lot of books on
business and marketing even though my day to day job has nothing to do with
that. I also listen to a lot of science fiction (old stuff and new) because it
helps me appreciate where we have been and where we might strive to be as a
thinking society.

------
cdevs
I'm typically thinking about what I have to do at work, or complaining about
what processes is horrible and how I can propose to make it better. If I
charged for those brainstorming hours during driving I would have a very nice
car every year but I feel it makes me better at work and I've come up with
some of my best ideas while stuck in traffic.

------
imauld
Learning takes a good amount of your attention. While driving your attention
should be on the road and what's going on around you. Please don't try to do
in depth learning while you are driving.

\- Pedestrian who doesn't wanna get smoked by a distracted driver learning
about some new Java framework

------
tommy_otzen
It might not be possible, but could you share the ride with someone from your
workplace that has the same interest?

~~~
d_man
Not possible, none of them living nearby. And I suspect the majority of them
would rather not talk about programming or similar stuff outside of work
hours. Maybe it's for the best because honestly I would not survive one hour
or so drive of small talk everyday.

------
eip
You are asking the wrong question. The real question is why are you still
driving to work? What is special about your office that requires you to be
there in order to get work done? Do you not have internet at your house?

------
tananaev
I have a side project and usually in the morning I have a pile of emails
waiting in my inbox, so I reply to as many of them as I can on my bus ride to
work. Basically doing support.

------
An0namust
Invest in a Tesla vehicle? Probably sounds like overkill but if you can afford
it the autopilot feature could get you your hands/hours back

------
cdvonstinkpot
I find TED Talks tend to help inspire new ideas more often than other media I
consume. Maybe listening to some of those instead of podcasts.

~~~
Nadya
Just make sure they are TED talks and not TEDx talks. TEDx talks carry the TED
branding but are local events and aren't always quality controlled. They're
also predictable to a fault. Case and point, Sam Hyde trolling an entire TEDx
talk [0] with bullshit was both somehow (1) approved and (2) people actually
let him finish.

I used to listen to TED talks but after a while I had to admit to myself a
majority of them are painfully predictable in how they presented and so many
of them are really someone propping themselves up as some sort of
smarter/holier-than-thou savior of humanity.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFhR1fKWG0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFhR1fKWG0)

------
nunez
How about podcasts that aren't directly relevant to your work? There's a lot
of other interesting stuff out there.

------
chadcmulligan
No ones mentioned twit.tv - lots of good programs there. Try triangulation -
interviews with IT luminaries

------
johndoe90
You're just like me. Except for I don't drive, I take a bus, then subway and
then bus again.

I do read HN, Medium, twitter (all IT-related) and other resources. Though
sometimes it's really pretty hard to concentrate and read articles carefully.
I also use headphones to not get distracted by the engine noice.

------
eh_steve
When diving your primary focus should be on... wait for it... DRIVING!

------
doubt_me
Meditate.

~~~
pierotofy
This. But keep awareness of your surroundings while you do :)

------
Gee19
Audiobooks.

~~~
NinoScript
When I'm not consuming my weekly tech podcasts, I'm listening sci-fi or
fantasy on Audible. Books are really cheap if you pay a subscription, and you
also get access to "channels", I sometimes put some comedy channel to lighten
up my day.

------
superdex
commute by bike. 3 hours in the car every day is brutal.

~~~
grogenaut
3 hours by car is likely minimum 60 miles which is 4 hours by bike every
single day minimum. If they're getting to highway speeds at all then it's even
worse. It'd be like black mirror episode 2 every day

~~~
quicklime
Another way of thinking about this is that the marginal cost of biking is only
1 extra hour per day. And there's no reason why this needs to be done every
day - he could just bike in once a week.

~~~
grogenaut
He's already complaining about the actual cost.

If he manages 60mph the whole time are you saying he should do 180 miles once
a week? That's not really possible without a lot of training. What if he lives
in issaquah and commutes to Seattle. How about on the oil fields in nd?

Bigger question what else does he do to better himself during the bike rides?

------
robomartin
Call your Mother.

------
toomuchstuff
voice controlled command line? audio text book? maybe just accept you're not
going to get much done when you're on the road. do you want a programming
course for when you're sleeping too? give it a rest guy

------
cheiVia0
I love the FaiF podcast for this:

[http://faif.us/](http://faif.us/)

