I’ve worked from home for the last 11 years.
Prior to that, I’ve also been working from home - but not for an employer - for school.
When I made the jump to become a freelancer in 2008, it wasn’t a hard shift. I was used to study all alone.
Before going on, I suggest doing one thing. Take this personality type test and see what that site tells you.
I’m an introvert, I am independent and I like doing things alone.
This post is heavily influenced by this fact, and you might find that what I say is madness if you’re an extrovert who needs people around to be productive.
The first suggestion I have for you is to have a dedicated office space. It does not need to be in another building, but it might be necessary if you have lots of people in your house. I do have a dedicated room, with a door I can close. It’s very helpful because it avoids.. interruptions.
There’s something impossible to stop in the world, and it’s interruptions. But as creative workers or developers we need to go in the zone and do deep work as much as we can.
Try to minimize interruptions as much as you can. Have fixed times where have “at work” time. Remind everyone you are working when you close your office door. It’s like you’re 50 miles away when the door is closed. Minimize interruptions from coworkers, too.
But when interruptions come from within you, they are called distractions. Use apps like SelfControl to stop all possible distractions. Turn your phone down.
Some people work better with schedules. Some like using the Pomodoro technique to set timers. I can’t do that, for some reason it does not work after the first 2-3 pomodori.
I am lucky enough to work by myself, without a team I need to report to. I did work with teams in the past, however. My general recommendation is to find (if possible) a team that’s all remote. Avoid job situations where you are the only person remote (unless you are a freelancer). Over the long haul it’s stressful and demotivating.
With remote teams it’s become normal to have a chat open all day, but I never liked the chit-chat happening and the stress coming from people mentioning you while you are away from work.
Remove all notifications, close the chat when you are doing important work. Chats can happen.
Same for emails. Close your email client, and remove work emails from the phone.
Some people like having a routine. I worked on teams where I was expected to have some kind of hours, but as a very independent-minded person I really disliked that. I like to work when I’m the most ready for it. But I know many people need fixed hours, or they get lost. You know yourself best, pick what suits you.
What about social interactions? Have a hobby. I am involved with some sports and I do a lot of hiking, with friends too. Also, having non-tech friends is a great refresher at times. But thanks to my personality type I can spend days without a lot of social interactions with people. Get a dog. It’s a great way for casual chit chat with people. Or new friendships, too. Some people like going to meetups or conferences. I don’t. Twitter and YouTube provide me the professional network I can learn from, without having to move to a city.
Find a sport. It’s really important. As mentioned it can also help with social interactions, and if you sit all day, it’s mandatory to get up at some point and do something.
More lab tutorials:
- The stack I use to run this blog
- 8 good reasons to become a software developer
- SEO for developers writing blogs
- Review of the book The 4-Hour Work Week
- Build a lifestyle business
- Build your own platform
- As an indie maker, what kind of product should you build?
- Create your own job security
- Developers, learn marketing
- The freedom of a product business
- Generating value
- Have a purpose for your business
- The idea is nothing
- The niche
- Remote working for software developers
- Product / market fit
- The best podcasts for frontend developers
- Why should I create an email list?
- Disconnect time from money
- The scarcity principle applied to software products
- The social proof principle
- How I added Dark Mode to my website
- My notes on the Deep Work book
- The pros of using a boring stack
- How to estimate programming time
- On going independent as a developer
- How to learn how to learn
- Why interview questions for programming jobs are so difficult?
- Do I need a degree to be a programmer?
- Everyone can learn programming
- How to be productive
- How to get the real number of pageviews of a static site
- Have you filled a developer bucket today?
- How I record my videos
- All the software projects I made in the past
- Tutorial purgatory from the perspective of a tutorial maker
- Every developer should have a blog. Hereβs why, and how to stick with it
- Having a business mindset for developers
- How to write Unmaintainable Code
- What is Imposter Syndrome
- How to work from home without going crazy
- How I stopped worrying and learned to love the JavaScript ecosystem
- How I prototype a Web Page
- You should be the worst developer in your team
- How to start a blog using Hugo
- Write what you don't know
- How to block distractions using uBlock Origin
- Coding is an art
- I wrote 1 blog post every day for 2 years. Here's 5 things I learned about SEO
- Dealing with the fire
- On being a generalist
- The Developerβs Dilemma
- My plan for being hired as a Go developer. In 2017
- Productivity gains of using a Mac and an iOS device
- How to go from tutorials to your own project
- This is my little Digital Garden
- How to start freelancing as a developer
- Sharing the Journey Towards Building a Software Product Business
- Subfolder vs subdomain
- How I use text expanding to save time
- Software is a superpower
- I love books