How to effectively work remotely from a guy that knows both sides

Working away from an office environment is one of the most amazing situations that a developer can experience

There’s an allure that most developers have for working remotely. The mere idea that you can get up from your desk and go to the kitchen to prepare yourself a coffee, no one breathing down your neck, work at your own pace and a hundred other perks. Most importantly though is your comfort.

Before I landed my current job, I love it, I was working in a 5,000+ developer factory where churning out XML templates for multi-national companies in 2 weeks was a typical thing.

That job was awesome, the work was fun, the environment was great, I made lifelong friends and they even had a healthy cafeteria on sight with amazing food. But there was something that was missing. A sense of calmness and zen while I did my work, it just wasn’t there.

I wasn’t happy. There were too many distractions and too much noise. I couldn’t get into my zone. I was scheduled in meetings for an hour and a half that I didn’t need to be in. I just wanted to work and be creative. That place didn’t work out for me so I took another position at a design firm. Great people, interesting work, but something was still lacking. Freedom.

Fast forward to today. I work out of my home office and get more work and, more importantly, better work done.

In order to make working remotely work for me there are a few things that I need to take into consideration.

The Rules

There are some rules that I put into place before I started working at home to ensure that I would be able to push myself to do fantastic things with my work, I’ll share them with you and hopefully help someone.

Regular Work Hours

It’s easy to spend 12 hours on a project that you’re passionate about when you’re sitting in your favorite chair and are able to take short-sprint breaks to allow yourself food/drink/bathroom. That’s not healthy.

Set a regular work schedule so you will have a proper work/life balance. I have set my hours for 8AM–6PM with an hour for lunch and 10 minutes each hour to get up and take a breather. 10 minutes of walking with my dog does wonders for my creativity and more importantly keeps me moving.

This doesn’t mean that you need a schedule for your 10 minute breaks, more-so it’s better to not have a schedule for them and to take them as you naturally see fit according to your internal clock.

No Interruptions During Work Hours

It’s pretty simple. I’m working and shouldn’t be distracted unless it’s absolutely necessary. You’re stuck at the airport, someone is sick, you ran out of gas and need a lift. Things like that. I limit contact with others to the times that I’m taking breaks. That gives me plenty of time to socialize and enjoy my short amount of time off.

If someone wants to chat, that’s fine. I have skype and imessage running all day and chatting is a million times less distracting than a face to face encounter.

Time to unwind after work

Just because I work within a 30 second walk of my couch doesn’t mean I haven’t been working all day and am not mentally exhausted. I need time to reboot my brain just like anyone else. It’s simple, I need to turn off my brain and relax for at least 30 minutes.

Comfortable clothing

Just because you could log into work every day in your PJs doesn’t mean you should. I’ve done it countless times and I felt very lazy at the end of the day. Find some comfy clothes that you can work in and still look good. The type of clothing is up to you.

Freedom and fun

When working at your own space you will have the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want because no one is there to watch you. I think you should take full advantage of this as long as it doesn’t take away from your work. Run outside and scream. Taking a bath at 10AM. Do 50 pushups. Crank up your music. Play video games. This is your life, your work, you’re free to do whatever you need to do to make it awesome.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post please hit the recommend button and pass it to others.

If you have any questions please send them along to my twitter @littlesparkvt and I’ll do my best to answer them.