Many software developers have found themselves working from home a lot recently. For some of us this is new, for others it is like (if you'll allow me this pun) coming home and putting on a comfortable pair of slippers. Whichever it is for you, no doubt you are finding things at least slightly more difficult at the moment.
Now, the important thing to keep in mind is that there is no shame in this. Whether you've been writing code for 30 years or you started last week, I think now is a good time for a few reminders of the hidden side of development.
I'd like you to think about thinking. Specifically, how you think. What is the most satisfying problem you have ever solved and what you were doing when you solved it.
While you are thinking about that, I'll tell you about mine. At the time I was doing an MSc in Advanced Computer Science at Cardiff University (a great course, by the way). One of the modules I was taking was on Digital Forensics. Now, one of the assessments was really interesting. We were each given a hard drive and asked to produce a report on what was hidden on it. Now I won't bore you with the details, so all you need to know is that I eventually found a suspicious image file. Well, it was an image file and it was the only one on the hard drive.
One of the areas we had been studying was steganography, so there being something hidden in the image seemed like a good shout. Running it through the steganography program of choice asked for a password which was both a good and a bad sign.
So what did I do? I walked away from my computer and made a cup of tea. As the kettle was boiling it hit me. Some of the materials we were sent alongside the hard drive were some general background information on the owner of the hard drive (who was not a real person and was in fact a character from a popular television show) mentioned a favourite food they kept requesting. So back to my laptop I went, entered the name of the food and voila! I was in.
I'm hoping that whatever story you come up with is similar to mine. Not in what problem you were trying to solve, or the reason you were trying to solve it, but that you solved it while not actively sitting in front of a computer. Speaking to a fellow student after we had submitted our reports, he mentioned to me that he had figured out the password while taking the dog for the walk. That was when the power of not sitting at a computer hit me. I like to call it Vitamin Tea.
For me, as you can probably tell, there is no better way to think than making a cup of tea. But that is not the only way. Here are some of the ways I've come across:
Personally, I'm a big fan of the first and last items on that list, but that doesn't mean they are right for you. Experiment with one of them next time you hit a problem. If you are working from home you may well be amazed at what this can do for you. As the boundries between our home and work lives shrink, it is important not to get sucked into sitting in front of your machine all day. I always say that Software Development is about problem solving and nowhere does it say you solve problems while sat in front of a computer staring at a screen. So next time you hit a problem, go and solve it in the way you best solve problems.
Besides, do you know what I always say when someone asks me if I want to go and get a cup of tea?
Hooray!
Iterative Coding