Coding is hard and working remotely is harder

I have been working remotely since November 2018. But due to this Covid-19 pandemic, more people are working remotely than ever.

People do not see it as a job if you work remotely. Relatives won't even consider that you are working from home all the time. They assume that you are free all the time and it's not important that much. You don't have to commute to work, you don't have got dressed to go to work so it's easy peasy.

It may seem like we sit in front of the computer and type. But it's actually little more complex than this. Generally, developers are self-motivated people. Coding is a creative job. It requires a huge amount of concentration. It requires more concentration than solving Calculus, it requires more concentration than studying.

The strange fact is most of the developers are self-taught. They love to code in their spare time. Sometimes it gets so intense that we tend to leave all other chores of the day to finish the task we are doing. You do not know if it's night or day. I remember when I used to sit until the late hours, just because I felt that it needed to be done then and there, no matter if I was feeling hungry, tired. If you are a developer, you will understand what I am saying.

The above scenario only happens if you are truly motivated to the project or you like what you are doing. But things do change quickly if you are developing something you do not like or you are time bounded to complete a current task.

Our mind loves to spend time on the easier things. As an example, If I ask you to read a book about Harry Poter or watch a movie about Harry Poter, I am 90% sure you will choose to watch not read. That's how our mind works. We choose the easier task.

But still, We programmers collect all the mental energy we need and sit every day in front of our computer to code. But our mind is easily distracted by the distractions of our home and even by the unnecessary status meetings, calls, slack notifications etc.

When shifting your attention between contexts (like complex coding tasks and distractions), you can lose up to half a day to get back to where you were. Coding is complex, holding complex thoughts takes up a lot of precious energy. When we are distracted, you know what we do? We procrastinate the in-hand task. We lie about our progress to other team members. Hence it gets really challenging to complete the task in the end. There is no enough help is provided from the team if you stuck somewhere because you are not sitting in front of them.

The manager thinks as you are working from home you are available all the time, so can ping anytime. Working from home is not for everyone. I think working from home is naturally more appealing to introverts (like myself). If you’re an extrovert and thrive on meeting people then no, working from home is not a good idea.

Flexible schedules suck. In the name of flexibility, people need to be available all the time. Companies are getting more work done now as everyone is remote. But it actually costs more developers time.