Across the world, about 70% of the workforce works remotely at least once a week according to estimates. If you have the chance to travel while you work in software development, you’re a lucky member of this group. However, if you don’t think intelligently about your workflow, you’re going to end up more stressed out than you would be in an office chair.
Here are five things to keep in mind when working remotely.
1. Get Your Own Hotspot
When you’re working online, your connection is your lifeline. While there are lots of places to get a free wi-fi connection, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to transmit a lot of data quickly. The kind of data you need for writing software means that you need to download and upload quickly.
Don’t rely on other people when you’re trying to connect. Get your own hotspot to ensure that you’re able to have as strong of a connection as you need when you need it. Avoid using cheap plans with service that can’t connect when you need it.
If you’re traveling internationally, you’ll have to do a lot of research in advance. It’s vital that the tools that you use to connect travel wherever you go. There might be some great tools that work domestically but cost an arm and a leg once you cross the border.
International travel may require you to buy a month-long plan with a provider there, even if you’re only traveling for a week or two. However, depending on how vital your project is, it might be worthwhile to invest.
2. Use Cloud Storage
Cloud storage serves a lot of vital purposes in the world of software development. Even if you’re checking in your changes to your company’s servers, you should have your own personal server tracking updates. You don’t want to lose anything and you need to be able to backtrack if your changes cause a breakage.
Cloud storage means that you can access your information from wherever you are. It also means that you’re not filling up your own hard drive with code and the database information generated from running it. Cloud storage makes the whole process much cleaner and easier.
Storing your information online also allows you to share it with your team when they want access. If someone on your team or a supervisor wants to know the status of a piece of code or a section of a project, they can check from your cloud storage.
If you need to send a large file out, it’s much easier to send a link from your cloud storage solution than from a spotty connection. Cloud storage gives you lots of flexibility when you’re traveling and it’s perfect no matter where you’re going.
3. Keep a Schedule
Aside from the standards for actually creating a project, you need to treat yourself right as a developer. While you might focus on the project and not think about how you feel, putting yourself under stress is going to lead to bigger problems later. If you don’t get enough sleep and stay up late writing code, you’re more apt to make mistakes.
Keeping a schedule is the best way to ensure that you get work done efficiently and accurately. It’s also vital when you’re traveling so that you don’t miss out on the benefits of traveling. Traveling and not getting to see anything feels alienating and defeats the purpose of having flexibility.
Traveling while working is a blessing and a curse. In most cases, you’re going to be on a different schedule than your coworkers. You’re probably not in the same time zone, which means you’ll need to wake up or go to sleep at strange hours.
This has an impact on how much you enjoy your travels and how much you get out of them. Traveling is fun if you ensure that you’re not thinking about work when you shouldn’t be.
4. Save Early and Often
When you’re writing your code, you need to save your work as often as possible. Losing an important change or having the internet go out at the wrong moment means that you could end up with an unsaved document. It could take you hours to get back to where you were before.
Save your work as often as possible. Make ctrl-s or whatever the save command is on your tool a tic. Make it something that you do impulsively as you work so that you have a record fo what you create.
You also need to be writing with tools that make it easy to see versions that you’ve created. The variety of versions you create as you work means that you could lose something interesting as you go along. If you can get access to that old version you’ve saved, you can ensure that you don’t have to lose good ideas as you build your project.
5. Use the Right Communication Tool
Software and app developers are notoriously bad at communicating. While you’re working on a project, you need to communicate as clearly and as often as possible. This means that you need tools to help you along the way. Find a tool that everyone on your team agrees with and stick to it.
There will be times when it seems like no one is using the tool. Stay committed in those moments and ask inane questions to get people to keep using the tool. It takes a while for any tool to take hold within a team but if you commit, you’ll end up with something that improves your project.
Software Development is The Perfect Remote Work Situation
When you’re working in software development, there are rare occasions when you need to be sitting at a desk. You could be in a cafe, on a beach, or in the south of France, sucking up the sun. If this is your ideal, then you only need to follow a few rules to make it happen.
If you’re thinking about making Ireland your next destination, check out our guide for travel tips.
