1. Learn a technical concept everyday
This might look impossible when you are constantly juggling multiple things at work. But spend 10 to 20 minutes everyday learning or reading about a new technical concept. To avoid the fatigue of trying to find a topic everyday, you can make a list of 20 to 30 topics beforehand and then go through each item over the course of time.
2. Stand up during meetings
Ideally as a Software Engineer your day should not be filled with meetings. So whenever you get into a meeting, try to take it while standing. If you don’t have your video turned on, feel free to stretch and move around a little during the meeting. Standing desks or standing desk converters that you can place on top of your current ones are a great investment especially at a job that’s done from a desk for 7+ hours everyday.
3. Keep emailing and Slacking at bay
Many Engineers use their precious morning energy and mental clarity to check emails – an activity that mostly does not involve any thinking or creative problem solving except for maybe a couple of important emails everyday. So avoid opening your email first thing in the morning or keeping that tab open all the time. Instead check emails twice a day – maybe before lunch and once before signing off for the day.
Similarly avoid checking Slack/ Team or other messenger notifications all day reactively. You can go one step ahead and keep notifications muted and people can override it in case they really have to get their message across to you. Personally I have kept mine muted for a while now and urgent messages have been pretty rare.
4. Ask at least one question
Being able to ask relevant follow up questions can indicate how much of the content you did grasp from someone’s presentation. Try to think of at least one relevant question to ask during any technical presentation that you attend – be it within or outside the team. When you are listening to a presentation, try to be fully present. Don’t chat or check emails at the same time since our mind has to constantly context switch between different activities.
5. Keep mobile devices far away from your work station
A lot of Engineers keep their phones right by their keyboards and keep checking it every gap they get. We can even lose track of time sometimes in checking phones instead of giving ourselves uninterrupted chunks of time to focus on work. Making sure to focus on one thing at a time can help avoid fatigue and get things done faster. This way you have all the time you need at the end of the day to spend on your phones (although you probably shouldn’t :p)
6. Hydrate and rest your eyes
Software Engineers are required to stare into screens all day which can really cause a lot of damage and fatigue to our eyes. Use a chrome extension that reminds you to take a break from the screen every 20 – 30 mins. During this time you might as well go get some water and walk around!
There are also Pomodoro chrome extensions that nudge you to take a break after completion of focus time intervals.
7. Teach or document what you know
Aim to add slight improvements to existing documentation at least every week or once in two weeks. This will help your team keep documentation up to date.
If you have been working on something for 3+ months, try to teach about it to someone or give a presentation on that topic to your team or even outside your team. There’s nothing that solidifies your knowledge more than trying to teach it to someone.
Hope these tips help you build a better work life as a Software Engineer!
That Girl Coder 