Among the benefits of being a software developer, is that most of the tools of your job, leaving aside those who swear by three monitors and keyboards with fancy lights, are simply a laptop and a stable enough internet connection, tools that you can walk around with or find almost anywhere. This, at least in theory, means that you can work from anywhere where you can sit quietly and type. Yet some employers insist that you report to an office five days a week, eight hours a day or whatever the case might be. This is not altogether a bad thing. Indeed, some developers are fine with this, for there are advantages to reporting daily to the office. And many things are difficult or mundane for the simple reason that we do them grudgingly. But remote work also has its own advantages and disadvantages, and I’m fortunate enough to have experienced them.
Very likely the first place a remote worker thinks to work from is his or her home. Before working remote, I long dreamed of working from my home. I had it all figured out in my head: an expensive monitor or two, an elegant desk with fancy drawers, never you mind that they’ll be mostly empty, and a manly bookshelf behind me to show off my library during online meetings. My study would be sound proofed so that the noisy neighbor’s kid does not steal in a careless word while I am on call with the CTO (think Ako Nyeri). A soft carpet, a vision board, all the works. The view outside my window would be serene and peaceful: a tree here, a tree there – even a stream with birds hopping from rock to rock. In summary, people would walk into my study and straight wonder how I’m not getting more done.
Of course things are very much different in practice. My desk is hardly what I dreamed of. It has no drawers to speak of, and I have to squeeze myself around it every time I sit. My carpet is a rug, my chair scratches my back, outside my window bodabodas vie who’s exhaust is loudest, and the occasional knock at my door makes me jump from my screen.
The next place I tried is a library. Now, I’ve been to several libraries before, the first significant of which was the one in my high school, a quiet and modest affair, and being a quiet kid myself, I went there mostly to get away, then to read besides. Oh the dreams I dreamed there, and the grand schemes I had for myself and the world! I fell in love with libraries in that library. So when the work environment at home got too loud, or boring from overuse, I thought I’d try a library again.
It is no fun when you are focused on your work, typing furiously at your keyboard, oblivious of time and hunger and other bodily needs, so perfectly in the zone, smiling every now and then at your brilliance or folly, whichever the case may be, then look up to find the person opposite you was staring at you the whole time. You wonder how much he’s seen and what he thinks of you now. You are not sure whether to smile at him or stare back till he looks away, but either way, you can’t focus anymore now. So you pretend to be typing something meaningful for a few polite minutes then pack up and leave.
I’ve tried restaurants too. I even fell in love while in one, but that is probably a story for another day. They can be fun – restaurants, I mean – if you don’t mind the smell of onions, or if you can stand the looks of other customers after you forgot yourself and began singing along to the mugithi blasting in your headphones.
It is said that east or west, home is best. I am back home now, and a good portion of my day is nowadays spent at my desk, working mostly, but also resisting the temptation to switch on the television or to open the fridge. Fortunately, I get most of my work done, and on the days that I don’t, I can rely on the ever punctual school-bus driver to jolt me awake early morning with his oh-so-annoying hooting, God bless his soul.