How are you guys holding up in this crisis? I do hope you and your family are all safe and healthy. Let’s fervently pray that this will be all over soon, so we can get back on with our lives, pre-community quarantine period. By the way, I would like to apologize for being quiet these past few weeks. There was just a lot going on in my life that I didn’t have the time to blog even if I wanted to. Add to that this pandemic we’re all facing, I used my free time to rest and stock up on groceries for the quarantine period.
Anyway, with the rise of the number of Corona virus disease 2019 cases (confirmed and otherwise) in the country and in the Province, our company decided to let all of us work from home/remotely. It’s for our own safety and our respective families. As a first timer in working from home (WFH) set-up, I really thought that I’ll be battling myself in resisting temptations like sleeping, Netflix all day, eating, what have you. Oh, how very wrong was I!
Day 2 into WFH, I had little time to stand up and stretch. I even forgot to eat as I was too busy, of which I didn’t know why. I’m already busy at the office, as it is, but at home, I’m so much more. I’m thinking maybe because it’s harder to collaborate (both discussing and arguing) with your Cebu team now, compared to when you’re all physically at the office? At the office you can just easily book a conference room or go to the person/s directly to talk or go have walks together. In a remote set-up, collaboration is virtual and you can’t help but ran into technology issues — internet intermittent connections, work applications not working properly, etc.
So now I’m wishing that my initial thoughts/feelings on WFH were true! I think I would have handled that well since I have anticipated it already. Anyhow, here are some tips for you in working from home successfully, based on my personal experience (a week into WFH):
- Look for a place in your home to set up makeshift office space.
- Make sure that the place is cool and conducive for you to work and immediately get in the “zone”. Having a cool place will also help your laptops / desktops from overheating.
- Make sure that the place is ergonomically friendly, such that your posture will not be compromised.
- Keep in mind the distance of your makeshift office space to that of your router or LAN cables.
- Make sure to have a space where you can write your notes or put your headset, mouse and all other gadgets needed.
- Stock up on water and some snacks. Just make sure to clean it up after eating so as not to invite unnecessary bugs and insects in your office space.
- When taking a call especially with your foreign counterparts, make sure that you’re using your headsets. Doing such will help in cancelling / blocking off all other background noises like dogs barking, tv noise, crowing of the roosters, etc.
- If you’re like me, I have 2 separate working stations: 1) for taking calls, 2) doing work/coding. I usually set up my station for taking calls 15-30 minutes prior to the actual meeting time. That way I have time to check on my connection and all my other things I need for the meeting are prepared in the station.
- If your internet connection is bad and has been going on for days already, you might want to consider changing your internet service provider.
- If your work applications are not working well, make sure you know who and how to reach out to your IT team.
These are just basic tips but it did serve me well this past week such that I could say that the first week of WFH was a success! 🙂 Do I want this set-up to be a forever thing, um No! I want to go out and meet people. Doing this for a long period of time would make me go “crazy-ier”, I’m already crazy as it is! Happy working from home!
SingleBakedMiss by KiaraC 
Nice tips, Kia! Unsa language imo ga-i code? Ako WFH gyud ko 5 years na lol. Lisod kaau kay murag mag blend together na akong work and personal life, mag cge nalang nuon kog work. Pero sahay mingawon gyud ko mo adto sa office nya have lunch together with co-workers.
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Thanks Jan! 😊 ang extent sa akong coding Jan, SQL ra jd. Layo ra kaau kos inyong level. Hahaha! 😂 Lagi mao na akong nahan jd btaw na separate ang work from personal. Hehehe. But it’s ok, needed man for now.
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