7 useful habits with freelance software developers

Today, more and more companies hire employees to work remotely. With the development and popularity of technology, hiring employees will be based on their talents and not on geographical location. But this does not mean you want to do anything. Even if you comply with all the requirements and do the right job, you still have the ability to become 'invisible' and not be seen by anyone.

To avoid falling into that situation, here are the tips that you should apply to not 'invisible in the manager's heart'.

Accept that you don't know everything

When working far away, you will have the feeling of a battlefield alone, as if the programmer is with the whole world. You live in a distant house in the middle of the forest with only Stack Overflow. But remember that a product is a team effort. Even the experience of the most senior programmer cannot be equal to the experience of many people in the group.

Ask, often, and before many people

If you have problems working, you may just ask a colleague separately but maybe someone else in the group has a faster and more effective solution. Private messaging or email does not bring a wide range of knowledge. If you ask questions to many people, you may be able to get help from unexpected people. Also don't be afraid to ask in public places, in group calls because it might help someone else who doesn't have the same worries.

Please share and discuss

Can you read the article about API design? Did you see the screencast image recently? When sharing paths, write a brief line. Many lively discussions of team members stem from such shared paths.

Inspire other places

Your workspace is not as constrained as your colleagues, any time you can step out into the outside world, to temporarily relax, take a break or get inspiration from the surrounding.

Instead of staring at the mouse pointer, try slipping on your shoes and running around the block. Everyone needs to be inspired to work and those who work remotely have many ways to change their surroundings. Take advantage of that.

Thanks to your work environment, take advantage of your own advantages

Take advantage of screen sharing capabilities

The easiest way to show how to solve problems is to go straight to each other's tables and work directly. Video conferences sometimes still bring a lot of technical troubles, but most tools have a very useful screen sharing feature. No need to invite a meeting, just quickly looking at each other for a few minutes is a problem.

Regularly update status

Receiving a job and being silent for a week after finishing is not difficult. In the office, colleagues can see immediately that you are busy on Slack, GitHub or call . But working from a distance, nobody knows what difficulties you have, doing something else . So often Update status even if you are still working normally.

Find other ways to express emotions

In the office, there are enough types of facial expressions or sign language to let colleagues know what you think. But when you're at home, you only have a laptop screen and with your co-workers, you have only the avatar image. While it is not possible to completely replace direct interaction, some emoticons when chatting will help convey more or less.

Above all, remember that between these APIs or algorithms, your job is not merely code. Product features are made by humans and also to solve human problems. Sometimes the error is due to wrong programming, sometimes just because of too much expectation. When you understand that someone behind all your error management tools, you will have to go out of that IDE environment and enter the real world to meet them. Although the workplace is measured in pixels, remember that there are still people there.

See more:

1. How to maximize income if you are a Freelancer?
2. 11 reasons why you should not work full time
3. 27 things I wish I knew before programming