While the article is centred around topics for game developers there are lots of articles that are good for any programmer in any language. I’d love to see a list like this specifically geared towards PHP and web programmers.

I also know from talking to other developers that we all have thoughts like that. Many of us have some worry that someone else will look at our code and then find out that all our knowledge is a sham.

I’ve been in the same spot, waiting for answers on Stackoverflow to questions and searching my brains out. I even took a job with a WordPress company in the hopes of getting code review on a regular basis. Unfortunately it didn’t really pan out that way.

Just like the author of the post, I joined a local Ruby Brigade and while most of the other members don’t program PHP or WordPress there is still so much to learn. Every time I go out I leave with more knowledge about being a good developer.

To hear some of the smart things I’ve learned check out this post.

Sure they may not have had black, but they could have asked me. It’s a great shop and they do good work but they often miss the little details like that. Lucky for me I was a bike mechanic and do most of my own work or I’d have lots more little things on my bike that annoy me.

I suppose this could even circle back to the site design update. There are a lot of little details I did not sweat (comment styles) so that I just shipped code and the design. You watch though, the little details will all come together over the next few weeks.

Keyboard

I type all day most days of the week. A good keyboard is essential to keeping my wrists healthy. Currently I’m using the Kinesis Freestyle Solo and you can read my review of it if you’d like. The split keyboard lets me keep my wrists hands and shoulders in a comfortable position all day.

Key Layout

Second up is the layout I use for typing Dvorak. Normal keyboards are QWERTY and the real short version is the Dvorak is typically faster and it’s easier on your hands. You can read the long post about the Dvorak change. The short version is that I type faster with better accuracy and my hands/wrists don’t get tired.

Breaks

Yes we’d all like to just sit and code all day, but it’s just not healthy in any way. Sure a standing desk may help reduce the issues with sitting all day, but if you read around you’ll find bad things about them as well. In steps Pomodoro.

In real basic terms you work for 25 minutes and focus on what you’re doing, do distractions allowed. Then you get a 5 minute break where you get up and walk around or rest. The official point is to have a fresh mind when you get back in 5 minutes.

I use the 5 minute breaks to walk to the front of my house and look out the window. Reduces the periods that I sit effectively. The best book I’ve read on Poromodo is Pomodoro Technique Illustrated.

Tools

Up finally is the tools I use. I’ve spoken about my ergonomic keyboard already but did I mention I’m left handed? That means I use my mouse with my right and have a Wacom tablet on my left. I end up using the tablet for Photoshop and Screenflow mostly which helps spread out any repetitive motions between hands.

I also use Alfred.app to open programs, move files, search stuff. MacVim is my code editor of choice and I use Vimium in Chrome. All of these things combine to mean I rarely have to reach for my mouse. I use it little enough that I was out of batteries for a week and it was only minority annoying, not even annoying enough to go back to my kitchen and get the batteries.

Hopefully you got a few tips on making sure that your wrists and hands stay healthy for the long haul.

I use Instapaper to store article I want to read and maybe write about. I often read them once on my iPad then if they are worth writing something on I will read them a second time while I write in MarsEdit. I send them off to my site (powered by WordPress of course).

For some reason my longer articles are often started on my iPad in iAWriter. I usually keep them there and work on them from my Mac and iPad as I have time.

Even when you think someones workflow is totally off base, it’s great to read them so you think about ways to change your workflow up and be more efficient.

Then something magical happened. I got my mojo back. I started loving my job again. Since I don’t treat it like work, it doesn’t feel like work. Side bonus: I no longer waste time obsessively checking email or social media. Since I’m not resisting my work, there’s no reason to procrastinate. Hence, I’m more productive, and I feel like the luckiest person in the world, because I only work 90 minutes a day.

To me what is most interesting is how she figured out what makes her most productive and then uses it. She doesn’t really use any specific ‘system’ (though the astute among you probably notice this is similar to Pomodoro). She also may only work 90 minutes a day, which I love.

I admit I often find myself checking my email, twitter and other stuff in what really amounts to a way of procrastinating the work I really have to do. The reality is that I’m probably procrastinating because I’m not all that interested in it, or maybe I haven’t quite figured out what productivity looks like to me?

If you didn’t stop to read the whole article above then go do it, and maybe see if that is what productivity looks like for you.

Take Five assumes that the silence is a bad thing, which it is not. Putting aside all the arguments about always having noise on or tech getting in the way, forgetting to put music back on may just mean you’re actually getting work done.

Think about it, you are so involved in whatever you are doing that you don’t even notice the silence. Being that involved in what you are doing is a good thing. If Take Five is on, it will remind you to turn on your music and break that involvement.

I must state, that I have not used Take Five and don’t plan on it I like my accidental silence.

The Dock. That little area on your iPhone or iPad that contains a handful of apps which are available on every screen. It says something about what you’re about and what you want to achieve.

Assuming the above is true, lets have a look at the dock on my iPhone.

Curtis' iPhone Dock

So the 4 items that made the dock are.

1. Rdio
2. Phone
3. OmniFocus
4. Agenda

90% of the music I listen to daily is in Rdio, so it’s there. In all honesty, I actually listen to more podcasts with my iPhone than music. I use Instacast to do that because it sync’s between my iPad and iPhone.

Second up is the stock Phone app on the iPhone. I rarely make calls so I am not even sure why it’s there. I think it’s a stock application (at least in the dock) and I’ve just left it.

Now OmniFocus has an earned spot. I use it for all my task management on [Mac][mackof], iPad and iPhone. I open it daily on each device so it has to have a spot in my dock.

Finally is Agenda, which is the most useful calendar application I’ve found for iOS. I check it fairly regularly, maybe once or twice a day.

So I may not really fit the idea of the post, my most used applications are not in my dock. In reality I use Instacast, Sparrow, Tweetbot, WordPress, Reeder, OmniFocus and Path the most. I think the real difference is that I use my phone differently. Most of those apps (Reeder and Path being the exception) are on the home screen in much the same spot they have been since I had the phone (I did replace Mail with Sparrow but it’s the same function in the same icon position. I’m almost never on the second page of my phone, it’s reserved for things like the Keynote Remote, Meetup, Speedtest and the Apple Store App. These second page things are accessed infrequently so I really have no need to change away from my first page, which lessens the importance of the applications in my dock.

My dock does still say something about how I use my phone though, just not about which applications are the most important ones.

One of the ways I’ve thought about working to mould her is to spend part of Chirstmas serving food at a local shelter. I also know that I need to take it a step further than that. Serving food one day a year does not show that I as her parent am really concerned regularly about helping those in need. There is more to it, a lifestyle that I’m trying to bring myself to live so that she can see how to live life with a concern for others.

This small thought was prompted by this article about ignoring the poor. Not much else to say about it, but go read it and maybe adjust how you look at those around you.

To many who view my life from the outside it would seem like I have things sorted. I spend every Saturday with my daughter, have time to pick her up from daycare and play with her every day. I can even take the odd weekday off to hang with her and my wife. I take Friday’s for personal work and then go for a ride with my afternoon. But it stills feels like I’m falling short, at least from this side.

Much like Eric, programming is a job. Sure I get to work on some cool stuff and I certainly don’t hate it, but I also often feel that I’m not working on the projects that really interest me. I don’t have bad clients or anything, just not the work I’m really passionate about. Secondly, I despite the time I get to take off I feel like I spend too much time worrying about work. Lot’s of my weekday time off with the family has a bit of stress for me as I think of the work things I could be doing, or let my mind wander to the balance of my bank account (whose perfect balance is n+1).

I’ve always thought that you should live your life as if your funeral is coming up and what do you want someone to say about you? I don’t care if they say I was a good programmer, or that I was a great business man. I want people to say that I was a good husband and father, that’s it. Paying myself with riding certainly helps me recharge and thus helps me accomplish the items above, but if it got in the way I’d give it up to be a good dad.

Are you living your life as if someone is writing your eulogoy now? If not you’re wasting time.