Shubham is a first-time teleworker. A developer with our engineering for research team, he builds software for the Thirty Meter Telescope, the world’s largest in construction.

Before the pandemic struck, Shubham couldn’t imagine working from home full-time. But he has now done it from two places - the one-bedroom Pune flat he shares with two other ThoughtWorkers, and his home in Pathardi, Maharashtra. The transition has been surprisingly smooth.

Pair programming now happens over Zoom - no need for fancy, specialised tools. Unusually, he prefers to let the person with less context “drive” sessions - his/her understanding improves, and the pair can focus on the big picture. On days when bandwidth isn’t guaranteed, Shubham and his partner work independently, and exchange hourly text updates. 

For workshops with their scientist-clients in Germany and California, Shubham’s team use Jira for iteration planning and Google Jamboard/Slides for ideation/whiteboarding. They plan two-hour sessions - anything longer is impractical when everyone is remote and in a different timezone.

Shubham’s home workspaces aren’t ideal - three people taking calls from a small room can be comical, and he has had to improvise a table out of cardboard boxes. When the lockdown ends, he plans to buy ergonomic furniture and a large monitor, using ThoughtWorks’ telework allowance. Now that he likes telework, he plans to WfH two days a week, although perhaps not on Mondays.

Online Ludo helps Shubham socialise with colleagues, but that isn’t the same as being together. “You start with a chit-chat and end up discussing something deep. You learn so much by osmosis at the office.” 

Shubham would advise all teleworking developers to become good at online brainstorming - an iPad+stylus combination is a good tool. Also,

“Coronavirus will pass, but if you get a bad back, it will last a long time. So get a nice table and chair. And take breaks.”