A Developer’s Day: The Daily Life of Diogo (Our Developer in Lisbon)

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Many think that a developer’s day begins when he wakes up on a keyboard and unshaven (yes, because the beard gives us another status). In part it coincides with reality, but in my case this premise is not totally true.

6:40 a.m. – The alarm goes off and I always need those 10 extra minutes in bed while I’m still sleepy, so that I can convince myself that I have to leave. Then all I have to do is get ready and leave.

7:15 a.m. – I’m at the bus stop, whether it’s scorching hot like in Dubai or cold weather similar to Siberia. There are sacrifices that have to be made. The bus journey takes at least an hour. I can see what is happening through social networks, play a little on the smartphone or even rest for a while.

8: 30 a.m. – I arrive at the office, where normally some of my colleagues are already there. I rest a little until 8:45 and then I start working, but not before putting the earphones and drinking a cup of coffee.

10 a.m. – My mind is completely immersed in a cyber world. Getting my attention at this time of day is practically impossible.

10:30 a.m. – 2nd coffee of the day

1:00 p.m. – Lunch time, that is, when I remember to bring lunch (in the middle of 1000 lines of code a person forgets that he has more important vital needs, such as having lunch)

2:00 p.m. – Back to the office. 3rd coffee of the day.

2:30 p.m. – Bug in the code! I wonder what I am still doing in the office, I begin by having existential doubts about myself and I think of dropping everything, but then I remember that I have bills to pay and return to Earth.

3 p.m. – I start to despair, I already researched how to solve the bug, exposed the problem in online communities and so far nothing. I begin to wonder where my life is going to end up.

4 p.m. – I was able to solve the problem! I do not know how or why, but the important thing is that I was able to solve it. I feel like the best Developer in the world. I leave the office to shout out a little cry of happiness and go back to work.

5 p.m. – I realize that I have been listening to music for 1 hour and boasting myself for solving the bug and I’m not producing anything. I realize that I have only 30 minutes to finish what I stipulated earlier in the day and I start to panic. Nothing that a RedBull doesn’t solve.

5:30 p.m. – My job is done. It is time to return to base, and reverse the routine. Take the same bus, get off at the same stop, go home, and enjoy the rest of the afternoon with my family. In our line of work, we have days that seem to make all the difference in a website, and others that we look at what we have done and we think “whre did I spend 8 hours? I don’t see any difference”, which ends up becoming frustrating at times. However, we always have something to do, whether it’s a bad alignment, or a less well-succeeded interaction that needs adjustments. That’s why it becomes a very tiring job, but a quite enticing one.

As Web Developers, we have the task of making a project identical to what the Designer sends us and preparing the entire website in accordance with what the client wants. Sometimes the greatest difficulty is to find a way to perform functionally what the designers idealize, which is not always possible. During the “Cruising Speed” period, we always end up taking some pause periods. The ideal is to make a ratio of 120-15, that means that for every 2 hours of intensive and concentrated work, we stop 15 or 20 minutes to relax a little, tell a joke or even go to the street to pick up some fresh air that is not saturated with the smell of caffeine that is felt in the office.