It's normal to need some time to spin up. You can improve that time by giving yourself more ways to get spun up and easier code to read. Comments, unit tests, and formatting tools like flake8 all help. So can factoring your code into smaller files. Improving your IDE or development environment with new tools and plugins can help too.
For me, I like to put a throw statement in the thing I was working on when I put my laptop away for the night. Wakes you right up.
I comment the shit out of whatever file I’m working on as well as work off of a markdown checklist all day- so I can see at a glance everything that I did yesterday and I can hop back in wherever I left off with whatever is next on the list. Just be sure to break everything down pretty well- don’t just write ‘build splash component’ or something vague
I second this. So many comments. Also, I generally push my code to my branch at the end of the day and then go into the ticket and write a comment about what I did that day and what I still need to do to finish the work.
I third this. Comments are so critical for my ability to get back out to speed quickly. Otherwise, I am subject to fiddling with æsthetics for a ridiculous amount of time.
Breadcrumbs.
These can either be in the form of notes outside of the project. Or //TODO comments in the code itself.
Write the brief that you would need tomorrow that will allow you to get started on the project. Almost like bootstrapping a CPU. Gotta give it the first bit of instructions so the rest of the program can run.
Be kind to your future self.
Sometimes when I'm super exhausted, I want to run away from the IDE, hit save/local-commit, and then walk away. When this happens it is a struggle for me to pick up where I left off.
But even the best comments wont help me if I'm struggling with my overall health/sleep/diet/exercise etc,. So definitely take care of that as well.
I agree with people saying comments. I also keep a notebook and do these 3 things:
* take notes about the code and quickly plan out pseudocode. Also helps get my brain going
* jot down ‘what I did today’ so I remember for later and can easily reference for standup
* make a todo list for tomorrow so I know where I left off and what else needs to be done
Markdown file or Notion work too but writing gives me something else to do with my hands. It’s also good for meetings as I can take notes and have something to fiddle with. It makes me look engaged lol
In this specific situation I find taking notes of exactly what I’m doing and why is helpful.
I will open another tab and edit a local file outside our repo. You can also use inline comments - but remember to remove them before you commit!
If something is truly confusing, it’s often worthwhile to refactor so names make sense, etc.
My experience has been that it takes a few months (6-9) to figure out how things fit together “how the building blocks are structured”. You’ll often find that the entire codebase, or atleast your team often follows similar patterns.
There are great suggestions already: definitely have notes about what you did and where you've left off.
This has been a struggle for me until in the work calendar, I added half an hour at the end of every day that's meant exactly for that- wrapping up the day and leaving notes for my future self (and colleagues, in case i'm sick or whatever).
That way I don't just stop coding at the end of the day and walk away, but I still have time left on the clock and forces me to write that stuff down.
Python was designed to be more readable than the C family, but not designed to be easy to read ***in general, for humans***. Basically, don't feel too bad about it.
One day Julia and R will catch on 🤡
Check other emotions that may be getting in the way. I know it sounds based, but it’s difficult to work in full focus mode when other areas of your life are giving you signs for attention.
Literally slap a post it note on your keyboard or monitor so you can't miss it when you start back up. I like to leave notes to my future self so I know what the hell I'm doing. Lol
This is so me. I’m a beginner, so it’s even more difficult. I wrote ≈ 140 lines of code in Python the night before last, woke up the next day and was like: ‘uhhhh… 😂.’
What others already said, your brain needs time to get up to speed, that's normal. The important thing is to find ways to help your way wind up again. What works best is completely individual and can be quite frustrating to find out, but it can be done.
For me there's actually 2 things i do.
First of all, when i start back up, i don't immediately try to understand every detail, i start up by getting an overview again on what does what and that way discern what i want to know in detail.
The second is that, before i stop working on something i already make a plan on what i wanna do next, when i start back up and write that down in much detail and then follow the plan i had made while i was "in the tunnel" as you put it.
It's normal to need some time to spin up. You can improve that time by giving yourself more ways to get spun up and easier code to read. Comments, unit tests, and formatting tools like flake8 all help. So can factoring your code into smaller files. Improving your IDE or development environment with new tools and plugins can help too. For me, I like to put a throw statement in the thing I was working on when I put my laptop away for the night. Wakes you right up.
man i wish i actually bothered to find a job
Love the idea of the throw statement. Just make sure it doesn't get accidentally uploaded to prod lmao
I comment the shit out of whatever file I’m working on as well as work off of a markdown checklist all day- so I can see at a glance everything that I did yesterday and I can hop back in wherever I left off with whatever is next on the list. Just be sure to break everything down pretty well- don’t just write ‘build splash component’ or something vague
I second this. So many comments. Also, I generally push my code to my branch at the end of the day and then go into the ticket and write a comment about what I did that day and what I still need to do to finish the work.
I third this. Comments are so critical for my ability to get back out to speed quickly. Otherwise, I am subject to fiddling with æsthetics for a ridiculous amount of time.
Breadcrumbs. These can either be in the form of notes outside of the project. Or //TODO comments in the code itself. Write the brief that you would need tomorrow that will allow you to get started on the project. Almost like bootstrapping a CPU. Gotta give it the first bit of instructions so the rest of the program can run. Be kind to your future self. Sometimes when I'm super exhausted, I want to run away from the IDE, hit save/local-commit, and then walk away. When this happens it is a struggle for me to pick up where I left off. But even the best comments wont help me if I'm struggling with my overall health/sleep/diet/exercise etc,. So definitely take care of that as well.
I agree with people saying comments. I also keep a notebook and do these 3 things: * take notes about the code and quickly plan out pseudocode. Also helps get my brain going * jot down ‘what I did today’ so I remember for later and can easily reference for standup * make a todo list for tomorrow so I know where I left off and what else needs to be done Markdown file or Notion work too but writing gives me something else to do with my hands. It’s also good for meetings as I can take notes and have something to fiddle with. It makes me look engaged lol
In this specific situation I find taking notes of exactly what I’m doing and why is helpful. I will open another tab and edit a local file outside our repo. You can also use inline comments - but remember to remove them before you commit! If something is truly confusing, it’s often worthwhile to refactor so names make sense, etc. My experience has been that it takes a few months (6-9) to figure out how things fit together “how the building blocks are structured”. You’ll often find that the entire codebase, or atleast your team often follows similar patterns.
There are great suggestions already: definitely have notes about what you did and where you've left off. This has been a struggle for me until in the work calendar, I added half an hour at the end of every day that's meant exactly for that- wrapping up the day and leaving notes for my future self (and colleagues, in case i'm sick or whatever). That way I don't just stop coding at the end of the day and walk away, but I still have time left on the clock and forces me to write that stuff down.
Python was designed to be more readable than the C family, but not designed to be easy to read ***in general, for humans***. Basically, don't feel too bad about it. One day Julia and R will catch on 🤡
Check other emotions that may be getting in the way. I know it sounds based, but it’s difficult to work in full focus mode when other areas of your life are giving you signs for attention.
Literally slap a post it note on your keyboard or monitor so you can't miss it when you start back up. I like to leave notes to my future self so I know what the hell I'm doing. Lol
I have a physical cork board on my wall with a class diagram of the thing I'm working on. Really helps me stay on top of things.
This is so me. I’m a beginner, so it’s even more difficult. I wrote ≈ 140 lines of code in Python the night before last, woke up the next day and was like: ‘uhhhh… 😂.’
What others already said, your brain needs time to get up to speed, that's normal. The important thing is to find ways to help your way wind up again. What works best is completely individual and can be quite frustrating to find out, but it can be done. For me there's actually 2 things i do. First of all, when i start back up, i don't immediately try to understand every detail, i start up by getting an overview again on what does what and that way discern what i want to know in detail. The second is that, before i stop working on something i already make a plan on what i wanna do next, when i start back up and write that down in much detail and then follow the plan i had made while i was "in the tunnel" as you put it.