A Productive Work Day in my Life as a Software Developer

What's up, everyone? Jossie here, and in today's video, I'm going to be showing you what a productive workday in my life looks like. But before we continue this video, I wanna thank Western Digital for sponsoring this video. I'm actually really happy to be working with Western Digital because I've been using their external hard drive for multiple years now. So I have most of my video content saved onto my external hard drive, so it's always good to work with a brand whose products you already use. On days like today where I'm really busy, have a lot of meetings, along with programming that needs to get done, in the morning, I like to wake up about 30 minutes before my first meeting just to get in the right headspace and do all the necessary things that I need to do to start the day off the right way. And one thing that I do in the morning to help me stay productive and on track with the tasks that need to be completed for this specific day, or really any day, is by actually adding the meetings that I have, appointments, along with tasks that I wanna get completed by a certain time within the day, using one of my favorite apps called Time Page. It has a really beautiful user experience. I think the app was created by Moleskine. I think that's a really nice notebook brand. But anyways, it's a really cool user experience and it's really easy to add appointments, amongst other things, into the Time Page app. You have location that you can add, URLs for Zoom links, along with being able to repeat whatever tasks or meeting that is, if it's something that needs to be repeated. So that's the first thing that I like to do in the morning. I'm really excited to talk about Western Digital and their WD Blue SN550 NVMe Solid State Drive. I've made a lot of laptop videos and I get a lot of questions about, hey, what type of laptop should I get as a software developer or software engineer? And I typically recommend laptops based on three performance categories, which is memory, of course, storage. If a laptop doesn't have SSD, it's a deal breaker. And then, of course, graphics as a content creator. I know that some of you all are probably thinking, hey, isn't website development and programming more software related? Well, here's the thing. You can't have software without hardware. Well, for one, high processing speed is essential for web development and mobile development. As a software developer, I know for a fact that installing packages, building solutions, and handling large code bases can take up a lot of space. And the last thing that you want is system lag when you're trying to build or run a solution. But here's the thing about NVMe SSD. It gives your PC a substantial power boost. For one, NVMe SSD is a cost-effective storage system that adds reliability to the solid state drive. With NVMe, build a powerful small form PC with a slim, single-sided M.2 2280 PCLE Gen 3 X4 NVMe solid state drive. You can also do more with less with its scalable hardware, accelerated architecture for high performance and low power draw. And I mean, look at how small this solid state drive is. It's literally the size of my chapstick. Also, not to forget that Western Digital design controller and firmware paired with the latest 3D NAND for optimized and consistent performance. And like I mentioned earlier, Western Digital is such a reliable brand with a long heritage of advanced award-winning and quality hardware and firmware. So the first meeting that I have, and typically this happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is our standup meeting. So I do have standup every day, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have standup at 8.40 in the morning. And what's really nice about having standup is that you get a chance to talk with your team members about your progress on projects, if you have any stumbling blocks and what projects you plan on tackling for the day. This also helps me stay productive because it keeps me accountable to my team members. All right, so after having that first standup meeting, one other thing that I noticed that keeps me productive along with keeping track of all the projects that I have, along with the progress that is being made, whether it's other business areas giving me assets that I need to complete whatever web development tasks that I have. So actually going through my Outlook and reading through emails is, it sounds really simple, but as a developer, you get really caught up in the weeds of programming and sometimes ignore emails, but it's actually best to go through those emails, especially when other business areas rely on you to complete projects. So I know that I feel a lot better knowing what's going on within the other business areas because sometimes there's like stumbling blocks with getting things approved, along with maybe pushing dates back or just asking for the overall progress. Another way that I like to stay productive after reading through my emails is tackling the first programming task. But before I get to that point, I usually like to like run my code and see what I actually worked on. I'm a visual learner and when you're context switching, let's say I didn't get a chance to program as much yesterday on this project because I worked on something else or had a lot of meetings. It's great to like visually see what I built and then I'll go through like my one note and go through the tasks that I actually need to complete for that day. One recommendation that I have for anybody, whether they're a programmer or not, is to use a Pomodoro timer. I typically work in like 45 minute increments and then I step away for 15 minutes, especially when I have a lot of programming to do. I recently downloaded this Pomodoro timer app. That's been a great integration into my system because I typically would just go to like Google and type in 45 minute timer and then play lo-fi music in the background. So with this app, it's made it a lot easier for me to start my tasks by just opening up the app and selecting a 45 minute work session. You can do 25 minute, you can do whatever increment you want. So for those of you all who've been following my channel like the past year, you know that making coffee has been a huge part of my morning routine and kind of daily routine. So making coffee or tea breaks up my morning. It really energizes me and inspires me. However, I've actually been drinking less coffee recently, so I'm not so reliant on something that keeps me productive and motivated and I've been drinking a lot more tea. Nevertheless, for the sake of this video, I wanna give you some really nice coffee making B-roll. So now I'm actually about to meet up with one of my best friends and we're gonna go to a coffee shop. It's one of my favorite place to shoot like B-roll and we're just gonna talk for a little bit. I think I'm just gonna grab a smooth, but yeah, it's hot outside. I want a smoothie. I wanna get out of the apartment and enjoy this really nice weather. During the afternoon time is typically when I like to take my break for lunch and this can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. It depends on what the workday is like, but one thing that has also helped me be productive and not sluggish is the food that I put into my body. And on days like today when I'm really busy and may not have time to work out because I gotta do programming stuff, I got a lot of meetings, I got video editing, I gotta shoot video and all these things to do, I may not have time to work out or work out as long as I'd like to. So one thing to kind of fill that void is to eat healthy. So I'm gonna be making some salmon, not just by myself. My wife and I are gonna kind of make this together. It's gonna be mostly her because she's a way better cook than me. So today has been really busy. I hope this video is helpful. There's really no equation to productivity. This is just me showing you what steps I make to be productive. But for the rest of the day, I have more meetings, like meetings on top of meetings on top of meetings. So it's kind of hard not to be productive with meetings because I literally don't have time to be distracted because I have to be in the meeting. But after my meetings around 3.30, 3.45, I'm gonna spend the rest of the day coding and using my Pomodoro timer to keep me focused and also not to burn myself out. I hope this video was helpful. I didn't wanna make it too long. I just wanted to give you like a quick short version of how I stay productive. It seems like you all like these kind of like lifestyle, productivity, routine kind of videos, which really makes me excited because I can add a little bit more creativity to those videos opposed to like the software engineering stuff. So be sure to give this video a thumbs up. It helps out with the algorithm a lot. Comment down below your morning routine or how you stay productive and some apps that you use. I love engaging with you all in the comment section and it lets me know if you like the video. If you haven't already, subscribe to the channel. I love for you all to become a part of this amazing community. And as always, have a blessed rest of your week. Once again, thank you to Western Digital for sponsoring this video. Peace! All in mind if you don't listen that much Some of y'all don't listen at all This ain't, they be pushing your balls It's got a grown man having withdrawals I don't mind if you don't listen that much I just mind what you say for the crowd