Joined by special guest: Erik Hanchett

In this episode of the Dev Ed podcast, the panelists talk to Erik Hanchett, a software developer focusing on Vue and Angular, author of Vue.js in Action and Ember.js Cookbook, educator and YouTuber. Erik starts the discussion by stating the benefits of working remotely and others join in with their inputs.They list several important advantages including work freedom, not having to commute, utilizing time well, privacy, less distractions, increased productivity and flexible schedules. They then discuss the downsides of it as well - less social interaction, no particular end time leading to long hours and difficulty in setting boundaries, feeling of being left out and managing different time zones. They also talk about techniques such as resorting to physical activity and proactive networking to combat these downsides.

They then discuss the benefits and drawbacks of remote education. Learning from coworkers easily, productive interactions, collaboration and physical pair-programming could be some of the best parts of being on-site. On the other hand, being forced to solve problems independently and becoming self-reliant can prove to be beneficial when working remotely. They talk about how human contact is essential for learning and how classroom sessions are much more effective and increase retention of information. While speaking from the teachers' perspective, they point out that in case of classroom courses, teachers can customize the topics based on what students want, also, the decreased teacher-student ratio helps to build a good rapport between them leading to a better learning experience. They wrap up the episode by each sharing one tool/tip that has proven to be effective for remote work.

Mike Dane:

We Work Remotely

Luis Hernandez:

Visual Studio Live Share

Sam Julien

Zoom for Slack

Erik Hanchett:

Tuple

Joe Eames:

StackBlitz

Brooke Avery:

Loom