In this series, we connect with professionals in the devanooga community—lawyers, accountants, and other experts—to share their insights and advice. Whether you’re a developer, entrepreneur, or freelancer, these conversations are designed to help you navigate the complexities of your career and business with confidence.

Hi James! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview! Could you tell us a little more about yourself and Cleveland Business Services?

My name is James Cole. I am a Cleveland, TN native; born and raised. I am 43 years old and have been in small business management for almost 20 years and this will be my 13th tax season as a paid tax preparer. I have an Associate’s degree in Business Management with an emphasis on Accounting. I have a Bachelor of Science in Accounting with a minor in Human Resources. I am an annual participant in the AFSP program for the IRS to stay on top of the ever-changing tax codes.

Do you work with tech professionals often?

I work with clients in just about every market you can name. I do have several clients in the IT world, a couple in software development, and just a variety of clients in a variety of niches.

What are some common accounting mistakes you see freelancers make, and how can they avoid them?

The most common issue I see is clients co-mingling bank accounts. People taking the family to the zoo and using the business bank account. Pay yourself, once a period, from the business account and put that into your personal account. Then from there, do with what you will. But keep your personal and business funds and accounts 100% separate. You will never be mad that you kept them separate but you may one day seriously regret not keeping them separate.

I’m sure many have seen some grandiose claims of write-offs in short form content online, and it’s hard not to think of Kramer in Seinfeld crying “THE WRITE OFF PEOPLE” from Seinfeld. Is there any general advice on finding that middle ground between being missing potential deductions and ending up in trouble or an audit?

Keep as many records as you can. It is best to over document everything. Then there will be no question you cannot answer. A good set of books is always a great way to keep track of everything. If you are unsure if it will help you, keep up with it and ask your tax professional or your accountant.

What tax implications should employees at startups be aware of when they receive shares or stock options?

People generally think that if it isn’t a paycheck, it isn’t going to be taxable. While you do not have to pay taxes immediately on those things, you will owe capital gains taxes on it when you sell those shares. If the shares are received in lieu of wages, they will be included on your W2 and you will owe standard income tax on them as well.

Do you have any advice for tech professionals transitioning from traditional employment to freelancing or starting their own business?

Just prepare. Know that YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY owe taxes this year if you have been profitable at all. You are having to pay income tax AND your Social Security and Medicare taxes. If a W2 employee is used to getting a refund or not owing much at all, certainly expect to be paying in your first successful tax year.

How important is it for tech professionals to separate personal and business finances, and what are the best ways to do that?

I LOVE that this is a separate question. It is one of the most important things I discuss with my clients. I don’t care if you are in tech, food service, construction, or accounting; regardless of your market, it is SUPER important to keep your personal and business finances separate. While there is not a law saying that you have to, any business owner or self-employed individual should. In the event you’re being reviewed or audited, imagine your agent asks for a glass of water. Would that auditor be happier with a glass of clean, cold water, or a glass of muddy brown water. You want your records to be crystal clear. I have heard several people say they wish they would have done better in this department. I have never heard someone say that they wished they didn’t.

What should small tech businesses know about choosing and using bookkeeping and accounting software?

At the end of the day, there are people that do this for a living. Consult a professional. While I may be a bit biased, I believe it is so important to have someone who has your back. You go be good at what you are good at and have people who are good at what you don’t know. I have a local guy that I hire for my IT needs because I get lost on this stuff. I help him with his taxes and bookkeeping.

Many of our members have complained about various services operated in an antiquated fashion. What things do you do at your firm to make things efficient and smooth?

While we try to utilize some of our industry’s freshest resources and software, the thing that makes us different is that we care. We have an awesome app that we are rolling out this tax year in which we can help you get filed without leaving your home. But I still have to say that we care about your business almost as much as you do. We have a team of very passionate people who want nothing more than to help you succeed, however that looks. We are all local. We are a phone call away and ready to help with anything that we can for our people. So, I would have to say that our people are what makes us different.

When choosing an accountant, what are some red flags or things to look out for during that process?

When first meeting, if it seems to you that they are just talking over your head and not taking time to explain things or answer questions, you may need to keep on looking. The decision to hire an accountant is not one that any business owner is taking lightly. You need to make sure that you find one that you can talk to. Cleveland Business Services takes pride in the fact that we are here for our clients. We take time to explain things in a way that you can understand. This is the compliment I get most often from our clients.

Our freelancers and small business owners often discuss how to spot problematic clients in order to dodge them ahead of time. What would you say are signs of a potentially problematic accounting client? In other words, what can individuals do to help themselves be a good client and receive a better experience with their accountant?

In this world, you MUST be able to openly communicate. Each business has a unique need and we help come up with processes that best work for the business and their needs. The lack of communication is what is most harmful to the accountant-client relationship. When you have someone helping you with these matters, it is important to keep them in the loop-respond to the emails, answer the questions, etc.

Are there any final tips you’d like to share with our group regarding accounting and financial management?

Never underestimate the importance of a good, quality set of books. Not only does this help you manage your business and budget, it makes the upcoming tax season much easier to navigate if you are prepared and stay on top of it all year. Do not wait until January to get your records together. With a good set of books, you can be ready to file as early as the middle of January, without all the worrying, finding receipts, etc.

For those that wish to contact you about any of the topics we discussed in this article, what is the best way to do that?

We have a wonderful staff standing by to answer any questions or help in any way that they can. Just call 423-86-TAXES, that is 423-868-2937. Or I can personally be reached at james@cbstn.net

If you’re looking for a local accountant, considering giving James at Cleveland Business Services a call.

James Cole
Cleveland Business Services
cbstn.net
423-86-TAXES

Introduction

In April 2024, a detailed survey was conducted among the active developer communities in the Chattanooga area to gather insights into their professional backgrounds, work environments, and views on diversity and inclusion. This article delves into the key findings and takeaways from the survey, presenting a comprehensive overview of the trends and sentiments within this dynamic tech community.

Survey Demographics

Location

An overwhelming majority of respondents (70 out of 75) are local to Southeast Tennessee/Northwest Georgia.

Employment Type

The employment distribution is as follows:

• Full-time: 66 respondents
• Contract/Freelance: 6 respondents
• Part-time: 3 respondents

Educational Background

• Computer Science Degree: 25 respondents
• No Completed Degree in this Field: 45 respondents
• Associates Degree: 5 respondents

Programming Languages

Developers in Chattanooga work with a diverse range of programming languages.

Here are the most commonly used languages:

• JavaScript
• TypeScript
• Python
• C#
• SQL
• Ruby
• PHP

Work Location

A significant number of developers work from home, reflecting a shift towards remote work arrangements in the tech industry.

Professional Experience

Years in the Profession:

• 0-3 years: 6 respondents
• 3-5 years: 11 respondents
• 5-10 years: 24 respondents
• 10-15 years: 12 respondents
• 15+ years: 22 respondents

This distribution shows a healthy mix of both seasoned professionals and those in the early stages of their careers.

Community Involvement

Local Organizations:

Devanooga: The most popular, with many respondents actively participating.

Other notable mentions include ChattLab, DC423, and Carbon Five Hack Nights.

Inclusion and Diversity

Workplace Efforts

The ratings for workplace efforts towards inclusion and diversity averaged between 3.0 and 4.0 out of 5. This indicates that while some progress has been made, there is still significant room for improvement.

Rating Distribution

• 1 (Poor): 2 respondents
• 2: 7 respondents
• 3: 22 respondents
• 4: 20 respondents
• 5 (Excellent): 10 respondents

Work-Life Balance Ratings

• 1 (Poor): 4 respondents
• 2: 5 respondents
• 3: 16 respondents
• 4: 28 respondents
• 5 (Excellent): 12 respondents

This data indicates a generally positive perception of work-life balance among developers, with the majority rating it as satisfactory or better.

Additional Insights

Professional Development

Continuous learning and professional development are highly valued among Chattanooga developers. Many respondents actively participate in local tech events and communities to stay updated with industry trends.

Tech Trends

The preference for languages like Python and JavaScript aligns with global industry trends. These languages are favored for their versatility and wide range of applications, from web development to data science.

Remote Work

The prevalence of remote work suggests a shift in workplace culture. This trend may offer increased flexibility but also presents challenges in terms of team cohesion and communication.

Diversity Initiatives

While diversity and inclusion efforts are moderately rated, there is a clear need for more robust initiatives. Companies can benefit from creating more inclusive policies and fostering a diverse workforce.

Community Engagement

Strong community involvement through local organizations highlights the collaborative spirit of the Chattanooga tech scene. These communities provide valuable support networks and opportunities for knowledge sharing.

Conclusion

The 2024 Chattanooga Developer Survey offers valuable insights into the local tech community. Key trends include a strong preference for remote work, a diverse range of programming languages, and a moderate but growing emphasis on diversity and inclusion. As the tech scene in Chattanooga continues to evolve, these insights will be crucial in shaping supportive and dynamic work environments for developers.

Call to Action

We encourage local tech companies to leverage these insights to enhance workplace culture and support the professional growth of their developers. Engaging more deeply with local tech communities and fostering a more inclusive environment will be key to sustaining Chattanooga’s burgeoning tech ecosystem.

Join the Conversation

Share your thoughts on the survey results and join the conversation on how we can collectively enhance the tech community in Chattanooga. Your feedback and involvement are invaluable.

Join our Slack organization or Forums today, get involved in the community, and participate in the survey next year!

OK, wow, it’s been over a year, I’m bad at this, I should hurry up and finish it so it doesn’t take forever.

So when we left off; I had a plan for a ham radio tower, it’s 700 miles away, let’s go get it.

The Uneventful Trip North

I mean I’ve done a lot of road trips, how bad can it be?

It’s uh, this is going to take all weekend.

However, the trip while long, was fairly uneventful, started out late, drove overnight,

Starting late in day

Surely I’ll miss the traffic if I drive all night… aww crud!

On the nose of the van is a 1/4 wave antenna I have hooked up to the scanner, it’s a struggle-bus all the way to use that to listen to the truckers (lesson in reception antennas at least). However I made some contacts on my way up on 2m/70cm, and I enjoy road trips for what it’s worth.

I arrive late in the night and decide to take a nap in the van before picking up the trailer in the morning, it’s empty, lots of room, roll out the sleeping bag and get a nice block of sleep.

The Pickup

The pickup was relatively easy, it’s an construction company with a ton of equipment. We go dig it out of some bushes, condition is just as solid as I thought with one minor hitch – missing the rear panel and tower bracket, but that should be no big deal.

“So bring the trailer around and we’ll drop it on it”

I didn’t bring a trailer, I was going to tow it home! “Well what if the wheels are dry rotted?”, Walmart was down the street, I’ll just pick up new tires and swap them really quick. “Oh yeah that’s a good idea” one of the workers said, he looks at the tires “well they’re holding air, maybe you won’t need to”, the tires look a little rough, but maybe they’ll be fine – foreshadowing that things won’t really go this smoothly.

One of them asks me what in the world I’m doing with one of these. I tell him I’m turning it into a radio tower, they’re both stoked that I’m doing something cool with this old equipment.

They grab a front loader, drag it out, I pull the van around, hook it up, size up some annoyances, the chains are shot and are unusable, the trailer jack is shot and will not stand up high enough to get the van under it, I have to heave-ho it onto the trailer hitch, the tank is full of Diesel and water (I don’t know this yet…), I’m strapping stuff down, one of the workers points out the diesel generator in it isn’t actually bolted in. I tell them I’ll just grab some of the extra straps I have and strap it in tight.

“Aren’t you throwing this out?” – Yeah I am, “well, we’ll go grab the front loader again and chain it up and yank it out for you” – SCORE! These guys are helping me dispose of something I honestly have no use for. The motor is toast, in pieces, maybe I could salvage it but honestly it’s a lot of work that I’m unfamiliar with, with a way overkill generator. One chain-and-yank later and I’m one motor lighter. Finish packing up, and on the road I go.

You can see the generator in this shot, all the parts are in the back of the van.

Get-there-itis Strikes!

So the trip is a long one, I’m trying to get back home before the weekend ends, I’m excited for my new setup.

Remember how I mentioned I could pick up new tires for this? Just a brief stop, what, 30 minutes? An hour? Yeah that’s going to bite me in the butt.

First problem strikes, what is that dirt all over the back of my rear windshield?! There is no cap on the gas tank and diesel is sloshing up onto the van, I pull into a gas station, clean off the van to prevent paint damage, and fashion a gas gap with zip ties and a bag.

You can see splotching on the windshield, that’s diesel mixed with water.

Things are going smoothly until a sudden violent vibration rocks the rear of the van, I pull over immediately. My driver-side tire has shredded on the freeway, wrapping around the fender. On top of that, the lack of a tower arm retainer means the tower has slowly been working its way extended, so my trailer is now an extra ~6ft longer.

I limp across a bridge I was coming up on, get onto and off-amp and start considering what is going on.

To shreds you say; a shredded tire, tower extended, diesel all over the front of the trailer, the fender is bent to all hell.

I drop the trailer, run down to the local tractor supply, buy a new RV tire, rush back, start the annoying process of replacing the tire on an onramp. It’s dirty, the tire belt shreds can easily pierce my work gloves, getting it off of the fender it wrapped around is a pain, I’m stressing because I’m hundreds of miles away from home.

OK, so nothing is going to go smoothly, I bust a lug-nut taking them off. Luckily this was the only one. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of them all breaking.

I get the tire replaced, I shove the tower back into its compacted position and use a tie-down strap to secure it compacted, I decide I’ll take it easier, not exceed 55, let’s not overstress stuff.

… And I get back on the road.

You’re going to do it again aren’t you?

It’s night time, it’s quiet, little traffic, I’m in the middle of nowhere, an all-too familiar (though less violet at these slower speeds) vibration develops behind me, I see the trailer arm bouncing around, yep, the other tire gave way.

Here I am, middle of nowhere, I-55, middle of the night, doing 5mph on the shoulder, any faster and the trailer develops a terrible violent vibration, we’ll just crawl to the next exit, it takes the better part of an hour.

I pull off, small town, no one is open outside of an emergency wrecker shop, they’ll come replace it for $300, nope. I’ll get another tire from a shop tomorrow. I find a quiet place in front of a business that I park at, crawl into the back of the van, and get some sleep.

It’s cramped, the back of the van is full of now a dead tire and various parts that couldn’t be secured on the trailer, I didn’t expect to have to sleep another night in the van so didn’t pack it sensibly. I sleep between the drivers seat and 1st row of seats on the ground, I can wedge in here and get some sleep, so I do.

Back On The Road

Well I can’t drag this trailer to the nearest place, so I scoot across the street near some tracks, drop the trailer, scoot to another tractor supply, one tire later, I’m back and replacing another tire. This one is much easier since it didn’t violently shred and wrap around any of the trailer. Replaced, two messes of tires in the back of the van.

Well there are no more tires to replace, at least the fender is in good shape this time.

The rest of the trip is uneventful, just as uneventful as it would have been if I replaced the tires like the plan was if they were too suspicious, I had get-there-itis really hard. I arrived over 24 hours later than I wanted to.

But I’m home, time to do a tear-down and start working on it, but that’s for part 3…

Ten years ago, nearly every code bootcamp, incubator, and tutorial would reference Heroku’s free tier at some point. In November 2022, Heroku removed their free tier. They still have affordable plans, but this post isn’t about that. Now that the free tier has been gone for a year, it is worth reviewing some of the other free tiers currently available.

Fly.io

Fly.io seems to be the new language agnostic hotness. It has a similar feel to Heroku, but some have said it is still experiencing growing pains.

Resources included for free on all plans:

• Up to 3 shared-cpu-1x 256mb VMs
• 3GB persistent volume storage (total)
• 160GB outbound data transfer

Render.com

Render.com stands out as a Heroku alternative with free support for web services, PostgreSQL, Redis, and cron jobs, though each comes with limitations.

Free tier includes:

• 750 free compute hours each month
• 512mb RAM
• free, fully-managed database for 90 days

Vercel

Built by the people behind Next.js, Vercel specializes in front-end deployments and is favored for SPA frameworks like React and Vue. While it isn’t language agnostic, it is popular in the indie hacker community, otherwise it wouldn’t make this list.

The Free plan (Hobby) includes:

• Support for 35+ frameworks
• Global Edge Network
• Starter database (KV, Postgres)

Netlify

Netlify is one of the more popular free static site hosts. They also are behind the popularity of Jamstack apps. For an absolute beginner learning html, css, and a bit of javascript, their drag-n-drop to deploy feature is helpful.

Their free plan includes:

• 100GB bandwidth
• 300 build minutes
• Live site previews

The Big Three

AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform all have rather extensive free tiers, and it is worth being familiar with their tooling, but none of them have a free PaaS product.

Honorable Mention

There are several PaaS mentioned on the Free-for.dev site, among which are Anvil.works and Domcloud.co. A lot of the items on this list are more language or architecture specific, so be sure to bookmark the ones relevant to you.

If you have any recommendations for this list, feel free to join us in Devanooga to share your thoughts.

Name

Jake Brown

Devanooga username

jake

Occupation

Project Manager

Location

Chattanooga, TN

Current daily computer

16” M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16gb 1tb

Current mobile device

iPhone 13 Pro Max

One word that best describes how I work:

Cooperative

What apps, software, and/or tools can’t you live without?

Microsoft OneNote - Free and cross platform, including on the web. Super intuitive layout and organization.Shortcuts for iOS and Mac - Shortcuts enable all sorts of IFTTT-like functionality on Apple devices with a visual programming language.ZeroTier - lightweight and open source software defined networking (SDN) platform. Effectively a secure virtual network interface added to all your devices that share a virtual subnet. Like Hamachi but not awful. So simple and useful!

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

You can order off the catering menu from your favorite restaurant for low effort meal prep

What is your workspace setup like?

16” MacBook34” 2k BENQ monitorDell Thunderbolt 4 DockLogi MX Keys for MacLogi Mx Master for MacI honestly only use my desk for meetings or heads-down work, and prefer to be on my couch, patio, or at a local restaurant/coffee shop.

Favorite or must-have gear in your workspace?

Not talked about yet: AirPods or any noise cancelling headphones.

What do you listen to while you work?

Vaporwave More

What everyday thing are you better at than everyone else? What’s your secret?

Communicating technical topics to non-technical people:

1. Be patient, people can have a lot of emotions bound up in their lack of confidence with technology.
2. Always assume positive intent. Ceaseless professionalism and deescalation are my priority.
3. Ask lots of questions. Try and develop an internal picture of their understanding before offering an extensive explanation. This will help you meet them where they are, and turn a lesson into a conversation.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

“Happiness equals reality minus shifting expectations.”

What is some advice you would give to yourself earlier in your career?

Start a blog and document your projects publicly. Advice I have now finally started to follow!

It started with a need…

So for those of you that are unfamiliar with Ham Radio, it is basically a hobby where a lot of us nerd out a bit too much about radio technologies. We’re allowed a wide range of non-commercial uses on a lot of radio spectrum for all kinds of fun stuff; sending data, voice, images, video anywhere from feet to thousands of miles, limitations are mostly your creativity and well – what the FCC allows us to do, pop into #ham if you’re interested it!

Part of my experience with ham radio has brought me to the need to get my antennas higher off the ground (as @sam and @mubiles likes to remind us – “HEIGHT IS MIGHT!”), I’ve been running mine indoors and on my lawn on top of tripods I used for VR, not exactly the best solutions or the height I need.

A glance around for what you can pay for a free-standing tower can easily run you a thousand dollars or more, if I want to dig one out of someone’s yard I can get a deep discount down to $250:

What $250 gets you, a lot of pain.

And that’s not even including the cost of installing the tower.

My needs were fairly straight forward:

• 30 feet minimum
• Easy to work on, so something crank up would be ideal, I’ll be doing a lot of work on it so something I have to climb may be a problem
• A semi-decent price, I can spend a decent amount but it has to be worth it….

An idea, a very weird one

One of the most fun parts of ham radio is the range of creativity you’re given on your projects, building bug-out boxes for emergencies, building battery banks and charge setups to use your radio equipment during storms and disasters, building your own components to save hundreds or even thousands on gear for your contest rig, using drones to drop your antennas between trees, using a kite to run an antenna, hand-build antennas that outperform commercial offerings and specifically turned to your needs – sky is the limit on this stuff.

So while pondering what I could use, I first pondered military surplus gear – makes sense, they run towers in the field – but the problems quickly stacked up, larger trailers (some made for large off-road vehicles), large generators, guy wired deployments, expensive – OK I wasn’t going to find anything useful there.

Then I eyeballed what other equipment was available…

It’s perfect

A construction light tower! It makes perfect sense:

• It’s portable, so I can use it for field use
• It comes with a generator (wait no that’s dumb, more on that later)
• It packs down into a small area so I can work on it easily
• I can put more on the main mast and extend it, 30ft is only where I start
• I can get these for cheap second hand, hundreds of dollars

A Goldmine of Towers

In my digging I stumbled across Iron Planet, which has a huge amount of used construction equipment, and an entire section for towers… and wow is there a lot of towers for sale, 20+ a week easily.

Nothing like a fresh home-grown tower to pick out of the field.

I stumbled across this one and it checks a lot of boxes:

• Dead motor, so it’ll go for cheap
• The frame looks clean, little bit of rust on a handful of parts
• Looks like it can be towed

$375 later I was the proud owner of a light tower… some 650 miles away.

More on that, in part 2!

Name

Anthony Blardo

Devanooga username

blardo

Occupation

SRE Manager

Location

Clearwater, FL

Current daily computer

MBP 13” || Ryzen 5800X/32GB 3200/RTX3080 EndeavourOS

Current mobile device

iPhone 11 Pro

One word that best describes how I work:

Scatterbrained

What apps, software, and/or tools can’t you live without?

Terraform, Kubernetes, Rancher, VSCode

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

Procrastinate on work that is meaningless until others realize the same truth.

What is your workspace setup like?

Triple monitors, ergo keyboard, trackball, home server.

Favorite or must-have gear in your workspace?

Ortholinear keyboard and a fast machine.

What do you listen to while you work?

Repetitive electronic nonsense in various forms.

What everyday thing are you better at than everyone else? What’s your secret?

Systems thinking and organization. My secret is obsessive dedication to codification and translating processes into workflows.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

Never be afraid to ask why.

What is some advice you would give to yourself earlier in your career?

Learn to be proud without being condescending.

Anything else you would like to add?

Engineering is a lifelong quest. If you believe you’ve learned everything you need to then you have failed.

Name

Russ Jackson aka lordtaco

Devanooga username

lordtaco

Occupation

Web Developer

Location

Ringgold, GA

Current daily computer

MacBook Air M1

Current mobile device

iPhone 13 mini

What apps, software, and/or tools can’t you live without?

Transmit, BBEdit, PhpStorm, Sequel Ace, Terminal

What is your workspace setup like?

I have a home office upstairs with a big, L-shaped desk. On one side I dock my MacBook and use it with a stand, external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. On the left is a PC I built.

Favorite or must-have gear in your workspace?

Two words, work mini fridge.

What do you listen to while you work?

Oddly enough, I don’t really listen to any music while I work.

Name

Ryan Maynard

Devanooga username

ryanmaynard

Occupation

Management Consultant & Owner @ a small software co

Location

Chattanooga, TN 37405

Current daily computer

IBM Thinkstation running standard Ubuntu

Current mobile device

iPhone 12 Pro Max

One word that best describes how I work:

lists

What apps, software, and/or tools can’t you live without?

Graphpad, G2 Pilot pens, and a lot of lists.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

Sock day. Every year I buy about 200 of the same brand of anklet sock so that I never have to bother pairing them. I do similar with bulk packs of plain tees for home-office days.

What is your workspace setup like?

Autonomous dual-drive sit/stand desk, dual 23” samsung monitors, thinkstation, mac mini, Kanto speakers, Brother printer, Yeti mic, Logitech G512 keyboard, Razer Naga mouse, and a large cup of electrolyte water.

Favorite or must-have gear in your workspace?

Really into using Procreate on iPad with an Apple Pencil for diagrams, modeling, sketches, and renders.

What do you listen to while you work?

Lofi or 00s Alt Rock. I make a lot of playlists.

What everyday thing are you better at than everyone else? What’s your secret?

Taking insurmountable projects and breaking them down into a list of seemingly endless but very doable tasks. I have found that persistence, an open mind, and an iterative process can do things talent couldn’t dream of doing. This is exciting to me, because it means I can be mediocre at something, but with enough desire and persistence, can produce above-average output.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

What is some advice you would give to yourself earlier in your career?

Read and study all you like, but it will never actuate until you start doing.

Anything else you would like to add?

Learning to understand people is how to increase your output at log scale. We all typically want the same things: to be understood, to have a sense of purpose, to belong, to be happy. Being able to read the intent of others, to communicate and listen well, and ultimately - to bring out the best in people, can produce things an individual could never do alone. And besides, everyone has something to teach.

Name

Will Lewis

Devanooga username

willamin

Occupation

Software Engineer

Location

Chattanooga, TN

Current daily computer

Macbook Pro (intel)

Current mobile device

iPhone 12 mini

What apps, software, and/or tools can’t you live without?

A text editor. I haven’t been great about keeping long-term notes, but I need to have a place to quickly jot down notes. I find that the simpler a text editor, the better. Lately Tot is my tool of choice for that.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

Keeping a meticulous log of what I’m doing and when I’m doing it. Even down to the TMI stuff like using the bathroom. By being fully conscious of how long I’m spending scrolling through TikTok, playing games, or finishing chores particularly slowly, I’m able to shift my time around to spend on the things I’d prefer to spend my time on.

What is your workspace setup like?

A sit/stand desk with 2 monitors.

What do you listen to while you work?

I rarely listen to music while I work. Almost any music will distract me.