The world has changed so much since the end of season 3, that we thought we’d put together a special Betweenisode to tide you over until Season 4 launches. In this episode, we talk to several friends and respected members of the Elixir community, about how they’re coping and tips they have for retaining some normalcy in your life if you’re suddenly having to work from home. Our first guest, Saša Jurić, of Very Big Things, and author of the unrivaled Elixir in Action, has had the privilege of working from home for several years. He shares the importance of having a routine, connecting with people, and why you should get out of your pajamas and into some real clothes when you work. He also shares what it’s been like in his home city of Zagreb, and how previous devastating events have in some way prepared him for what’s currently happening. Bruce and Maggie Tate of Groxio, an educational platform to learn languages, also join us. Maggie shares more on her culinary adventures, and the importance of having a definite start and finish time to your day. Bruce talks about some of the professional projects he’s working on, and why he believes it’s crucial to tackle difficult technical skills outside of developing. Other guests include James Edward Gray II, who shares more about the incredible way he and his daughter have been bonding, Jim Freeze, founder of ElixirConf, and his son Chris, who share some of the benefits of working from home, and show us how to see the silver lining during this difficult time, and Frank Hunleth, of Nerves Project, who talks about what he’s up to. There have certainly been more changes in the world than we could have anticipated, so it was wonderful to catch up and see how people in our community have been coping. Be sure to tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Learn what’s happening in Saša’s home city, Zagreb, and what he’s doing to keep busy.
• Saša’s advice for coping during the pandemic and preventing information overload.
• The transition to remote work in Saša’s company and the impacts it’s had on workload.
• How Saša started working remotely and the main lessons he has learned from doing it.
• What Saša believes the future of virtual events and conferences will be.
• Find out how Bruce and Maggie are dealing with these strange times.
• Groxio’s mission in terms of learning and Bruce and Maggie’s tip for working from home.
• Current projects that Bruce and Maggie are working on both at Groxio and personally.
• What’s in the pipeline with Groxio’s Elixir material and Bruce and Maggie’s plugs.
• How James is holding up and his take on the COBOL debacle.
• Find out what motivated James to transition from Ruby to Elixir and what it’s been like.
• James’s experience working from home and tips for people who are new to it.
• Specific versus general solutions: The difference and how James thinks we can tackle this.
• Hear James’s ExVenture plug, which is Eric’s project.
• Jim’s and Chris’s experience of the lockdown and the silver linings that have come from it
• Find out Jim and Chris’s necessities for working from home and being productive.
• Jim’s plans for ElixirConf for this year and 2021, and Chris and Jim’s final plug.
• Frank’s tips for working from home and his product plugs.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Saša Jurić on Twitter — https://twitter.com/sasajuric
Saša Jurić on LinkedIn — https://hr.linkedin.com/in/sa%C5%A1a-juri%C4%87-21b23186
Erlangelist — https://www.theerlangelist.com/
Very Big Things — https://verybigthings.com/
Elixir in Action — https://www.manning.com/books/elixir-in-action-second-edition
Bruce Tate — https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-tate-a836b
Bruce Tate on Twitter — https://twitter.com/redrapids
Maggie Tate on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-tate-230234171
Groxio — https://grox.io/
Programmer Passport — https://elixirforum.com/t/programmer-passport-grox-io-pragprog/28253
Lonestar Elixir — https://lonestarelixir.com/
James Edward Gray II — https://twitter.com/JEG2
COBOL — https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cobol/index.htm
Gray Inc — http://graysoftinc.com/
Programming Erlang — https://pragprog.com/book/jaerlang2/programming-erlang
Nathan Long — https://twitter.com/sleeplessgeek
POV-Ray — http://www.povray.org/
Elixir Wizards S02 Eric on ExVenture — https://podcast.smartlogic.io/season-two-oestrich
Jesse Link — http://www.jesselink.com/
Jim Freeze on Twitter— https://twitter.com/jimfreeze
ElixirConf — https://elixirconf.com/2020
Chris Freeze on Twitter— https://twitter.com/chrisfreeze_
Tesla Car Lot — https://teslacarlot.com/
David Antaramian — https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidantaramian/
PepsiCo — https://www.pepsico.com/
Nerves Project — https://www.nerves-project.org/
Frank Hunleth on Twitter — https://twitter.com/fhunleth
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/

Special Guests: Bruce Tate, Chris Freeze, Dr. Jim Freeze, Frank Hunleth, James Gray, Maggie Tate, and Saša Jurić.