This won’t be a technical write-up. Just some thoughts on current events.
I’m sitting here in my bed. Not able to sleep. So much has happened. A lot went well. I am very lucky that my job as an iOS developer allows me to work remote so easily. It has been a crazy two weeks. The Netherlands went from business as usual to Corona crisis mode. In hindsight, the writing was on the wall. But man, what an experience it has been.
My day job switched to working fully remote. And things have transitioned relatively smooth. We are in the middle of planning the next quarter, coding works fine. Fortunatly we switched to a fully cloud based Azure DevOps some time last year. Also the team is itself performing admirably. My manager has directed us to develop a few contingency plans if/when sickness strikes our team.
A training I organized with Jon Reid I switched to fully remote last Sunday. It was supposed to take place in Amsterdam. We made our decision, only hours later the Dutch government announced severe measures in attempt to slow the spread of Corona. Jon was an excellent online host. He also informed me he arrived home safely back home in the US. I hope to do this again some day.
And then my wife. A teacher. She was forced to switch to working remote with her kids. From being hands-on to a laptop worker like me. She’s doing it. She makes me proud with her sheer determination to do what is best for her class within the boundaries of the current regulations.
I love working remote myself. But it has been a rough week. Everyone always has this virus on their mind. And not being able to do the regular things especially with and for my kids is hard. Especially when I see how much my oldest daughter needs her schoolwork as an outlet for the boundless energy she always has. Kids have lots of energy, but my oldest, she is ready to burst if she can not channel her energy on something that challenges her mind.
Beautiful things happen as well inspired by the social limitations we have to accept. Last Wednesday the first ever CocoaHeadsNL online meetup was a success. Over 90 people were able to forget about the current situation and enjoy an online CocoaHeadsNL meetup presented by Antoinne van der Lee. I think it went well. People really appreciated the livestream. Next month we probably can not do a live meetup yet, so if all goes well we will do another online edition.
It is unsure how long this social distancing will last. It sucks. But I believe in the reasoning behind it. I do not want to see the same thing happen anywhere like they are currently in Italy. I cried when I read the news about the choices health care workers have to make in northern Italy.
If anyone in my social circle needs some help, either CocoaHead, colleague, friend or neighbor… I hope they have the courage to reach out.
Take care of each other. We’ll see each other when this whole thing is behind us.
