Meet Ashwin - a UI developer who has worked with Thoughtworks in Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon, and Mumbai. Before the pandemic struck, Ashwin hadn’t worked remotely for any more than a week. As luck would have it, Ashwin had traveled to his hometown, Kochi - right before the lockdown. While his mom was stuck in another country with his sister, he got to bond with his dad. 

Ashwin has found joy in working from home, where he’s set up a workspace with all the essentials, and a personal assistant in Alexa. His team uses Jira for more than just managing the backlog - it’s also a place to ideate. He uses Zoom to pair with other developers in the team, and he uses a VPN to connect to client systems. Initially the team organised many bonding activities and coffee conversations over Zoom, but work soon took over. He looks forward to reinitiating these activities. The enforced time in Kochi has also given him some unprecedented moments with his dad - cooking together, going for walks by the beach, and many random conversations.

Ashwin believes that working continuously without taking breaks hampers his productivity. To enforce breaks, he’s picked up a new hobby - gardening. He advises people to avoid an “eat-sleep-work-repeat” routine. As a motorbiking enthusiast, he misses long rides on his bike which he’s named, “Essa”. For now, he makes up for it by taking Essa for short rides around the city. All this said, while Ashwin enjoys remote work, he wants to go back to the office once the things settle, so he can socialise with his colleagues as he did in pre-Covid times.