How to manage stress and work smarter.
Tags: productivity, stress, collaboration, news
Published: 2020-11-09 11:10:45

---
title: How to manage stress and work smarter.
published: true
description: It's been a colourful week, to say the least, with the US elections and the second global wave of the pandemic. Let's try to look on the brighter side at the things we can control!
tags: #productivity #stress #collaboration #news
//cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/len9n02lbgwc62rd5k7l.jpg
---

![Developer types](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/len9n02lbgwc62rd5k7l.jpg)

*Which one are you?*

It's been a colourful week, to say the least, with the US elections and the second global wave of the pandemic. Let's try to look on the brighter side at the things we can control! We're dedicating this issue to the resources that could help you deal with the COVID-19 related stress. Do share them with other developers if you feel they would benefit from a bit of support these days.

Quote of the week *"There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works."* - Alan J. Perlis


## Industry News  

[These software bugs are years old. But businesses still aren't patching them.](https://www.zdnet.com/article/these-software-bugs-are-years-old-but-businesses-still-arent-patching-them/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) Almost two-thirds of vulnerabilities on enterprise networks involve flaws that are over two years old that have not been patched, despite fixes being available. This lack of patching is putting businesses at risk of attacks that could often be easily avoided if security updates were applied. [ZDNET]

[The Raspberry Pi 400 is a $70 keyboard that's also a computer.](https://www.engadget.com/raspberry-pi-400-diy-maker-computer-080002292.html?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) The Pi 400 has almost the exact dimensions of the official Raspberry Pi keyboard and hub, but with all of the extra ports and connectors needed to turn it into a PC. The power is provided by the same — albeit slightly tuned — quad-core Broadcom BCM2711 processor found in the Raspberry Pi 4, along with 4GB of RAM, dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1, Gigabit Ethernet and three USB ports (two USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0). There are also two micro HDMI ports, a GPIO header and a microSD card slot for OS and data storage. [ENGADGET]

[Businesses still failing to equip employees with adequate technology.](https://www.itproportal.com/news/businesses-still-failing-to-equip-employees-with-adequate-technology/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) Both employees and IT decision makers (ITDM) agree that technology is crucial for increased employee satisfaction, especially during the pandemic. But it appears the groups define “technology-driven employee satisfaction” a little differently. [ITPROPORTAL]

[Beekeeper Studio 1.8 release is here.](https://www.beekeeperstudio.io/blog/release-1.8?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) In this release, the open source SQL editor's developers have announced that they now build for arm64, armhf on Linux, there are custom SSL certificates, performance improvements, tweaks, and bug fixes. [BEEKEEPER]

[GitHub warns of bans for users still distributing YouTube-DL.](https://www.xda-developers.com/github-warns-of-bans-for-users-still-distributing-youtube-dl/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) In a notice left on the YouTube-DL repository (via TorrentFreak), users were warned: “If you are looking to file or dispute a takedown notice by posting to this repository, please STOP because we do not accept Pull Requests or other contributions to this repository”, adding: “Please note that re-posting the exact same content that was the subject of a takedown notice without following the proper process is a violation of GitHub’s Policy and Terms of Service. If you commit or post content to this repository that violates our Terms of Service, we will delete that content and may suspend access to your account as well.” [XDADEVELOPERS]

[.NET 5.0 launches at .NET Conf, November 10-12.](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/net-5-0-launches-at-net-conf-november-10-12/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) The Keynote will kick off at 8AM Pacific Time on November 10th with a surprise guest. They'll be broadcasting 80+ live sessions with the last 24 hours featuring speakers in their local time zones. [DEVBLOGS.MICROSOFT]

Here are some additional virtual events you can check out:

November 10-11, [DeveloperWeek Global: Enterprise.](https://www.developerweek.com/global/conference/enterprise?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj)

November 19-20, [Python WEB Global Summit.](https://python.geekle.us/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj)

November 20, [Microsoft Azure Hack for Social Justice.](https://socialjusticehack.devpost.com/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj)

November 23-26, [Update Now 2020.](https://www.updateconference.net/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj)

## Our Free Resources

 [![5pUQ8A8A](https://hs-7420536.f.hubspotemail.net/hub/7420536/hubfs/5pUQ8A8A.jpeg?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=5pUQ8A8A.jpeg)](https://developereconomics.com/resources/reports/state-of-the-developer-nation-q3-20201?utm_medium=devto&utm_source=newsletterde&utm_campaign=de19_son&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) 

[NEW: Free report with key 2020 trends](https://developereconomics.com/resources/reports/state-of-the-developer-nation-q3-20201?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletterde&utm_campaign=de19_son&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj)

The results from our June-August survey are in. 17,000+ developers from 159 countries shared with us their thoughts about: technical and non-technical needs are due to COVID19, favourite programming languages, why some adopt or reject cloud technologies, who is into DevOps, what's the value of open source, and more. Check it out!

[NEW: How close are you to an average developer?](https://developereconomics.com/resources/graphs?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) Our graphs give you insights into global trends based on the fresh data from our Q2 2020 survey.

## Dev Resources & Articles

[Matt Mullenweg with Sam Harris on Distributed Work’s Five Levels of Autonomy](https://www.breaker.audio/distributed-with-matt-mullenweg/e/61444850?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj). Distributed host Matt Mullenweg recently appeared on Sam Harris’s excellent podcast, Making Sense, sharing the “five levels of autonomy” when it comes to distributed work. Listen to their wide-ranging conversation on how companies transition to remote work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. [BREAKERAUDIO]

[Oh! The things we had to do to debug software!](https://www.functionize.com/blog/oh-the-things-we-had-to-do-to-debug-software/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) Experienced programmers have tales to tell about the things they had to do to test and debug their applications. They agree on one thing: The bad ol’ days of development are best left in the past. [FUNCTIONIZE]

[5 free tools that will make you more productive.](https://dev.to/adrianmanea/5-free-tools-that-will-make-you-more-productive-3hne?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) One of the best ways to work smarter as a developer is to use tools that can help you write less code but provide the same value. Hint - these are not the usual tools you see on lists. [DEVTO]

[A programmer’s guide to managing stress.](https://simpleprogrammer.com/a-programmers-guide-to-managing-stress/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) Programming culture emphasises excellence and ability. This can make it difficult to admit to ourselves or others that we might be having an issue with stress. [SIMPLEPROGRAMMER]

[How to harness a collaborative environment in a remote world.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=824NApnk0Vk&utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) Discussing collaboration with design and development teams. [STACKYAK.YOUTUBE]

[How are developers’ needs changing due to COVID-19?](https://developereconomics.com/blog/developers-needs-covid-19?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) Working and performing during a pandemic will leave deep marks behind, both financially and psychologically speaking. [DEVELOPERECONOMICS]

[How to write expressive class definitions.](https://www.fluentcpp.com/2020/10/30/how-to-write-expressive-class-definitions/?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) By putting ourselves in the shoes of a code reader (which shouldn’t be too hard since they are our own shoes really), we’ll see how to organise a class header so as to make life easier to the reader. [FLUENTCPP]

[The only guided CTF course on the internet (free).](https://www.hoppersroppers.org/courseCTF.html?utm_campaign=DE%20Newsletter%20ENG&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_A7lipUNnT7GnADGsBmYmZvwlXjv1lnUZ85yhclNa4mTND8Sv2KdWrLM9-y4mlJ-5QGaDj) This course will teach you everything you need to jump into a beginner CTF and crush Forensics, Cryptography, and Web Exploitation problems. [HOPPERSROPPERS]

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What stress reduction techniques do you use?