The tech scene in Nigeria is shifting towards remote work. …

**Internet**

If you live in Abuja, Lagos etc try and setup fibre optic internet.

They are reliable, not prone to frequent disconnects, ultra low latency, and they're very fast. They usually come bundled with unlimited usage per month.

Although the fibre speeds are not mind blowing gigabit speeds, yet. 200mbps is good enough anywhere.

Your best bet for fibre in Nigeria would be @ipNXTweet. ₦30k setup and internet plans can range from as low as ₦12k - ₦150k monthly.

One dishonourable mention is @explorelegend. They take forever to get setup. Once setup, it's quite good. ₦130k setup, plans range from ₦30k - ₦70k monthly.

Some providers like @Mainoneservice are not worth it for homes, way too expensive. ₦350k for 50mbps a month? Hell no!

Which ever provider you decide to go with, do read the fine print.

The alternative for people without access to fibre optic internet is to get devices like MTN's hynetflex, spectranet and the rest, but good luck with those.

**Electricity**

If you are about to move, move to an area with constant power supply.

September 2020, I changed houses, and in my current location, we get constant daily power supply. In a week we could go about 0 - 5 hours without power and that's it.

Otherwise, I'll advise you go with solar panels that charge inverters or get Lumos from MTN. I've never used Lumos but lots of people recommend it, so there's that.

Another great investment is a UPS (uninterrupted power supply), you don't want to be in the middle of that

meeting and tell them, "abeg give me one minute make I run on gen."

With all that set up, still get a generator if you can, even if it's an "I better pass my neighbour." But the goal for electricity is to only run generator when absolutely necessary.

**Productivity**

Different strokes, different people. I prefer to work from 6am - 2pm. That leaves the rest of the day for just me, family, friends, love life and other interests. I'm in bed by 10pm - 12pm (during mon-thurs).

This was a conscious effort, I had to work towards it as I noticed my day wasn't as productive as I wanted if I slept by 3am, and also didn't have time for the people around me.

Get a good chair for your back and make sure it fits your height. The base of the chair should ideally be just under your knee. If your chair is too low, your knees and neck will hurt. Too high, you get dangly-feet syndrome 😉.

Your table should also match your height, and the length should be preferential too. My table length is 2m, any smaller it feels cramped.

Lastly, get a dehumidifier if you can afford it, just trust me on this.

Some people recommend plants, but we all know you're going to let them die, so let them be in nature where they stand a better chance of surviving or can serve as goat food.

Although the company you work at might have their project management system, I still use ticktick to prioritise tasks I need to get done (work and personal included).

I track time spent on different projects with toggl, this includes work and "personal projects."

**Communication**

Don't forget to say what's happening, if you have to be AFK (away from keyboard), say it. Give an estimate of how long you expect to be away and also notify once you're back.

Get tools like loom so you can easily send video feedback.

Over communicating can be just as bad as under communication. You have to strike a balance.

Talk to your coworkers, ask about their day and stuff, try to help whenever you can etc.

You don't have to go out of your way to chat, but just remember to be human.

**Gadgets**

Most are completely unnecessary tbh (saying this as a tech enthusiast 😅) you'd be better off investing that money in stocks and crypto. But then it's upto you, I'm not your accountant.

That said, I want to stress on the point of "getting an extra computer." Shit happens, you can suddenly be out because of system failure. It has happened to me. I currently have two laptops, main and backup.

The backup doesn't have to be as powerful or decked out as your main, but it should be good enough to fulfill your needs until you can get a new one.

And, if you build custom rigs and you're being sly because you can swap parts, still get a backup, parts can run out of stock.

Regarding external monitors, that's up to you to decide, I prefer 1, ideally 2. Some prefer none, people like @chris__sev prefers 3+. It's all preferential.

Do get a good mic, your laptop mic is not good enough. You don't have to get the $400 sm7b, a $30+ usb mic is good enough.

**Health**

Considering in the past 6 years I've gained 60kg, I'm not the best when it comes to giving health advice. Here's what I learnt the hard way.

Remember to always take a break every couple hours, the doctors say every 1 or 2, but the sweet spot for me is every 3 to 4.

If I keep getting up to do something every 1 or 2 hours, trust me I'm not getting any work done that day.

Go for a walk (even 30 minutes is fine) to stretch your muscles and let your brain go on autopilot.

Last year I started doing a 5k run every two weeks, I haven't done any this year, but someday I hope to disturb your feed like @moyheen and @JasonNjoku and be like "easy 20k."

Drink lots of water! Peace!

The tech scene in Nigeria is shifting towards remote work.

Having worked remotely for 6+ years (3 in Nigeria), here's some things I've learnt.

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The tech scene in Nigeria is shifting towards remote work. Having worked remotely for 6+ years (3 in Nigeria), here's some things I've learnt.

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The tech scene in Nigeria is shifting towards remote work.

Having worked remotely for 6+ years (3 in Nigeria), here's some things I've learnt.