I work as a developer (Java full stack if it makes any difference) and live quite far from my workplace: it usually takes me one hour and a half to and from work by car. Moving closer to my workplace is not an option nor is it using other means to go back and forth (eg train/bus).
I feel like my time spent on the road is mostly wasted: I'd like to find something IT-related to do (both listen to and reason about) that can help me learn new stuff.
Since I'm passionate about Linux, I usually have a few Linux (or BSD) podcasts to listen to while driving but I found that to be not really instructive, just more enjoyable than listening to the radio or some music playlist.
I'm looking for any kind of suggestion from fellow developers who are in the same spot and have found any interesting way or resources to 'spend wisely' their travel time.
What resources would you suggest (if any exists) to learn something while driving (much like you would do with a foreign language audio course)? Is it even possible? Has anyone tried or can share an experience of 'audio learning' IT related?
Does it have to IT-related? I find audiobooks, both fiction and non-fiction, to be a great way to pass time during commute. The Great Courses offer a bunch of interesting lectures, for instance.
The OP is right to consider professional development during their commute, but it's not the only thing they could do. Instead driving time being professional development time, it could be hobby time. Listening to the news or audio books could free up time spent doing that at home for other things. This assumes, of course, that the OP has hobbies that they pursue at home that could be shifted to car time.
My hobbies are mountain biking and windsurfing but I'm not particularly interested in listening to news or stuff related to those. As for books, I find it far more enjoyable to read from paper rather than to listen to someone reading, although it also depends on who's reading... I really enjoyed a few audio books narrated by Stephen Fry.
I've tried listening to university lectures and varies conferences talks. But, I find them distracting on the road. I've found, consuming really technical stuff to be much easier. When I can give it my full attention.
Personally, I like to listen to podcasts that cover new and upcoming technologies in the field. They could be about high level stuff or even the nitty and gritty, like new language syntax or upcoming improvements to the GC.
Though, I prefer listening to audio books just as much. And, I find them to be a great supplement for professional growth along with podcasts. When I'm not listening to fiction or sci-fi books, which isn't much. I try and listen to books about soft-skills and anything relating to software development that doesn't involve having to read code.
I can't really give you any hard suggestions here. Because, I mostly, work with languages like Ruby & JS/ES6. But, there should be similar options available for at least the JVM, if not the Java ecosystem.
With technical podcasts, I don't listen to there every episode. Only, the ones that I find interesting. But, here are some of the ones, that I usually enjoy listening to.
Not possible, none of them living nearby. And I suspect the majority of them would rather not talk about programming or similar stuff outside of work hours. Maybe it's for the best because honestly I would not survive one hour or so drive of small talk everyday.
voice controlled command line? audio text book? maybe just accept you're not going to get much done when you're on the road. do you want a programming course for when you're sleeping too? give it a rest guy
When I'm not consuming my weekly tech podcasts, I'm listening sci-fi or fantasy on Audible. Books are really cheap if you pay a subscription, and you also get access to "channels", I sometimes put some comedy channel to lighten up my day.
3 hours by car is likely minimum 60 miles which is 4 hours by bike every single day minimum. If they're getting to highway speeds at all then it's even worse. It'd be like black mirror episode 2 every day
Another way of thinking about this is that the marginal cost of biking is only 1 extra hour per day. And there's no reason why this needs to be done every day - he could just bike in once a week.
If he manages 60mph the whole time are you saying he should do 180 miles once a week? That's not really possible without a lot of training. What if he lives in issaquah and commutes to Seattle. How about on the oil fields in nd?
Bigger question what else does he do to better himself during the bike rides?
This is very important. Without some time off for your brain, you can't be productive for a long time. Just listening to music and being half-aware of bumper-to-bumper traffic is a good way to give your brain some rest.
In my experience, audiobooks are excellent for wide open freeway miles, and much less beneficial in traffic. One small event(close call) becomes an attention tangent and I miss last 10 or more seconds of content. Which leads to fiddling to scan back which becomes a distraction/irritation.
Try driving in silence. It allows me to process yesterday and anticipate the coming day.
Processing yesterday or the day just gone is not always a good idea, especially if you had a bad day. This used to happen to me, I'd mull over things I should have said or done and basically torture myself for an hour until I made it home. Fuck that.
Yup, different strokes. If I don't take time to reflect my life becomes messy and my decisions become reflexive instead of weighted. When I am heated, I do go through the thoughts and let emotions run(alone) to allow the release long before I act.
I have a side project and usually in the morning I have a pile of emails waiting in my inbox, so I reply to as many of them as I can on my bus ride to work. Basically doing support.
I have an Audible subscription, so I listen to audiobooks on my way back and forth to work (43 miles one way). The only IT related stuff I listen to is podcasts and that's mostly news. I'm not sure its a good idea to listen to anything super, technical that might require more attention than just listening to songs on the radio. You are driving after all.
I guess the trick for me is that the audio substitutes for other entertainment time so I can watch a training video when I am not occupied by driving.
They put the DRM in place so they can continue to charge lower rates that more people are willing to pay because the content isn't as easily pirated (for which they make no money at all).
What device do you have? What prevents that device from supporting the DRM Audible uses?
Oh, it's some sort of $20 SanDisk copy of the original iPod Nano from ten years ago. Plays MP3s beautifully, but that is about it.
So I ended up buying some files from Audible, then had the choice of resorting to torrenting the ripped versions or using some dodgy converter to extract something useful. Or cancelling the subscription and getting a refund, which is what I did.
Sounds like Audible has pretty good customer service!
I see a little incongruity here.
You're willing to pay $20 10 years ago for media player.
Audible subscriptions are about $15/month, with additional titles approximately $15 (or more) a piece. You're willing to spend perhaps $30–$45/month for a subscription or $30–45 per title?
1 year Audible subscription: $360 (at $30/month)
10 years: $3,600.
Apple iPod nano: $150.
1 year Audible subscription: $180 (at $15/month)
Total for first year: $330.
Each additional year: $180.
After 10 years: $1,950
If you don't care for Apple, I'm sure there are comparable choices available.
There are likely other trade-offs you're likely taking into account as well (e.g., some people are opposed to DRM on principle, but it's not clear to me that's your argument). But if money can solve your problem which you imply by offering to pay more, it looks like you have options to use Audible for the price you're willing to pay.
If I've done the math wrong, or made some assumptions you don't agree to, please feel free to correct me.
No, you're correct; I ought to just knuckle under and spend the money, if I want to consume from Audible. But I picked up the current MP3 player on a flier, and have become used to it - it does what I want it to, in a very simple and straight-forward way.
The content that I've spent money on already dwarfs the purchase of the player. Although that content is DRM-free, so I am free to use it on this player, or any of my various laptops and desktops, and any future devices that I buy. And it is in a standard format that virtually any audio playback application understands. And I can just download those files normally, without having to install the weird Audible download manager.
Yeah, cost of content definitely dwarfs the device over time. I'm not a huge fan of DRM (region locking particularly chafes), but I understand why DRM exists, and as long as it's reasonable (for some value of reasonable :).
One last parting gentle ribbing: the devices that play DRM-protected media usually play the DRM-free stuff, too ;)
I believe the selection is smaller but there is also Downpour [0]. DRM-free which means you should be just fine playing on your MP3 Player. The cost is comparable to Audible ($13/mo instead of $15/mo) and you get much the same deal: 1 audio-book per month with the "credit" you get.
Hadn't heard of this! Thanks for the link. I wonder what their business model is like. It looks like they've been around for at least 3 years, so that's a positive sign that they're doing something right.
A few years back I was in the same boat, rocking a Sansa Clip and no smartphone. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but the way I consumed Audible content was:
- Burning to CD, which their software did
- Ripping the CD to wav using other software
- (optional) chopping up the .wav files into 5 minute chunks
- Compressing everything to MP3 (V8 VBR)
Not sure if they yanked this feature, but worked then!
Try listening to some 'non technical' podcasts. That is what I do on my 1 hour walks in the morning. It is strangely refreshing not to have to focus on technical talks all the time, but I find creative talks tend to inspire me and get me thinking in different ways about my work.
Added bonus is that you don't have to be 100% focused on what you are hearing, you can kind of drift in and out as something interesting catches your attention and still not lose the thread of the topic.
Two of my favourite podcasts are "99% Invisible" (creativity, architecture) and "The Tim Ferris Show" (biohacking, inspiration, interesting people etc.)
My life changed when I started to listen to audiobooks while driving to/from work. However, the audiobooks are usually not pure technical, but always topics that can help me become better in many aspects in life in general, including professionally.
Indeed. Exposure to different areas is a great way of expanding one's perspective. The mind is a great associative device, sometimes connecting ideas we wouldn't otherwise. Plays well with the "I get my best ideas in the shower"-style phenomena.
I highly recommend Clarke Ching's "Rolling Rocks Downhill" audiobook [1] which is a novel that teaches/refreshes agile software development in a really engaging way. I'd love to know if there are more novels like that out there - I haven't managed to find any.
I'm getting bored with podcasts these days because most of them have too much idle chat. Shows like "99% Invisible" that are well produced and low on chit chat are fine but I think audiobooks are the way forward.
Audio books. But not software audio books (that sounds like torture). Listen to books on things that broaden your horizon. I listen to a lot of books on business and marketing even though my day to day job has nothing to do with that. I also listen to a lot of science fiction (old stuff and new) because it helps me appreciate where we have been and where we might strive to be as a thinking society.
Do you ever solve problems or have other insights while not working on those things? Like when you sleep, or in the shower?
Your brain needs rest and distraction, both for professional health and general health.
If I worked, say, 8 hours a day, and then added in your three hour commute every day, that would be borderline death march.
Besides all the utilitarian suggestions, you could consider something unrelated to your work or profession, at least part of the time.
I sing. I put a couple hundred singable (by me) songs on a usb stick, and play them. When I land on one that I want to learn, I put it on repeat, and learn it.
I didn't used to be able to sing, from lack of singing at all and self-consciousness. I didn't used to even sing in the car alone, I was that self-conscious. Now I've improved (my voice has been complemented, singing and not), and I've sung songs among friends and co-workers.
Sometimes I don't sing, and think about something at work or elsewhere. It's not all or nothing.
Maybe listen to old radio shows like The Shadow Knows, The Honeymooners, Dragnet, or whatever you find that appeals.
This guy has a very solid point which is especially important in todays world with the immense amounts of distractions and so on.
I would actually recommend not doing anything specifically work related, but maybe listing to a developer/problemsolving/relevant podcast could be one way to entertain yourself with somewhat relevant content if you really feel the need to. Being "bored" is time better spent than you would think :-)
I too sing on my way at to work. I'm using public trains so I usually can't sing with full voice. I have several exercises I can do quietly.
Also, whenever I need to learn scores for a gig or an upcoming production, I do this on the train. Here I'm more productive than at home on the piano.
I have 4 hours of commute(train + tram/metro) daily..., read a dozen of novels from Isaac asimov and Arthur C. Clarke in 2 months. After work, I don't even have time to open my computer or do anything besides eating, shower.
One useful way to spend dead time like that is to plan what you'll be doing at work, especially if you have a hard problem to solve. One of the ways you can improve your skills even if you're working limited hours (https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-so...).
I listen to podcasts or audiobooks on my commute. This summer I went through all of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. It's true that it's not IT-related, but it's learning, and it is a good break from work. Now I've moved on to going through Game of Thrones once more.
It helps if it is something that you can enjoy without paying rapt attention - it's kind of important to have most of your brain focused on the road if you are behind the wheel.
If you're into the subject matter, there's the History of the Crusades podcast by Sharyn Eastaugh. In depth content, some levity, and I found it to be totally engrossing.
I’m sure you have some very good reasons for explicitly stating that moving closer to work is not an option, but I’m really dying to know why you’re trapped in such a miserable circumstance.
Haha, no. I support the YIMBY movement as a matter of infringed liberty, but we need it so successful software engineers (as well as everybody else) can afford to live near their jobs.
I live in the Bay Area too, and I only know one or two people in the tech industry who have that kind of commute. Many of my coworkers rent their own apartments without roommates.
(much like you would do with a foreign language audio course)
How about trying just that? It's a lot of fun if you get a good course (e.g. Pimsleur), since you can really feel the progress. I've never managed to learn much from technical audio stuff; I feel like I need pen&paper/computer at hand to grasp new technical cocncepts, while language actually works better when i'm not able to distract myself :-) (Step Two: use newfound language skills to move to a place where you don't need the commute.)
You are asking the wrong question. The real question is why are you still driving to work? What is special about your office that requires you to be there in order to get work done? Do you not have internet at your house?
I have a nice "life hack" which I use to keep entertained while doing dishes or cooking: I make the computer read to me HN articles (not all of them... god no!), but the select few long reads that seem interesting. I select the text of the article and press a shortcut to enjoy a "custom audiobook" for the next 5-15 minutes. I use the built-in Mac OS X text to speech functionality[1], but I'm sure you can adapt this to other OS.
I have to go back to the computer and "play" a new article every 4-15 minutes which is not good while driving, but you can probably script the whole process and make longer recordings:
manually select a list of articles that seem worth reading
urls list --> main content recognizer --> html2text | `say` --> .wav --lame--> .mp3
concatenate all the mp3 files to form a 2h long podcast
I suggest leveraging the meditative process driving has on the brain.
I went through a process where I was trying to be extremely productive every minute of every day.
That meant filling every minute with productive tasks including commute time with Podcasts and educational material.
But you get into this productivity loop without any real productivity.
In the end I found the best use of my drive time is just relax and let your brain run. Enjoy the sights and smells, the air coming through the window. Observe your brain how it notices cars and avoid potential disaster.
If you play it right, you'll have 2 hours per day to just do nothing. Let your brain work freeform while focusing on something simple like deep breaths.
Are we really doing nothing? Im quoting the book Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt here:
"Researchers have estimated there are anywhere from 1500 to 2500 discrete skills and activities we undertake while driving. Even the simplest thing — shifting gears — is a decision-making process consuming what is called "cognitive workload." We’re operating heavy machinery at speeds beyond our long evolutionary history, absorbing (and discarding) huge amounts of information, and having to make snap decisions — often based on limited situational awareness, guesses about what others are going to do, or a hazy knowledge of the actual traffic law. It took years of research, for example, by some of the country’s top robotics researchers, to create expensive, sophisticated self-driving "autonomous vehicles" that are basically mediocre beginning drivers that you’d never want to let loose in everyday traffic. When we forget that driving isn’t necessarily as easy as it seems to be, we get into trouble."
I second this, but would also add that I've started motorcycling instead of driving. Even a commute on a motorbike is a thing of wonder, using parts of my brain and fight-or-flight responses I've left dormant for years.
But to the primary point, I also thoroughly agree that downtime is important, and there's a danger of trying to optimise every waking hour too much. Learning the art of structured procrastination (neither too much nor too little) should be part of every pragmatic programmer's toolkit.
I started bicycling to work earlier this year, and it's much less stressful than driving. My commute is about 7 miles when riding my bike, or about 10 miles when driving. Driving takes about 25 minutes on the way to work, and about 35 on the way home.
Cycling is about 40 minutes both ways. I take it a little easier on the way to work because I don't want to sweat too much, and then change in to my work clothes and do a hobo shower in the single stall bathroom. On the way home I can choose my pace, unlike when I'm driving. I can mash the pedals and let off some steam when I need to, or I can mosey home when I'm getting burned out. Stopping along the way is much easier. I'll grab coffee, or a snack, or check out a used book store I've never seen before. Plus, you are much more a part of the world when you are cycling, and you can look around more and notice things you wouldn't when driving. I'm sure a lot of these things hold true for motorcycling as well.
I'm not much of a morning person, but I find it much easier to concentrate when I arrive at work after cycling in. I also find myself much more energized when I get home, even if I'm pretty tired when I leave work. I find taking public transportation provides some of the meditative aspects, since I can reflect on my day more when I'm not driving in Chicago traffic, but bicycling allows me to combine my commute with exercise, which is amazing from both a mental health and physical health perspective.
That being said, riding a bicycle is certainly more dangerous than driving or taking public transportation. While I can take steps to mitigate the risk, I need to cross a number of bridges and go under a number of viaducts on my way to work, and the risk is substantially higher while on a bike than in a car, bus or train. I don't think I'd be comfortable riding my bike on my current commute if I had a kid.
1. Install Duolingo on your phone
2. Change your phone's microphone default language to Spanish
3. Practice by dictating spanish directly to your phone without typing
After more than two decades as a developer, I have just now begun to realize all the other valuable skills, outside of technology, that I have not developed. And consequently, I've been very hungry for this additional education.
I understand you're looking for IT education, but I would recommend audio books (or language courses). If you haven't done any of these, give some a try:
* If you don't know a second language, try the Pimsleur courses.
* How To Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
* Getting to Yes, by Bruce Patton, Roger Fisher, and William Ury
* How We Choose to be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People, by Greg Hicks and Rick Foster
* Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review Classics), by Peter Drucker
It's easy to learn the technical things with hands-on time and night time efforts, but sometimes the tech is so much fun that some of us just simply ignore topics that have longer term value and frankly can enable us to really make the most of our technical abilities.
The book describes principles of good communication. When you read it, you think, "Duh." However, many of the points and methods described were not how I, nor people I knew, behaved when interacting with others.
It's not easy to answer your question simply, but I can say it started for me with just remembering to consider, "What does this other person want?" There are many ways this is described in life, such as "Put yourself in their shoes", but I was shocked to realize how rarely I approached situations with that consideration.
The stories used for illustration are rather quaint and wordy, but they do the job nicely. Plus, we tend to respond to anecdotes better than just rules.
It's a short book, and IMO something that should be taught (and practiced) as a class in middle school.
Thank you for responding. It sounds really interesting and I think I could use something like that, I've purchased it on Audible and will listen to it next.
When you were doing the Pimsleur courses, how far did it help you progress? Did it stick with you?
I went through the first two CDs of German I and French I, but because I'm a driver who automatically prioritizes driving first, I was only half-attentive to the language courses. That said, what was on those two CDs, if I started hearing the phrases again, would come right back.
I didn't stick with it, however, because I moved to Netherlands :).
I was wondering if that would show up in this thread. I have a fairly frequent, though not regular, ~45 min commute, and I've been working on one of their Korean courses. Each lesson is 30 min long, so it fits pretty well.
The only concern I have is that it can be very mentally taxing to, say, correctly respond using Korean to a question asked in Korean. I'd rather not die on the highway than learn a new language, so fairly frequently I have to drive first and ignore the audio for a few seconds.
To help fix this I've been doubling up, playing the same lesson on two commutes. More practice is always good in a language, I guess. I'm also fairly young and have only been driving for about six years, so it's not all autopilot yet.
The lessons are a bit dry, tbh. I've been wondering if there are any other audio-only language lesson publishers I should try that might provide some different styles.
Oh I would listen to the same CD over and over, and now I cannot get it out of my head if I tried :P. I definitely was not working toward a goal; I just found it surprisingly fun (and pleasantly distracting) while suffering commutes.
I didn't investigate alternatives for audio. If I were riding a bus, I would use DuoLingo app (which I found almost addicting).
Just make sure they are TED talks and not TEDx talks. TEDx talks carry the TED branding but are local events and aren't always quality controlled. They're also predictable to a fault. Case and point, Sam Hyde trolling an entire TEDx talk [0] with bullshit was both somehow (1) approved and (2) people actually let him finish.
I used to listen to TED talks but after a while I had to admit to myself a majority of them are painfully predictable in how they presented and so many of them are really someone propping themselves up as some sort of smarter/holier-than-thou savior of humanity.
Listen to software conference talks! It's true that some of the more technical ones will not translate as they require too much concentration. Ideally, you can find some that are more conceptual or do not rely directly upon watching the slides.
I have enjoyed making tech podcast especially for the 20-30 minute commute. They are fun and informative with a kick of inspiration and have been a side project to help me network with cool people in the tech space. So far I have had on the show Grammy & Emmy award winning talent, space experts, angel investors, Billionaires, AI, AR and VR leaders and a few new YC founders to boot.
I think you're solving the wrong problem here. Let's start with some math. With your current arrangement, you're losing 3h of productive time a day, 15h each week, and a staggering 750h yearly. That's the equivalent of 18.75 40h workweeks of lost productivity. Pause for a moment and consider what you could do with that time.
If you feel your current employer is compensating you fairly for that sacrifice, then you likely have money to spend on a car service, use your commute time to work or study and still come out ahead.
If your compensation is not inline with the sacrifice you're making, it's time to start looking for a different job. There are plenty of remote gigs for full-stack java devs. Start looking for one of those.
It's not lost time if you are doing something productive. I find driving is good for the type of thinking I can't do with a computer in front of my face. (although I like walking better, given a choice)
yep. once your bill rate hits $100/hour, hiring someone for $15-25/hour to drive you (assuming you can do billable work in transit) is a good investment.
It may even be worth it to non-billable work, like write your novel, learn a new language, build a side project, etc.
P.S. This "doing something else in transit" is a potentially huge benefit of the emerging self-driving-car economy.
I listen to the bbc's 'in our time' programmes [0] whilst driving. They are (much) more general than you want, but they are excellent programmes covering the whole spectrum of human knowledge. I've become a more broadly educated person by listening to those podcasts.
You're just like me. Except for I don't drive, I take a bus, then subway and then bus again.
I do read HN, Medium, twitter (all IT-related) and other resources. Though sometimes it's really pretty hard to concentrate and read articles carefully. I also use headphones to not get distracted by the engine noice.
I'm typically thinking about what I have to do at work, or complaining about what processes is horrible and how I can propose to make it better. If I charged for those brainstorming hours during driving I would have a very nice car every year but I feel it makes me better at work and I've come up with some of my best ideas while stuck in traffic.
Learning takes a good amount of your attention. While driving your attention should be on the road and what's going on around you. Please don't try to do in depth learning while you are driving.
- Pedestrian who doesn't wanna get smoked by a distracted driver learning about some new Java framework
I live in LA, traffic is an issue here too. I see other comments mentioning take a brain break from IT stuff. They have a point, but up to you how much you need or want this.
Another option: instead of learning something new during this time, use it to teach or mentor someone over the phone.
Whether talking to a student or beginner dev, a couple of the commutes you can schedule weekly mentoring sessions while you drive. Similarly, one could offer tutoring over the phone if relevant. Up to you if you want to charge $ for your time or do it just for the good karma of helping someone.
Either way, chatting on the phone while mentoring/tutoring in my experience affects the brain differently than learning something via audiobook, and it is still possible to concentrate on driving while giving good advice.
I memorize a certain algorithm/code snippet and recall it while driving. My favorite is Paul Graham's ANSI Common Lisp[0]. From the code snippet, I choose a certain function to recall. It would be hard at first (I suppose that only few that can) but once you've repeatedly recall those functions everyday then you'll be amazed on the benefits when you've got into the flow. I got this idea from reading about Richard Feynman[1] that cause this to divorce with his wife since he is doing calculus in his head while driving: the appointee's wife was granted a divorce from him because of appointee's constantly working calculus problems in his head as soon as awake, while driving car, sitting in living room, and so forth, and that his one hobby was playing his African drums.
I have a commute of between 45 minutes and 1 hour where the majority of it is a straight shot on the highway.
I try to learn something new on every drive, and for me this comes from two activities.
1) try to work out design of something I have not done before or something that needs to be done. Iterate over some use cases in my mind, look for leaky abstractions etc.
2) listen to technical podcasts or podcasts about programming or developing some skill related to programming. examples podcasts The Changelog, Go Time, SE Daily, Software Engineering Daily, Full Stack Radio, YC Podcast
Consider partial work-from-home for a couple days a week. I don't miss commuting at all, and for me, it would only involve a 45 minute bus-ride during which I can read all I want, since its an end-to-end ride. But working with a cat in the lap sure does beat those cold winter commutes.
Does it have to IT-related? I find audiobooks, both fiction and non-fiction, to be a great way to pass time during commute. The Great Courses offer a bunch of interesting lectures, for instance.
The OP is right to consider professional development during their commute, but it's not the only thing they could do. Instead driving time being professional development time, it could be hobby time. Listening to the news or audio books could free up time spent doing that at home for other things. This assumes, of course, that the OP has hobbies that they pursue at home that could be shifted to car time.
My hobbies are mountain biking and windsurfing but I'm not particularly interested in listening to news or stuff related to those. As for books, I find it far more enjoyable to read from paper rather than to listen to someone reading, although it also depends on who's reading... I really enjoyed a few audio books narrated by Stephen Fry.
Meditate.
This. But keep awareness of your surroundings while you do :)
I've tried listening to university lectures and varies conferences talks. But, I find them distracting on the road. I've found, consuming really technical stuff to be much easier. When I can give it my full attention.
Personally, I like to listen to podcasts that cover new and upcoming technologies in the field. They could be about high level stuff or even the nitty and gritty, like new language syntax or upcoming improvements to the GC.
Though, I prefer listening to audio books just as much. And, I find them to be a great supplement for professional growth along with podcasts. When I'm not listening to fiction or sci-fi books, which isn't much. I try and listen to books about soft-skills and anything relating to software development that doesn't involve having to read code.
I can't really give you any hard suggestions here. Because, I mostly, work with languages like Ruby & JS/ES6. But, there should be similar options available for at least the JVM, if not the Java ecosystem.
What are some of your favorite more technical podcasts?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9207360
- Software Engineering Daily: https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/category/podcast/
- Changelog: https://changelog.com/podcast
- Functional Geekery: https://www.functionalgeekery.com/
- CppCast: http://cppcast.com/
With technical podcasts, I don't listen to there every episode. Only, the ones that I find interesting. But, here are some of the ones, that I usually enjoy listening to.
- The Changelog https://changelog.com/podcast
- Does Not Compute https://spec.fm/podcasts/does-not-compute/
- Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots http://giantrobots.fm/
- The Bike Shed http://bikeshed.fm/
- The Hanselminutes Podcast http://hanselminutes.com/
- The Web Ahead http://5by5.tv/webahead
Not technical but CGPGrey from Youtube has "Hello Internet" which is fun and relaxing.
That and “Cortex” by CGPGrey. Both of these can be quite entertaining and relaxing.
Tech
http://devopscafe.org/
https://changelog.com/
https://www.arresteddevops.com/
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/codebreaker-podcast
https://www.youtube.com/user/googletechtalks
http://www.gitminutes.com/
http://foodfightshow.org/
Business & Organizations
Request for Commits: https://changelog.com/rfc HBR Ideacast:
http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/harvardbusiness/ideacast/
https://www.manager-tools.com/
http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html
http://podcast.ft.com/s/ft-alphachat/
http://marketplace.org
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/
Science
60 Second Science: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/60-second-science...
https://academicminute.org/
http://spectrum.ieee.org/multimedia/podcasts
Engines of our Ingenuity: http://www.uh.edu/engines/
http://www.econtalk.org/
http://faif.us/
Thanks for the new things to check out!
It might not be possible, but could you share the ride with someone from your workplace that has the same interest?
Not possible, none of them living nearby. And I suspect the majority of them would rather not talk about programming or similar stuff outside of work hours. Maybe it's for the best because honestly I would not survive one hour or so drive of small talk everyday.
voice controlled command line? audio text book? maybe just accept you're not going to get much done when you're on the road. do you want a programming course for when you're sleeping too? give it a rest guy
Here are the two things I do during my commute:
Everything else just doesn't work.
Thanks, can you suggest me one or more particular podcast or a site to download podcasts from?
We do our best to produce high quality and interesting podcasts for developers. Give us a listen: https://changelog.com/
Audiobooks.
When I'm not consuming my weekly tech podcasts, I'm listening sci-fi or fantasy on Audible. Books are really cheap if you pay a subscription, and you also get access to "channels", I sometimes put some comedy channel to lighten up my day.
commute by bike. 3 hours in the car every day is brutal.
3 hours by car is likely minimum 60 miles which is 4 hours by bike every single day minimum. If they're getting to highway speeds at all then it's even worse. It'd be like black mirror episode 2 every day
Unless a big portion of those 3 hours are spent in traffic jams, then bike could be an option, or at least an e-bike.
Other than it was stated that he lives quite far from work.
Another way of thinking about this is that the marginal cost of biking is only 1 extra hour per day. And there's no reason why this needs to be done every day - he could just bike in once a week.
He's already complaining about the actual cost.
If he manages 60mph the whole time are you saying he should do 180 miles once a week? That's not really possible without a lot of training. What if he lives in issaquah and commutes to Seattle. How about on the oil fields in nd?
Bigger question what else does he do to better himself during the bike rides?
Wouldn't you arrive sweaty and gross?
Relax and clear your head. Listen to some music, audio books.
This is very important. Without some time off for your brain, you can't be productive for a long time. Just listening to music and being half-aware of bumper-to-bumper traffic is a good way to give your brain some rest.
In my experience, audiobooks are excellent for wide open freeway miles, and much less beneficial in traffic. One small event(close call) becomes an attention tangent and I miss last 10 or more seconds of content. Which leads to fiddling to scan back which becomes a distraction/irritation.
Try driving in silence. It allows me to process yesterday and anticipate the coming day.
Processing yesterday or the day just gone is not always a good idea, especially if you had a bad day. This used to happen to me, I'd mull over things I should have said or done and basically torture myself for an hour until I made it home. Fuck that.
Yup, different strokes. If I don't take time to reflect my life becomes messy and my decisions become reflexive instead of weighted. When I am heated, I do go through the thoughts and let emotions run(alone) to allow the release long before I act.
edit:removed unnecessary anecdote.
I have a side project and usually in the morning I have a pile of emails waiting in my inbox, so I reply to as many of them as I can on my bus ride to work. Basically doing support.
I have an Audible subscription, so I listen to audiobooks on my way back and forth to work (43 miles one way). The only IT related stuff I listen to is podcasts and that's mostly news. I'm not sure its a good idea to listen to anything super, technical that might require more attention than just listening to songs on the radio. You are driving after all.
I guess the trick for me is that the audio substitutes for other entertainment time so I can watch a training video when I am not occupied by driving.
I would pay double or triple for Audible if they didn't wrap their audiobooks up in an awful DRM that doesn't work with my ipod-knockoff.
They put the DRM in place so they can continue to charge lower rates that more people are willing to pay because the content isn't as easily pirated (for which they make no money at all).
What device do you have? What prevents that device from supporting the DRM Audible uses?
Oh, it's some sort of $20 SanDisk copy of the original iPod Nano from ten years ago. Plays MP3s beautifully, but that is about it.
So I ended up buying some files from Audible, then had the choice of resorting to torrenting the ripped versions or using some dodgy converter to extract something useful. Or cancelling the subscription and getting a refund, which is what I did.
Sounds like Audible has pretty good customer service!
I see a little incongruity here.
You're willing to pay $20 10 years ago for media player.
Audible subscriptions are about $15/month, with additional titles approximately $15 (or more) a piece. You're willing to spend perhaps $30–$45/month for a subscription or $30–45 per title?
If you don't care for Apple, I'm sure there are comparable choices available.
There are likely other trade-offs you're likely taking into account as well (e.g., some people are opposed to DRM on principle, but it's not clear to me that's your argument). But if money can solve your problem which you imply by offering to pay more, it looks like you have options to use Audible for the price you're willing to pay.
If I've done the math wrong, or made some assumptions you don't agree to, please feel free to correct me.
No, you're correct; I ought to just knuckle under and spend the money, if I want to consume from Audible. But I picked up the current MP3 player on a flier, and have become used to it - it does what I want it to, in a very simple and straight-forward way.
The content that I've spent money on already dwarfs the purchase of the player. Although that content is DRM-free, so I am free to use it on this player, or any of my various laptops and desktops, and any future devices that I buy. And it is in a standard format that virtually any audio playback application understands. And I can just download those files normally, without having to install the weird Audible download manager.
It's the blades, not the razor :)
Yeah, cost of content definitely dwarfs the device over time. I'm not a huge fan of DRM (region locking particularly chafes), but I understand why DRM exists, and as long as it's reasonable (for some value of reasonable :).
One last parting gentle ribbing: the devices that play DRM-protected media usually play the DRM-free stuff, too ;)
I believe the selection is smaller but there is also Downpour [0]. DRM-free which means you should be just fine playing on your MP3 Player. The cost is comparable to Audible ($13/mo instead of $15/mo) and you get much the same deal: 1 audio-book per month with the "credit" you get.
[0] http://www.downpour.com/
Hadn't heard of this! Thanks for the link. I wonder what their business model is like. It looks like they've been around for at least 3 years, so that's a positive sign that they're doing something right.
A few years back I was in the same boat, rocking a Sansa Clip and no smartphone. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but the way I consumed Audible content was:
- Burning to CD, which their software did - Ripping the CD to wav using other software - (optional) chopping up the .wav files into 5 minute chunks - Compressing everything to MP3 (V8 VBR)
Not sure if they yanked this feature, but worked then!
You can't. I tried. It is impossible to concentrate enough to absorb anything in rush hour traffic.
I ended up quitting and taking a job to which I can take public transportation.
I love coding on a train.
Try listening to some 'non technical' podcasts. That is what I do on my 1 hour walks in the morning. It is strangely refreshing not to have to focus on technical talks all the time, but I find creative talks tend to inspire me and get me thinking in different ways about my work.
Added bonus is that you don't have to be 100% focused on what you are hearing, you can kind of drift in and out as something interesting catches your attention and still not lose the thread of the topic.
Two of my favourite podcasts are "99% Invisible" (creativity, architecture) and "The Tim Ferris Show" (biohacking, inspiration, interesting people etc.)
My life changed when I started to listen to audiobooks while driving to/from work. However, the audiobooks are usually not pure technical, but always topics that can help me become better in many aspects in life in general, including professionally.
Indeed. Exposure to different areas is a great way of expanding one's perspective. The mind is a great associative device, sometimes connecting ideas we wouldn't otherwise. Plays well with the "I get my best ideas in the shower"-style phenomena.
Invest in a Tesla vehicle? Probably sounds like overkill but if you can afford it the autopilot feature could get you your hands/hours back
I highly recommend Clarke Ching's "Rolling Rocks Downhill" audiobook [1] which is a novel that teaches/refreshes agile software development in a really engaging way. I'd love to know if there are more novels like that out there - I haven't managed to find any.
I'm getting bored with podcasts these days because most of them have too much idle chat. Shows like "99% Invisible" that are well produced and low on chit chat are fine but I think audiobooks are the way forward.
[1] http://www.rolls.rocks/podcasts-video/2016/2/23/rolling-rock...
Audio books. But not software audio books (that sounds like torture). Listen to books on things that broaden your horizon. I listen to a lot of books on business and marketing even though my day to day job has nothing to do with that. I also listen to a lot of science fiction (old stuff and new) because it helps me appreciate where we have been and where we might strive to be as a thinking society.
Do you ever solve problems or have other insights while not working on those things? Like when you sleep, or in the shower?
Your brain needs rest and distraction, both for professional health and general health.
If I worked, say, 8 hours a day, and then added in your three hour commute every day, that would be borderline death march.
Besides all the utilitarian suggestions, you could consider something unrelated to your work or profession, at least part of the time.
I sing. I put a couple hundred singable (by me) songs on a usb stick, and play them. When I land on one that I want to learn, I put it on repeat, and learn it.
I didn't used to be able to sing, from lack of singing at all and self-consciousness. I didn't used to even sing in the car alone, I was that self-conscious. Now I've improved (my voice has been complemented, singing and not), and I've sung songs among friends and co-workers.
Sometimes I don't sing, and think about something at work or elsewhere. It's not all or nothing.
Maybe listen to old radio shows like The Shadow Knows, The Honeymooners, Dragnet, or whatever you find that appeals.
This guy has a very solid point which is especially important in todays world with the immense amounts of distractions and so on.
I would actually recommend not doing anything specifically work related, but maybe listing to a developer/problemsolving/relevant podcast could be one way to entertain yourself with somewhat relevant content if you really feel the need to. Being "bored" is time better spent than you would think :-)
I too sing on my way at to work. I'm using public trains so I usually can't sing with full voice. I have several exercises I can do quietly. Also, whenever I need to learn scores for a gig or an upcoming production, I do this on the train. Here I'm more productive than at home on the piano.
I have 4 hours of commute(train + tram/metro) daily..., read a dozen of novels from Isaac asimov and Arthur C. Clarke in 2 months. After work, I don't even have time to open my computer or do anything besides eating, shower.
Sometimes I'm so absorbed by a novel, I seriously consider to arrive 'late' at work :D.
I really enjoy listening to Tech podcasts that contain a little humor; I would highly recommend:
- Hansel minutes: http://hanselminutes.com/
- This Developers Life: http://thisdeveloperslife.com/
- Coding Blocks: https://www.codingblocks.net/
One useful way to spend dead time like that is to plan what you'll be doing at work, especially if you have a hard problem to solve. One of the ways you can improve your skills even if you're working limited hours (https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-so...).
I listen to podcasts or audiobooks on my commute. This summer I went through all of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. It's true that it's not IT-related, but it's learning, and it is a good break from work. Now I've moved on to going through Game of Thrones once more.
It helps if it is something that you can enjoy without paying rapt attention - it's kind of important to have most of your brain focused on the road if you are behind the wheel.
If you're into the subject matter, there's the History of the Crusades podcast by Sharyn Eastaugh. In depth content, some levity, and I found it to be totally engrossing.
I’m sure you have some very good reasons for explicitly stating that moving closer to work is not an option, but I’m really dying to know why you’re trapped in such a miserable circumstance.
Yeah, this seems odd to me, considering that a reasonably successful software engineer can afford to live pretty much anywhere.
Haha, no. I support the YIMBY movement as a matter of infringed liberty, but we need it so successful software engineers (as well as everybody else) can afford to live near their jobs.
http://idiosyncraticwhisk.blogspot.com/2015/11/housing-serie...
http://www.sfyimby.org
Not in the Bay Area. Every developer or ops person I know either has roommates or has a similar 1.5-hour commute.
I live in the Bay Area too, and I only know one or two people in the tech industry who have that kind of commute. Many of my coworkers rent their own apartments without roommates.
How about trying just that? It's a lot of fun if you get a good course (e.g. Pimsleur), since you can really feel the progress. I've never managed to learn much from technical audio stuff; I feel like I need pen&paper/computer at hand to grasp new technical cocncepts, while language actually works better when i'm not able to distract myself :-) (Step Two: use newfound language skills to move to a place where you don't need the commute.)
You are asking the wrong question. The real question is why are you still driving to work? What is special about your office that requires you to be there in order to get work done? Do you not have internet at your house?
No ones mentioned twit.tv - lots of good programs there. Try triangulation - interviews with IT luminaries
I have a nice "life hack" which I use to keep entertained while doing dishes or cooking: I make the computer read to me HN articles (not all of them... god no!), but the select few long reads that seem interesting. I select the text of the article and press a shortcut to enjoy a "custom audiobook" for the next 5-15 minutes. I use the built-in Mac OS X text to speech functionality[1], but I'm sure you can adapt this to other OS.
I have to go back to the computer and "play" a new article every 4-15 minutes which is not good while driving, but you can probably script the whole process and make longer recordings:
[1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mApa60zJA8rgEm6T6GF0yIem...
I suggest leveraging the meditative process driving has on the brain.
I went through a process where I was trying to be extremely productive every minute of every day. That meant filling every minute with productive tasks including commute time with Podcasts and educational material.
But you get into this productivity loop without any real productivity.
In the end I found the best use of my drive time is just relax and let your brain run. Enjoy the sights and smells, the air coming through the window. Observe your brain how it notices cars and avoid potential disaster.
If you play it right, you'll have 2 hours per day to just do nothing. Let your brain work freeform while focusing on something simple like deep breaths.
I started doing this and began feeling a lot less stressed. It's helped a lot with my general well-being.
I listen to podcasts I enjoy, not necessarily educational ones. I find that relaxing.
We shouldn't underestimate the subconscious stress driving causes. Even in low traffic driving uses a lot of energy.
Are we really doing nothing? Im quoting the book Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt here:
"Researchers have estimated there are anywhere from 1500 to 2500 discrete skills and activities we undertake while driving. Even the simplest thing — shifting gears — is a decision-making process consuming what is called "cognitive workload." We’re operating heavy machinery at speeds beyond our long evolutionary history, absorbing (and discarding) huge amounts of information, and having to make snap decisions — often based on limited situational awareness, guesses about what others are going to do, or a hazy knowledge of the actual traffic law. It took years of research, for example, by some of the country’s top robotics researchers, to create expensive, sophisticated self-driving "autonomous vehicles" that are basically mediocre beginning drivers that you’d never want to let loose in everyday traffic. When we forget that driving isn’t necessarily as easy as it seems to be, we get into trouble."
I second this, but would also add that I've started motorcycling instead of driving. Even a commute on a motorbike is a thing of wonder, using parts of my brain and fight-or-flight responses I've left dormant for years.
But to the primary point, I also thoroughly agree that downtime is important, and there's a danger of trying to optimise every waking hour too much. Learning the art of structured procrastination (neither too much nor too little) should be part of every pragmatic programmer's toolkit.
+1 on motorcycling. Add a little zest to your life.
I started bicycling to work earlier this year, and it's much less stressful than driving. My commute is about 7 miles when riding my bike, or about 10 miles when driving. Driving takes about 25 minutes on the way to work, and about 35 on the way home.
Cycling is about 40 minutes both ways. I take it a little easier on the way to work because I don't want to sweat too much, and then change in to my work clothes and do a hobo shower in the single stall bathroom. On the way home I can choose my pace, unlike when I'm driving. I can mash the pedals and let off some steam when I need to, or I can mosey home when I'm getting burned out. Stopping along the way is much easier. I'll grab coffee, or a snack, or check out a used book store I've never seen before. Plus, you are much more a part of the world when you are cycling, and you can look around more and notice things you wouldn't when driving. I'm sure a lot of these things hold true for motorcycling as well.
I'm not much of a morning person, but I find it much easier to concentrate when I arrive at work after cycling in. I also find myself much more energized when I get home, even if I'm pretty tired when I leave work. I find taking public transportation provides some of the meditative aspects, since I can reflect on my day more when I'm not driving in Chicago traffic, but bicycling allows me to combine my commute with exercise, which is amazing from both a mental health and physical health perspective.
That being said, riding a bicycle is certainly more dangerous than driving or taking public transportation. While I can take steps to mitigate the risk, I need to cross a number of bridges and go under a number of viaducts on my way to work, and the risk is substantially higher while on a bike than in a car, bus or train. I don't think I'd be comfortable riding my bike on my current commute if I had a kid.
1. Install Duolingo on your phone 2. Change your phone's microphone default language to Spanish 3. Practice by dictating spanish directly to your phone without typing
I know a group of colleagues who used to car pool and discuss about IT related topics from their previous experiences.
A group of 3-4 like minded people on a conference call would be a good way to share topics about what you know and learn from others.
This may work best while in cars (as opposed to when using public transit)
Focus on driving, you could kill someone.
Came here to say this. Take advantage of the time by making sure you get to work in one piece.
I love the FaiF podcast for this:
http://faif.us/
After more than two decades as a developer, I have just now begun to realize all the other valuable skills, outside of technology, that I have not developed. And consequently, I've been very hungry for this additional education.
I understand you're looking for IT education, but I would recommend audio books (or language courses). If you haven't done any of these, give some a try:
* If you don't know a second language, try the Pimsleur courses.
* How To Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
* Getting to Yes, by Bruce Patton, Roger Fisher, and William Ury
* How We Choose to be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People, by Greg Hicks and Rick Foster
* Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review Classics), by Peter Drucker
It's easy to learn the technical things with hands-on time and night time efforts, but sometimes the tech is so much fun that some of us just simply ignore topics that have longer term value and frankly can enable us to really make the most of our technical abilities.
I've heard "How to win friends and influence people" mentioned regularly. What impact did it have on you, if you don't mind me asking?
The book describes principles of good communication. When you read it, you think, "Duh." However, many of the points and methods described were not how I, nor people I knew, behaved when interacting with others.
It's not easy to answer your question simply, but I can say it started for me with just remembering to consider, "What does this other person want?" There are many ways this is described in life, such as "Put yourself in their shoes", but I was shocked to realize how rarely I approached situations with that consideration.
The stories used for illustration are rather quaint and wordy, but they do the job nicely. Plus, we tend to respond to anecdotes better than just rules.
It's a short book, and IMO something that should be taught (and practiced) as a class in middle school.
Thank you for responding. It sounds really interesting and I think I could use something like that, I've purchased it on Audible and will listen to it next.
When you were doing the Pimsleur courses, how far did it help you progress? Did it stick with you?
I went through the first two CDs of German I and French I, but because I'm a driver who automatically prioritizes driving first, I was only half-attentive to the language courses. That said, what was on those two CDs, if I started hearing the phrases again, would come right back.
I didn't stick with it, however, because I moved to Netherlands :).
Well I'm going to give it a go. Thank you for posting above, you've put me on to two valuable resources. :)
I was wondering if that would show up in this thread. I have a fairly frequent, though not regular, ~45 min commute, and I've been working on one of their Korean courses. Each lesson is 30 min long, so it fits pretty well.
The only concern I have is that it can be very mentally taxing to, say, correctly respond using Korean to a question asked in Korean. I'd rather not die on the highway than learn a new language, so fairly frequently I have to drive first and ignore the audio for a few seconds.
To help fix this I've been doubling up, playing the same lesson on two commutes. More practice is always good in a language, I guess. I'm also fairly young and have only been driving for about six years, so it's not all autopilot yet.
The lessons are a bit dry, tbh. I've been wondering if there are any other audio-only language lesson publishers I should try that might provide some different styles.
Oh I would listen to the same CD over and over, and now I cannot get it out of my head if I tried :P. I definitely was not working toward a goal; I just found it surprisingly fun (and pleasantly distracting) while suffering commutes.
I didn't investigate alternatives for audio. If I were riding a bus, I would use DuoLingo app (which I found almost addicting).
I find TED Talks tend to help inspire new ideas more often than other media I consume. Maybe listening to some of those instead of podcasts.
Just make sure they are TED talks and not TEDx talks. TEDx talks carry the TED branding but are local events and aren't always quality controlled. They're also predictable to a fault. Case and point, Sam Hyde trolling an entire TEDx talk [0] with bullshit was both somehow (1) approved and (2) people actually let him finish.
I used to listen to TED talks but after a while I had to admit to myself a majority of them are painfully predictable in how they presented and so many of them are really someone propping themselves up as some sort of smarter/holier-than-thou savior of humanity.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFhR1fKWG0
How about podcasts that aren't directly relevant to your work? There's a lot of other interesting stuff out there.
Listen to software conference talks! It's true that some of the more technical ones will not translate as they require too much concentration. Ideally, you can find some that are more conceptual or do not rely directly upon watching the slides.
I posted a few of my favorites from last year here: https://www.kevinlondon.com/2015/09/10/10-software-talks-to-...
I, too, generally dislike software podcasts in the car. For me, they usually are paced more conversationally, so I find that I get disinterested.
I've been working on a catalog of tech conference talks, which you might find interesting - https://www.findlectures.com/?p=1&type1=Tech%20Conference.
I'm hoping soon to have additional facets for things like programming language / framework.
I have enjoyed making tech podcast especially for the 20-30 minute commute. They are fun and informative with a kick of inspiration and have been a side project to help me network with cool people in the tech space. So far I have had on the show Grammy & Emmy award winning talent, space experts, angel investors, Billionaires, AI, AR and VR leaders and a few new YC founders to boot.
Tomorrow's Tech - https://soundcloud.com/user-925097294
Call your Mother.
I think you're solving the wrong problem here. Let's start with some math. With your current arrangement, you're losing 3h of productive time a day, 15h each week, and a staggering 750h yearly. That's the equivalent of 18.75 40h workweeks of lost productivity. Pause for a moment and consider what you could do with that time.
If you feel your current employer is compensating you fairly for that sacrifice, then you likely have money to spend on a car service, use your commute time to work or study and still come out ahead.
If your compensation is not inline with the sacrifice you're making, it's time to start looking for a different job. There are plenty of remote gigs for full-stack java devs. Start looking for one of those.
It's not lost time if you are doing something productive. I find driving is good for the type of thinking I can't do with a computer in front of my face. (although I like walking better, given a choice)
yep. once your bill rate hits $100/hour, hiring someone for $15-25/hour to drive you (assuming you can do billable work in transit) is a good investment.
It may even be worth it to non-billable work, like write your novel, learn a new language, build a side project, etc.
P.S. This "doing something else in transit" is a potentially huge benefit of the emerging self-driving-car economy.
I listen to the bbc's 'in our time' programmes [0] whilst driving. They are (much) more general than you want, but they are excellent programmes covering the whole spectrum of human knowledge. I've become a more broadly educated person by listening to those podcasts.
[0] http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl
You're just like me. Except for I don't drive, I take a bus, then subway and then bus again.
I do read HN, Medium, twitter (all IT-related) and other resources. Though sometimes it's really pretty hard to concentrate and read articles carefully. I also use headphones to not get distracted by the engine noice.
I'm typically thinking about what I have to do at work, or complaining about what processes is horrible and how I can propose to make it better. If I charged for those brainstorming hours during driving I would have a very nice car every year but I feel it makes me better at work and I've come up with some of my best ideas while stuck in traffic.
When diving your primary focus should be on... wait for it... DRIVING!
Pay attention to the road. Distracted driving is the ultimate jerk move, its saying that other peoples lives don't matter.
Learning takes a good amount of your attention. While driving your attention should be on the road and what's going on around you. Please don't try to do in depth learning while you are driving.
- Pedestrian who doesn't wanna get smoked by a distracted driver learning about some new Java framework
I live in LA, traffic is an issue here too. I see other comments mentioning take a brain break from IT stuff. They have a point, but up to you how much you need or want this.
Another option: instead of learning something new during this time, use it to teach or mentor someone over the phone.
Whether talking to a student or beginner dev, a couple of the commutes you can schedule weekly mentoring sessions while you drive. Similarly, one could offer tutoring over the phone if relevant. Up to you if you want to charge $ for your time or do it just for the good karma of helping someone.
Either way, chatting on the phone while mentoring/tutoring in my experience affects the brain differently than learning something via audiobook, and it is still possible to concentrate on driving while giving good advice.
I memorize a certain algorithm/code snippet and recall it while driving. My favorite is Paul Graham's ANSI Common Lisp[0]. From the code snippet, I choose a certain function to recall. It would be hard at first (I suppose that only few that can) but once you've repeatedly recall those functions everyday then you'll be amazed on the benefits when you've got into the flow. I got this idea from reading about Richard Feynman[1] that cause this to divorce with his wife since he is doing calculus in his head while driving: the appointee's wife was granted a divorce from him because of appointee's constantly working calculus problems in his head as soon as awake, while driving car, sitting in living room, and so forth, and that his one hobby was playing his African drums.
[0] - https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/paulgraham/acl2.lisp
[1] - http://gizmodo.com/5916502/richard-feynmans-fbi-files-make-f...
I have a commute of between 45 minutes and 1 hour where the majority of it is a straight shot on the highway.
I try to learn something new on every drive, and for me this comes from two activities.
1) try to work out design of something I have not done before or something that needs to be done. Iterate over some use cases in my mind, look for leaky abstractions etc.
2) listen to technical podcasts or podcasts about programming or developing some skill related to programming. examples podcasts The Changelog, Go Time, SE Daily, Software Engineering Daily, Full Stack Radio, YC Podcast
Consider partial work-from-home for a couple days a week. I don't miss commuting at all, and for me, it would only involve a 45 minute bus-ride during which I can read all I want, since its an end-to-end ride. But working with a cat in the lap sure does beat those cold winter commutes.