The Daily Life of Software Engineers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

TL;DR

This study investigates how remote work during COVID-19 affected software engineers' daily routines, well-being, and productivity, revealing that activity time was similar to office work but had nuanced impacts.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into software engineers' remote work habits and their effects on well-being and productivity during the pandemic.

Findings

Time spent on activities was similar to office work.

Activity time was unrelated to well-being and productivity.

Remote work is not inherently challenging for developers.

Abstract

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, software engineers' daily life was disrupted and abruptly forced into remote working from home. This change deeply impacted typical working routines, affecting both well-being and productivity. Moreover, this pandemic will have long-lasting effects in the software industry, with several tech companies allowing their employees to work from home indefinitely if they wish to do so. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze and understand how a typical working day looks like when working from home and how individual activities affect software developers' well-being and productivity. We performed a two-wave longitudinal study involving almost 200 globally carefully selected software professionals, inferring daily activities with perceived well-being, productivity, and other relevant psychological and social variables. Results suggest that the time software engineers spent doing specific activities from home was similar when working in the office. However, we also found some significant mean differences. The amount of time developers spent on each activity was unrelated to their well-being, perceived productivity, and other variables. We conclude that working remotely is not per se a challenge for organizations or developers.