More Lessons I Learned Working From Home

More Lessons I Learned Working From Home

In the previous article, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages to working from home. In a remote work setup, it is important to establish a fixed time and place for you to work. But there are more things that we need to take into account: communication and security. These are the additional lessons I learned while working remotely since 2012.

Communication is a high priority

My boss always emphasized that communication is the most important thing especially in the context of working remotely. If we are not able to communicate effectively, then the whole setup will fail. read more

Lessons I Learned Working From Home

Lessons I Learned Working From Home

We live in interesting times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more companies are being forced to adopt a remote working setup (or working from home) for its employees. I have been working remotely full-time since 2012. This article discusses some of the lessons and tricks I learned throughout the years.

I understand that working from home does not apply to all industries. It is mostly applicable to jobs that involve working in front of a computer. My career is in software development which fits this set up comfortably. However it can also apply to other industries such as business process operations, accounting, and company administration. read more

Accounting for Noobs, Part 2

Accounting for Noobs, Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed basic accounting concepts like the Accounting Equation. From there we identified the different Account categories and how transactions are placed under Debits or Credits.

You may be thinking, “Ok good, I get why this is being used by companies and banks, but this does not apply to me!“. Perhaps you may be right, but have you asked yourself these questions before?

  • How much did I receive as salary this year?
  • How does it compare to my earnings from my side business?
  • I have been paying my car loan for quite some time now. How much did I pay for it so far and what is left to pay?
  • Considering everything including non-cash assets, what is my net worth?

These questions are easily answered if you are recording everything using a double-entry system. read more

Accounting for Noobs, Part 1

Accounting for Noobs, Part 1

If you are not involved in finances in your work, accounting seems to be a very daunting concept. This is understandable as there is an Accountancy course in college which means that you need to spend years studying the whole thing. It should not dissuade us in learning about basic concepts however, as it will help us greatly in managing our own finances. This article will serve as an introduction to accounting for noobs or those new to the concept.

The main purpose of accounting is to enable recording of economic data (which is mostly money or asset values). From these data recordings we can then summarize them and provide useful reports for analysis. These reports are used to see how a business or organization is doing. The results of the data can then be analyzed to determine the next course of action. read more

5 Things I Learned In 2019

5 Things I Learned In 2019

There’s some belief that age and years ending in 9 often result in some significant change in people’s lives. I would say that in general, this rang true for the year 2019 when we look at local and global events.

This is also true for me on a personal level. 2019 brought some hard new lessons for me to learn and I will share the top 5 major lessons here:

1. The world owes you nothing

We tend to have this notion of inherent “fairness” into the world. As long as we do good things, we also expect good things to happen to us. Unfortunately, that’s not how the world works. Even saints, who lived good and godly lives, often lived in poverty and died horrible deaths. read more