The shelter-in-place requirements around the world due to COVID-19 have prevented us from getting out much, but it has also opened views into a world we probably wouldn’t see otherwise. Not only do we get glimpses into celebrity homes as we watch the news, late-night talk shows, and concerts, we get to see into the lives and homes of the people we used to see in the office every day.

More than 2,000 developers from around the world participated in our open source bot hackfest, which we hosted on HackerEarth from January 10 through March 2. The goal of the event was to work with our community to create open source chatbots that integrate with Mattermost to accelerate DevOps and DevSecOps workflows, and we received many amazing submissions! We gave away $10,000 in prizes, including $6,000 cash to our top contributors.

In the new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic, a spare room is an office, a handshake is a threat, and a full shelf of toilet paper at the grocery store is nothing short of a miracle. In these unusual times, IT teams are stepping up and stepping outside their job description to help their users adapt to the shifting landscape in which we live and work.

We've all been there. It's early in the morning and you're jumping on a call. But you forgot it was a video call, and you also forgot to cover your webcam before joining. So now everyone knows you as the person who wears cheetah pajamas and has a serious case of bed head. Not ideal. Luckily practice makes perfect, and with the upcoming weeks of remote working, we gathered a few video call tips from body language expert, Vanessa Van Edwards.

I’m into my third week of working from home and I’m starting to feel it. My back is playing up, my neck and shoulders are tight, and my legs are getting increasingly more restless. My make-shift remote work setup consists of a little desk and a dining table chair. Not exactly the ergonomic home office setup the health and safety department would recommend. Everyone is working under different circumstances, but we all want to be as productive as we can. Some of you may still be in an office.

Remote pair programming is an Extreme Programming (XP) methodology which is a part of the Agile software development model. It takes the principle of pair programming to the remote workplace. Pair programming leads to higher quality code and fewer bugs by making continuous code reviews and synchronous collaboration possible. In traditional pair programming, two programmers sit side by side in front of the same computer.

When the harmful effects of the coronavirus pandemic began to accelerate globally, Axosoft wanted to step in and do what we could to help as an organization. While we have always offered GitKraken Pro license free for students, teachers, and nonprofits, we wanted to extend our offerings in these especially trying times. We recently announced the GitKraken Pro for a Cure Program, offering free GitKraken Pro licenses for teams of up to 25 developers working on a COVID-19 related project.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to require employees to work from home. It’s a new normal for many, but at Grafana Labs our team has always recruited and operated with a remote-first culture in mind. To help everyone transition to a home office environment, we launched a new WFH series in which Grafana team members have been sharing their best advice for staying productive at home – yes, even if you have kids around.