Programming in Samoa is an interesting and somewhat different experience.
A normal day in the life of a programmer outside of Samoa might play out like the following:
| 8.00am: | Beep-Beep! Beep-Beep! Wack! Snooze time… |
| 8.09am: | Beep-Beep! Beep-Beep! Sigh…. Time to wake up sleepy head! |
| 8.43am: | You actually get out of bed, slip in a quick coffee and rush to work. |
| 9.05am: | You roll into work and turn on your monitor, your computer is still going from the previous day. |
| 10.30am: | You finish “researching” slashdot/reddit/digg and decide is probably time you started working on some actual code. |
| 10.40am: | You come back to your desk after deciding that you need another coffee before you can program anything. |
| 12.00pm: | Lunch Time! |
| 1.00pm: | Back to it… better check those emails… |
| 2.30pm: | All emails replied to its time to start programming again… but not before another coffee. |
| 5.00pm: | Time to knock off and head home. |
The next day… rinse and repeat…
A typical day in the life of a S.W.A.P. programmer in Samoa goes more like the following:
| 7.30am: | You wake up with the sun shining into your window and realise you are damp with sweat. |
| 7.40am: | Straight out of a nice cold shower you immediately feel like maybe you should have another one as you once again start to sweat. |
| 7.50am: | You rock into the office at the S.W.A.P. HQ, grab your first bottle of water (there’s no way you will want to start with a hot drink) and fire up your computer (power is too expensive to leave it on over night.) |
| 8.30am: | After looking at a bit of work you think about browsing YouTube before realising its not a good idea when the net is charged at $130 Tala ($73 NZD) per gig. |
| 9.30am: | After a bit of coding and some breakfast it is time for the next bottle of water. |
| 10:30am: | You have been programming as much as you can because pretty soon it’s going to get unbearably hot and impossible to think. |
| 11.30am: | It’s getting too hot to think but you power on with anther bottle of water. |
| 12.00pm: | Knock off time!! |
| 1.00pm: | You arrive at the swimming hole/resort/beach of your choice and spend the next few hours lounging about in the sun, in the perfect clear cool waters. |
| 3.00pm: | Time to go back to the bar/corner store and get your 4th beer of the afternoon. |
| 5.00pm: | The sunscreen is wearing off and the hunger is growing…. time to go and find a road side BBQ to end the day with a nice tasty meal. |
The next day… You worked enough yesterday… lets spend today on a yacht/snorkelling/road tripping/resort hopping/swimming.
It might take a little bit longer to get things done around here but its a lot more fun at the same time!
Furthermore it is VERY important to the mission that SWAP Ambassadors have a full Samoan experience to share with the world. Agreed?