Idle for more than two weeks, no real development, what shall I do?

Question

Idle for more than two weeks! all my team is idle! no more coding, just editing few lines of code, no real development, what shall I do?

if(idle){
     // Please advise ...
}

Answer 1

If you've got no real work to do you can always improve the existing code base. Search for places that would need a little refactoring and dig into it.

Answer 2

You could

• Learn a new language (F# or something)
• Write a small game (it's always fun to write an RPG, tetris, or asteroid clone in your favorite language)
• study various algorithms or patterns
• Brush up on what's happening in your language of choice

That's all i can think of at the moment.

Answer 3

Update your resume. It sounds like you and your team might be needing to start looking for new jobs soon.

Answer 4

Start looking for a new job.

Answer 5

It seems you're idle at work, which is definitely not a good thing, given the current situation of the global economy. You want to give your boss a reason to keep you employed. You should definitely ask explicitly for something to do - even better would be having a useful suggestiion what you could do. Examples:

• Increase code coverage with more unit tests (you have unit tests and an automated build, right? Right? If not, that's your project right there)
• Refactor problematic code sections
• Run a profiler on your app to find (and speed up) performance-critical code sections
• Do code reviews, perhaps specifically looking for security problems
• Write a script/tool to automate/support a tedious aspect of your development cycle
• Learn a new language/framework/technology that might be useful

Depending on what industry your company is in, you could also start an exploratory project (perhaps using new technology) with a chance of getting real customers.

Answer 6

Ask & answer questions on Stack Overflow - at least somebody else benefits from your free time.

Answer 7

By default I always try and learn something new in order to keep up with new technology. Keep your marketability up because you never know when you are going to need to be marketable.

Answer 8

FIgure out what is going on cautiously. Is this normal? Is it a kind of cycle in your line of work? Is it because there is nothing to do accidently or is it more serious? Is the company in trouble? Is it only you who has nothing to do or it is true for others too?

Have you worked so well that there is nothing to do?