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Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

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Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#21

Post by arvinsim »

K9DRDOh wrote: post #18

Im having the same challenges. In my case working from home not by choice, and will likely continue to be remote for a few more months. Its not too bad when the kids are at school, but my biggest challenge is to convince my wife that 'I'm working' I keep telling her 'No, I cannot watch the baby or run errands' because I need to focus on what I'm doing. She tells me she understands ,but after a few days it starts agai…

> I've seen other guys working from coffee shops, that somehow take phone calls and attend meetings ,and I can barely hear them. If I ever master that skill "speaking quietly, yet clearly without actually whispering" it would make a big difference in my life.

First step is to get a good mic.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#22

Post by mbrock »

neverartful wrote: post #9

Anyone rent dedicated office space? By that I mean 4 walls and a door that you can close. I was thinking that if I ever get back into full-time remote work I might try to find something like 100 sq. feet to rent.

I'm renting a private office space where I do my work as a remote contractor. It's glorious; it's also my firm's biggest expense, but hey, life quality.

For various reasons I'll be terminating the lease soon. Instead I'll spend money on renting a bigger apartment—one with a room dedicated as an office.

Four walls and a door is the only way to work as far as I'm concerned. Stable internet, my own printer, silence, comfort, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#23

Post by benzesandbetter »

I've been a digital nomad for about a decade and have worked from all sorts of spaces. What makes for an ideal workspace depends on the type of work you are doing and various other factors in your life. If your work involves a lot of interacting with clients, or handling sensitive information, public spaces like cafes, restaurants, etc. are not going to be a good fit. Trying to participate in a conference call with a barista in the background running the blender doesn't help support your professional image and billing rates. Personally, I work mostly from coworking spaces, or from the place where I'm staying (e.g. AirB or Hotel). It's really worth paying the money for a workspace where you can count on having consistent access to a quiet environment and not being interrupted.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#24

Post by benzesandbetter »

K9DRDOh wrote: post #18

Im having the same challenges. In my case working from home not by choice, and will likely continue to be remote for a few more months. Its not too bad when the kids are at school, but my biggest challenge is to convince my wife that 'I'm working' I keep telling her 'No, I cannot watch the baby or run errands' because I need to focus on what I'm doing. She tells me she understands ,but after a few days it starts agai…

> Its not too bad when the kids are at school, but my biggest challenge is to convince my wife that 'I'm working'

If your wife is not respecting your needs around your home workspace, I'd recommend to either start working from a coworking space or rented office, or get an au pair to help with the tasks she's asking you about so that you can work without interruptions.

Thankfully, mine is Russian and treats my work and my role as a provider as sacred, so I get zero friction from her about the time and space I need to do my work.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#25

Post by snazz »

marketgod wrote: post #10
snazz wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to this: if your library is a part of a system (as most are in the US), you could go a little farther to another one to get a change of scenery. Sometimes working in just another room from your usual work space will improve your clarity of thought immensely.

What do you do for monitors? I need 4 screens.

I don’t work in libraries often, but I have one 1920x1200 monitor on my desktop and a laptop at 1400x900. I’ve used multiple monitors before but I always find that I direct my attention to one or the other primarily.

I guess you could bring two separate laptops with similar software and use one as a web browsing machine and the other as a text editor/compiler/version control system machine. I can’t say I’ve tried that but it sounds like it would be a little challenging with multiple power supplies and finding a bag big enough to carry both comfortably.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#26

Post by sethammons »

My big advantage of being remote is zero commute (used to do 5 to 6 hours of commute per day). I have a dedicated room at home and I would not trade that for some office space I had to drive to without some compelling and temporary reason.

Occasionally, the sounds of the house interfer, but I can either drown it out with white noise or ask those making the noise to stop. My wife and kids are very good at respecting my workspace.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#27

Post by bagsvaerd70 »

I love working remotely from a home office in some sunny spots of the Mediterranean. If you choose well, you can find cheap places with great weather all year round, quality food and very good services (including healthcare).

For me nothing beats a quiet home office as I need to do really deep work in probability & logic.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#28

Post by Jeremy1026 »

benzesandbetter wrote: post #24
K9DRDOh wrote: post #18

Im having the same challenges. In my case working from home not by choice, and will likely continue to be remote for a few more months. Its not too bad when the kids are at school, but my biggest challenge is to convince my wife that 'I'm working' I keep telling her 'No, I cannot watch the baby or run errands' because I need to focus on what I'm doing. She tells me she understands ,but after a few days it starts agai…

> Its not too bad when the kids are at school, but my biggest challenge is to convince my wife that 'I'm working' If your wife is not respecting your needs around your home workspace, I'd recommend to either start working from a coworking space or rented office, or get an au pair to help with the tasks she's asking you about so that you can work without interruptions. Thankfully, mine is Russian and treats my work an…

This whole comment reads very bigotrist.

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#29

Post by K9DRDOh »

Jeremy1026 wrote: post #28
benzesandbetter wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Its not too bad when the kids are at school, but my biggest challenge is to convince my wife that 'I'm working' If your wife is not respecting your needs around your home workspace, I'd recommend to either start working from a coworking space or rented office, or get an au pair to help with the tasks she's asking you about so that you can work without interruptions. Thankfully, mine is Russian and treats my work an…

This whole comment reads very bigotrist.

you are imaging bigotry where there is none in the above comment.

it would equally apply if the wife was the sole bread winner,

Re: Ask HN: Where's the best place to work remotely?

#30

Post by hluska »

When I was freelancing full-time, I rented some shared/temp office space. For $400 a month, I got an office with a locking door, a desk, chair, space to plug in multiple monitors, access to conference rooms, and a mailing address. The place I rented was a ten minute walk from where I lived, so I got the best of all worlds.
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