71–80 of 144 posts
I am slowly figuring out that the onus is on me to do things like, say, flying out to conferences so I can make up the difference. My advice would be to have a plan in place for dealing with geographic and self isolation before you accept the remote job offer.
Working remotely pretty much destroyed my career for two reasons: (1) my networking opportunities plummeted to zero and (2) I was fired for reasons I believe could have been avoided if I had worked in an office and had stronger relationships with more co-workers. My remote job was at a fully distributed company with good compensation. I worked there for about five years, receiving only positive reviews. Groups in the…
- keep active in the industry; keep making contacts; attending meetups/conferences etc ; prioritize networking. Its easy to fall into the work from home and never network/socialize with others in your field. This is critical if you need (it will happen) to change jobs.
- if the job is remote and the company has a central office where some (or all) of your co-workers work from, make an effort to show up frequently so everyone knows you are alive. If you are not seen you risk being forgotten or at least considered forgotten.
- Don't move so far away from industry hubs (or cities) that you are tempted to stop networking. In other words living in BFE can be a very bad thing unless you have already built a good network and/or have very good discipline to do it.
BTW I screwed up on all of the above and now I am paying the price. :( So, don't do what I did ;)
HOWEVER - with all that said. I really wish more companies would encourage WFH at least a few days a week. As a matter of fact it would be great if it was incentivized to push companies to do this. This would have a huge impact on traffic, stress, employee health and still give the opportunity for in person collaboration (which AFAIK is the main reason companies claim to hate it). I think it is insane that this is not even on the table especially in places like the bay area...
Working remotely and having more control over my schedule (they don't always come together) allowed me to work on my side project until it was making enough money to cover my living expenses. The only problem is that now, after running my own business for a few years, I cannot phantom the idea of going back to a regular job. In that sense, my career as an employee is over.
My experience - I worked from home for 10 of the 15 years (so far) of my career. My biggest advice for anyone going this route: - keep active in the industry; keep making contacts; attending meetups/conferences etc ; prioritize networking. Its easy to fall into the work from home and never network/socialize with others in your field. This is critical if you need (it will happen) to change jobs. - if the job is remote…
I have personally found that my network is my own personal currency. I can control how valuable it is and how big it gets.
Being a connector of people puts you in a valuable position.
I think that it largely depends on the company. Because remote work doesn't Just Work -- it requires plenty of regular effort to make that happen. Some companies excel at that, and others, well, suck at it. So if you consider doing, ask a lot. Ask a lot about processes, how decisions are made, why the company decided to go remote, etc. There, you can't really generalize everything under 'remote work is good for you' or similar. Just like working from an office doesn't automatically mean that it's good for your career.
If the company went the remote path in order to access untapped talent from around the globe, communication is heavily written and async, that's great. Ask for specific examples, as pretty much everyone says 'yeah, we are all about written communication!'. If the company provides money to setup your own private home office for maximum comfort and productivity -- even better. That shows that they really care. After talking to a few companies and comparing them, it's easy to tell where a company falls on the 'good for remote' spectrum.
Is it sustainable long term (7+ years) is a whole different matter and I don't have an answer to it. Probably completely depends on the person.
To answer your questions
> Especially if the team is a mixture of remote and co-located people?
I work in such environment and I'm very happy. But I understand how in some cases it can end up really badly. So just do your research.
> How have you tried to mitigate that?
Just do your best to pick the right company. Because if you join one which isn't great for remote work, then it's unlikely that you'll be able to change how it works.
This is my personal experience so far:
Pros: * More available jobs, especially for something which is not full-stack web-dev (SRE side of big data/analytics is my niche). Which is great for developing my technical skills and adding some lovely things to my CV; * I feel overall more positive about work and life in general, which is a result of good time flexibility, not having to commute anywhere, setting up a solid home office, etc. While not directly related to career, this huge! It reduces chances of burning out and similar negatives as well.
The main and very obvious con is non-existing serendipitous networking with people. But that's largely due to my own choices - I could go to a co-working space, etc but I chose not to. Living with my gf helps with having decent social life. That works for me.
So all things considered, that's a solid net positive.
And, I guess, obligatory plug, we're hiring :) https://heapanalytics.com/jobs
Yes, but I mean, how much money does a person need? Why do I need to advance up the ladder? I just don’t see the point. I like living my life how I want. If I could do that without a job at all, I would. Don’t get me wrong, it has its downsides other than the career advancement thing. But commuting and sitting in an open office with no privacy does too. On balance I prefer it. If you’re lonely, get a dog.
So it is about the choice, life circumstances and some people like to advance, you don't have to.
I work remote because anyone that meets me quickly figures out I'm not an "ideal" employee, meaning my mindset is very much entrepreneurial. Remote work is a great way to use my skills, expose me to many techs and approaches, and focus on getting shit done.
Remote work doesn't harm my career growth because I don't really see programming as a career. I give value for the money I'm paid and I move on to the next thing.
When I'm done working for the day, I go eat, come back home, and do other work to make money. When I'm not programming, I do other things.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like most of your issue is not with the fact that you worked remote but that you worked remote and lived in a remote area. It is certainly possible to work remote and live close to where the action is. Example... you may live in Boston and work remote for a company in Silicon Valley. I know people who work remote but go to meetups at night all the time.
You don't need to network in person to network. I've never been to a meet-up in my life and manage to interact with hundreds of people on GitHub through side projects / open source work. If you put yourself out there constantly, good things will happen. Don't fool yourself into thinking moving to a city is a magic bullet. You can be just as isolated in the middle of a city.
Yes and no. No, because going remote opened me up to opportunities I previously didn’t have. It has been fantastic for my experience in terms of communication, mentoring, and in learning new roles (e.g taking responsibility for infrastructure). In that sense, my career has blossomed! On the other hand, I believe that progression would be a struggle because remote work can create such a massive comfort zone that it ta…
It's also more difficult to say if you're short-changed - IRC ties are usually not strong enough to exchange that info.
All in all, it's easier to get too comfortable and forget that you haven't been progressing enough.