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Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

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Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#91

Post by chrisan »

itake wrote: post #88

I worked at a small startup as the only senior back end engineer. I bought my plane tickets to Asia for a 6 week trip and I told my boss 2 weeks before my trip that I wasn't happy living in the bay area. I loved my job, but I wanted to live anywhere else. Rather than fire me / have me quit, he let me start working remotely keeping California time.

Similar story for me, only my wife accepted a new job outside California back in 2008.

I was in a small place, we both liked each other, and I simply explained my situation. Been remote every since

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#92

Post by magicnmonkey »

ddelt wrote: post #56
jerguismi wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It hasn't really mattered how well I could frame productivity or measurable improvements in my quality of life" First, your quality of life isn't really a selling point from employers point of view. To raise your odds at negotiations you should focus solely on the employers problems. The same applies when selling something - you should not focus on the benefits that you as a seller get (like money), but on the probl…

I don't necessarily disagree with the first point that you raised, but I would posit that if my quality of life sucks as an engineer, eventually that will become the employers problem when I update my cv and find work with a better quality of life, potentially too soon or at the wrong time. Moreover, an employer is 'selling' their reputation to potential talent as well as selling their product.

When it becomes problem they fire you, they don't give you some special cash suitcase and tell you, go improve your life first.

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#93

Post by pthreadses »

itake wrote: post #88

I worked at a small startup as the only senior back end engineer. I bought my plane tickets to Asia for a 6 week trip and I told my boss 2 weeks before my trip that I wasn't happy living in the bay area. I loved my job, but I wanted to live anywhere else. Rather than fire me / have me quit, he let me start working remotely keeping California time.

This was essentially my route as well. My wife got a two year postdoc position in Germany. I actually gave them over a month of notice, since I had a rather unique position and I knew they had trouble hiring me. After a few weeks my boss confessed they weren’t sure what they were going to do, and I actually hadn’t put any thought into finding a new job, so we agreed on me doing remote.

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#94

Post by memling »

souprock wrote: post #70
ddelt wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been my experience thus far as well. It hasn't really mattered how well I could frame productivity or measurable improvements in my quality of life to an immediate manager or team - ultimately if the senior leadership dislikes the idea of remote work, each level beneath them will hesitate to fully embrace it. I've found that companies that promote work-life balance as one of their strengths are the best plac…

Remote work goes against having the best work-life balance. When you walk out the door of the office, work should be over and done with until you return. Taking work home should be impossible. Paid overtime helps greatly. It discourages the employer from trying to get free work out of you. Having a non-zero commute doesn't have to mean commuting for 2 hours in urban traffic. You can pick a location where a tiny commu…

Ten minutes in the car on a 240-day work year is one work week. While commuting has some benefits, like decompression time and work life separation, even a short commute has an impact on your free time. Remoting has hazards that one ought not downplay, but the lack of commute is a bigger deal than we might realize.

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#95

Post by tenaciousDaniel »

kstenerud wrote: post #2

Remote has to be baked into the company culture, otherwise you'll forever be the outsider, and be the first to be let go when the company hits tough times. Find a job that already offers remote.

^ this is the answer. I'm currently working my first remote job, and we have a robust remote culture.

Remote work is hard to do well. We're constantly iterating on it and trying to improve it. It's not always intuitive. If your company isn't focused on it, it will not work.

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#96

Post by krab »

kstenerud wrote: post #2

Remote has to be baked into the company culture, otherwise you'll forever be the outsider, and be the first to be let go when the company hits tough times. Find a job that already offers remote.

I can second this. Working remotely is a skill that needs to be learned. I worked for a fully remote team. After that, I'm much more confident in convincing others I can be productive remotely.

As someone else commented in this thread, visibility into what you're doing is very important. Especially in the beginning, don't push your manager to just trust you. Show what you're doing.

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#97

Post by TravelAndFood »

cpr wrote: post #18

Start my own company and become the boss. ;-) (29 years ago. I guess Em Software is a "lifestyle" company (just 4 of us working out of our homes, so you can discount the anecdata...).)

What's your industry? Can you give any other details about the company? I've always been interested in these "lifestyle" companies but I'm not sure where to begin.

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#99

Post by miesman »

While it's a gamble, one way that worked for me 2 years ago: Work extremely hard and dazzle them for 6 months. Make sure that you are extremely critical to the project you are on. Give notice and let them offer. I didn't plan it out when I joined but I needed to move out of the area because of elder care issues. I was hoping they would offer but wasn't counting on it. It worked out well for me and the company.

Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?

#100

Post by m04rn01s3 »

I never really talked about it with my boss...I just stopped going in one day but kept hitting my deadlines and attending video meetings. We had a few offices in other timezones. Nobody said shit.

Finally, like a year later, my boss asked about it (in our first 1:1 meeting ever lol)... Apparently, a bunch of other devs did the same thing after me and now the office was becoming a ghost town. Leadership was super confused about it and tried forcing people back into the office.

Eventually, a re-org had the office "flourishing" again, with a new exciting "bro" culture and lots of mandatory after-work events (in the office...) - I left soon after and have been fully remote ever since.

Remote work isn't for everyone, and it becomes apparent pretty quickly if you aren't cut out for it... we're all professionals here and should be allowed to choose our optimal environment for getting things done.

TLDR; Be ready to walk, there are a ton of remote companies out there. Employment is a 2-way street, make it work for you!

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