51–60 of 163 posts
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Eating home cooked food fresh instead of microwaving it
I love the microwave though.
Relatedly, freezing is the healthiest way to preserve and transport fruits and vegetables. It also allows them to be harvested when naturally ripe, rather than artificially ripened.
communication - This is really hard and sometimes harder in person.
loneliness - I'm married, wife is a homemaker so I get to see her all the time, this isn't an issue for me but i can see it could be for some.
isolation - Exactly, that is the point, sweet quiet.
timezones - This is only not an issue when it isn't. Otherwise the problem with timezones makes no difference whether the people are remote or in an office, the problem is the timezone difference itself.
discipline, After several years in the military early on, this isn't an issue either.Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here are some: communication, loneliness, isolation, timezones, discipline It's really great that working remotely (anecdotally) works well for your team. It also doesn't work well for some folks. Like any other approach to business, YMMV, but discounting the disadvantages that have been enumerated for you is explicitly ignoring the fact that some people, including those who are top performing employees in their fiel…
You have a point. If someone does not enjoy remote work, then they should not get a remote job. I'm not a very good country music singer. When I sing country music, I feel shame, discomfort, and general depression. Therefore, I don't sing country music.
Even if you are having a successful time hiring great people that are happy remote, how are you going to retain them? A remote software job is much closer to a commodity than a traditional software job. (I read the 37signals book and built a remote team over 5 years; in the end the difficulty finding people that are truly happy remote meant retention was difficult and, overall recruiting and cost of living considered, a remote team was, for me, a net wash).
Edit: after thinking more, it's even worse; you don't know if most applicants can really be happy singing country music for a year, 2 years, or longer... Even those that seem to really value and are excited about the prospect of singing country music may learn before too long that it's not for them.
But after I decided to change my job, I went back to live with my parents in my city. I started to work at home. I'm honest I've made many mistakes, just for I had not experience. The results were just immediate:
* Do not discern work place and house
* Have no desire to go out. I remind that going out for me had become very hard, maybe for laziness, I don't know.
* Personal relationships very bad. Having relationships with friends or girl friend is not simple. If you stay all day at home with only your pc, you degrade your ability on cultivate relationships.
I've made similar choice to yours, I've took an office with my friend and many things are changed, I back to gym I start to meet many people each day. But I continue to work as remote position :)
Indeed the problem is not the remote work , the problem is your job location. In my experience, take an small desk in an open office or a room with a friend is a good choice, and it solved many problems for me.
The results? 400% output, and when youre self-employed that means 400% more potential for revenue. For me, I dont mind working on any project with any psrson or team - but anybody asking me to operate in a way that knocks me down to 25% output is NOT worth my time or money, or theirs! It just doesnt make sense at this point.
After 2-3 years working at home, even an introvert gets a little stir-crazy. Thats normal! I would go out and hit up Starbucks, or local coffee shops that were friendly to me buying a couple drinks over 2-3 hours. But after a while even that isnt enough.
The single, biggest change I made to my work lifestyle as far as my emotional health is concerned has been joining a shared office space. The rent is a little more than my Starbucks budget was each month, but I can go to an office 24/7 with free flowing coffee and hack on anything I want. Even though none of the folks there work with me, I have found work through other members.
For me, having the option of going i to a shared office space any time I want has removed all those awkward days for me. And on any day I dont feel like going in, literally nobody will notice or expect me to be there. Its perfect.
In the future I believe companies will realize that they dont have to house their employees, and so many business simply wont! I envision a new style of employment where you choose and rent the office space you want, you surround yourself with the atmosphere and people you work best with, and even if you dont work for the same company, or during the time you have the office you change work - only your paycheck changes.
I cant wait to rent a private shared office with friends someday in the future :)
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You answered your own question. An introvert would not want that. You can force your standards of what makes someone a "happy and skilled professional" on them if you like, but that's not always a case grounded in reality.
As an introvert, I like a little bit of socialization throughout my day. Too much is certainly draining, but if I worked from home I would become a hermit and have an unhealthy amount of socialization.
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You have a point. If someone does not enjoy remote work, then they should not get a remote job. I'm not a very good country music singer. When I sing country music, I feel shame, discomfort, and general depression. Therefore, I don't sing country music.
Ok, so your company only hires country singers? You are missing out on amazing, qualified candidates that don't sing country music. Even if you are having a successful time hiring great people that are happy remote, how are you going to retain them? A remote software job is much closer to a commodity than a traditional software job. (I read the 37signals book and built a remote team over 5 years; in the end the diffi…
In the current climate all software [engineering] jobs are commodities from an employee viewpoint.
I'm the CTO of 17hats. The entire engineering team works remotely. It's not as challenging as you seem to suggest. Right now is the best time ever to be remote. Excellent tools like Slack and Speak really help comms. We pair program very often by sshing into a tmux session which makes any lag close to nil. We use Trello for sprints. And Invision for product work. It's extremely efficient. We have our usual retrospect…
Here are some: communication, loneliness, isolation, timezones, discipline It's really great that working remotely (anecdotally) works well for your team. It also doesn't work well for some folks. Like any other approach to business, YMMV, but discounting the disadvantages that have been enumerated for you is explicitly ignoring the fact that some people, including those who are top performing employees in their fiel…
Some these can be both! I have been working remote since 2008 and our entire team went remote in 2013
Communication: We are much more streamlined. No more "hallway talk" that doesnt get recorded or followed up on etc. No more "did you get my email?" kinda crap. Much less (I won't say no more!) impromptu meetings gathering way more people than needed in the office that could have been resolved in a simple email
Isolation: I'm going to assume this is different than "loneliness"? I like isolation to work on hard problems, or just be super productive. We still video conf, phone, and chat, but outside of that all the coders love their isolation time
Timezones: This is definitely a challenge at times, but the boss man loves knowing someone is awake somewhere in the world should servers catch on fire.
Discipline: Is the person who doesn't do work at home the same one that would be checking their fantasy sports or hn/reddit/facebook at work? I guess if you were in an open office and everyone could see what you are doing 100% of the time you'd be "forced to work" but do you want that on your team anyways? You know that BS line in most job postings about "self motivated" it could actually apply for remote :)
loneliness: I can definitely see this for some people I've worked with in the past, there is no advantage to being lonely. I would say use your added free time of no commute to go out in the world and do something fun. Sometimes its great to not be around work people and not talk about work
Working remotely is excellent. 1.5 hours less commuting - that's more time to get work done or go to the gym or read the news. No one can come to my desk to socialize or ask a quick question to fuck up my flow. No one requiring me to arrive at an office at an arbitrarily early time. No dress code. No ad hoc meetings in the conference room. Listening to music I like aloud. All conf calls done on speaker. I'm home to r…
> No one can come to my desk to socialize Yeah who would want that? I've done both and both have their pros and cons, socializing is definitely a perk and introvert or extrovert should not be underestimated in keeping you healthy and happy and a skilled professional.
No, it's not. It is a hindrance to the reason you are there, which is to get a job done.
I do not wish to socialize at work, I do not wish to work when I socialize.