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Why I Only Work Remotely

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Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#21

Post by iguanayou »

el_benhameen wrote: post #15
iguanayou wrote: post #6

Agreed. I've been working remotely for 2 years now and don't think I could go back to an office. The open office floor plans are just horrendous for actually getting any work done. The article doesn't talk about the high cost of commuting but this is the biggest factor for me. Having that extra two hours per day, and not being exhausted when I get home, has really expanded the amount of living (social, fitness, hobbi…

How do you generally look for and find jobs?

My first remote job started as an on-site office job, and I was able to convince my boss over time to eventually go 100% remote.

My current contract is with a local company that happens to support remote work. I found this job through a recruiter. But like I said, it was a rare find. The recruiters I work with know that I'm looking for remote-only, but those positions are few and far between.

My contract is ending soon so I'll be looking at the online job boards in addition to working with recruiters; it remains to be seen how much success I'll have with that.

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#22

Post by ssharp »

mwcampbell wrote: post #10
elliotec wrote: post #5

I work at a company which has a beautiful building, I spend the majority of time in the office which is fantastic, the social aspect plus internal networking is very good. I work from home on average maybe 0.8 days a week, for various reasons, but I get lots of work done and am quite productive from home. There are some things that you just can't do the same from home. You can be much more agile when working in proxi…

To me, that last bit is an argument for more companies being 100% remote. After all, many open-source projects have been developed by 100% distributed teams.

It's not that fair to compare the work put out by open-source project teams vs. the work put out by a company trying to make a profit. They are two much different goals, the latter of which typically has much more mobile goal posts.

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#23

Post by willholloway »

I feel that gigantic metropolises are not optimal environments for software engineering.

NYC, and it's helter skelter of noise and traffic and garbage and tiny living spaces, in my humble experience and opinion is not conducive to hard engineering problems.

I am probably completely wrong here and just a hopeless introvert with an axe to grind, but from my experience, working in home offices in towns like Boulder, Colorado, with a central, easily bikable office/startup HQ, would present the optimal small company setting.

A quality employee cares, they care about the problems of your company when they shower, when they sleep, when they are knowing their spouse in a biblical sense. The problems of the company they have pledged their allegiance to, like a knight in Game of Thrones pledges allegiance and service to their lord, are always on their mind.

So if you are paying for knowledge work, you would do well to dispel any notions of body/mind duality. Physical health equates to mental health, and a town like Boulder, CO is about the perfect size for optimal maintenance of a human body/mind. And there are hundreds of other communities in America with similar attributes to Boulder, CO.

And if you can take advantage of the space that your workers are already paying for in their rent or mortgages. Spaces that may have gyms and/or pools which are physically and mentally rejuvenating, well you will come out ahead.

I think the future of work will be semi-distributed, and this mad consolidation into a few coastal cities will be seen in the future as a gross inefficiency.

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#24

Post by doughj3 »

The first question I now ask recruiters when they reach out is whether or not the position is on-site or remote. Google, Microsoft, Amazon... no remote work, at least not for any of the positions they frequently contact me about.

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#26

Post by Aldur42 »

The article mentions that strict rules hurt good actors and help bad actors, and you should fix this by filling your organization with good actors. For very small startups this might be possible. However if you need to hire a large number of developers this becomes increasingly difficult. It is far easier to hire "bad actors". If a company finds itself in a situation where adding a bad actor will increase company revenue beyond the actors cost, it financially imperative to hire bad actors. Eventually the good to bad ratio slips in the direction of bad, and strict rules end up helping more than they hurt. Good people leave to new places, and the vicious cycle continues.

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#27

Post by seanwilson »

The time to travel to the office is often ignored too (it sounds lazy to even mention it because it's the norm). If you're working remotely and it takes 30 mins to get to the office, you're at an absolute minimum burning 5 hours a week going back and fourth from the office when you could be doing something else. Add in the extra time changing to and from work clothes, and having to leave the office to get food instead of eating at home and the time adds up.

If you're freelance and bill by the hour as well then those hours easily add up to an extra day a week you could be working.

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#28

Post by elliotec »

ssharp wrote: post #22
mwcampbell wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, that last bit is an argument for more companies being 100% remote. After all, many open-source projects have been developed by 100% distributed teams.

It's not that fair to compare the work put out by open-source project teams vs. the work put out by a company trying to make a profit. They are two much different goals, the latter of which typically has much more mobile goal posts.

And they have many people that aren't just developers who have far less flexibility in what they can actually accomplish remotely

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#29

Post by seanwilson »

pzh wrote: post #7

I completely agree with the author's points, except for one small caveat--the overall quality of projects that one can find in remote work (at least based on my personal experience and search) is usually abysmal. At first glance, a good indicator would be the salaries that remote companies pay, and most remote companies tend to pay peanuts, using 'remote' as an excuse to underpay, and thus also signaling that they do…

> I completely agree with the author's points, except for one small caveat--the overall quality of projects that one can find in remote work (at least based on my personal experience and search) is usually abysmal.

I've managed to find many good remote contracts but from local companies (which sounds funny). It's either just assumed you will work in your own space or they're happy for you to work remotely after a couple of face-to-face meetings.

Re: Why I Only Work Remotely

#30

Post by mwcampbell »

Other reasons to allow or even encourage remote work:

In the US, there's a growing polarization between the coasts and middle America ("flyover country"). I, for one, don't want all the good programming jobs to be on the west coast.

Remote work, where the workers bring their own equipment and office setup, is probably better for people with disabilities. For example, an employer doesn't have to care or possibly even know that a worker is using a screen reader or other assistive technology. Assuming, of course, that all the applications one has to use on the job are accessible.

In fact, let's take it a step further, and propose remote work with strictly text-based communication. Yes, yes, we lose the nuances that are communicated through tone of voice, facial expressions, etc. But think of all the kinds of discrimination, whether overt or accidental, that disappear. Disabilities (including hearing and speech impairments), accents, race, and age are now completely irrelevant. Sounds like a big win to me.

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