Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health • Hacker News Board

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#91

Post by k__ » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:27 PM UTC

AYBABTME wrote: post #36

For the last 2.5 years I've been working at DigitalOcean as a remote employee. DO has more than 50% of the staff remote. I think it's important that a large chunk of a company & team be remote, to be successful in the exercise, so that there be a forcing function to use asynchronous communications. It's been really life changing for me. We have a bunch of style of remotees; work from home, work from coffeeshop, work…

> then getting super depressive from loneliness

I read this so often and can't understand it. It's like most people never get friends outside of work. Like they never grew up and are still in the 'I can only get friends at my school/class'-mindset from when they were young.

The best people I know I met at places of my choosing, not at work, not at school.

I work remote because my private life is so demanding and I couldn't get it work with 40h in an office.

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#92

Post by socialist_coder » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:28 PM UTC

minipci1321 wrote: post #84

5 years remote. Personal bottom line: -- negative: lost interest in having friends (and generally the patience needed to talk to people), no social life, no career, work-life balance completely broken -- positive: sleeping 8 hours a night! (and more if I need to), making walks in the park/training at noon, never really sick, comfortable home office, can be efficient again (only my job doesn't require that). Started h…

Hmm, I also have an extreme lack of patience for other adults (I say adults because I have plenty of patience for my kids). I've been working remotely for 4 years now, I wonder if that is why? I don't think I used to be so impatient with other people. Interesting...

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#93

Post by shostack » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:44 PM UTC

shanemhansen wrote: post #29

Overall a well written article with some valid criticisms. After 2 years working remotely I observed roughly the same facts, but have a slightly different spin on the whole thing. Like everything in life, working remotely has tradeoffs. One person's pro is someone else's con. Pro: I potentially gained hours of my life back every day. I know many people who work for similar companies who spend more than an hour commut…

We were also worried about burning our house down with a slow cooker. So we grabbed an Instant Pot pressure cooker (among other functions) and it can do in under an hour what takes a slow cooker an entire day.

Just something to consider investing in.

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#94

Post by johnward » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:52 PM UTC

k__ wrote: post #91

AYBABTME wrote: post #36

For the last 2.5 years I've been working at DigitalOcean as a remote employee. DO has more than 50% of the staff remote. I think it's important that a large chunk of a company & team be remote, to be successful in the exercise, so that there be a forcing function to use asynchronous communications. It's been really life changing for me. We have a bunch of style of remotees; work from home, work from coffeeshop, work…

> then getting super depressive from loneliness I read this so often and can't understand it. It's like most people never get friends outside of work. Like they never grew up and are still in the 'I can only get friends at my school/class'-mindset from when they were young. The best people I know I met at places of my choosing, not at work, not at school. I work remote because my private life is so demanding and I co…

> like most people never get friends outside of work.

60 hour weeks and a young family will do that. I literally don't have a single friend outside of family members. I'm also suffering from bipolar depression but it's either support my family or be happy. I'd rather they be happy. I guess.

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#95

Post by ginko » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:55 PM UTC

DoodleBuggy wrote: post #7

mccolin wrote: post #2

Excellent personal story on finding the right workspace in a remote situation. Home office vs. Coworking space is a conversation I have with other remote works quite a bit, and the answer is different for everyone.

>>> Home office vs. Coworking space I'd recommend a mixture of both, plus visits to coffee shops and libraries, depending on what type of work you need done. Learning what is effective and finding the right balance can be one of the trickiest elements of WFH.

I never understood how anyone can get any productive work done at a coffee shop. The amount of distractions is just too big.

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#96

Post by johnward » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:55 PM UTC

edem wrote: post #50

AYBABTME wrote: post #36

For the last 2.5 years I've been working at DigitalOcean as a remote employee. DO has more than 50% of the staff remote. I think it's important that a large chunk of a company & team be remote, to be successful in the exercise, so that there be a forcing function to use asynchronous communications. It's been really life changing for me. We have a bunch of style of remotees; work from home, work from coffeeshop, work…

Is this REAL remote (I can apply from any country) or "just within the US" remote? I checked the link you provided but this was not detailed.

This is but that does drive me crazy. Even in the US it will be "remote" but only from certain states.

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#97

Post by johnward » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

shanemhansen wrote: post #29

Overall a well written article with some valid criticisms. After 2 years working remotely I observed roughly the same facts, but have a slightly different spin on the whole thing. Like everything in life, working remotely has tradeoffs. One person's pro is someone else's con. Pro: I potentially gained hours of my life back every day. I know many people who work for similar companies who spend more than an hour commut…

At first getting commute time back was awesome. I was averaging 2.5 hours a day also. Now I just work because I don't have a good excuse to leave physically. Then the 7am - 7pm days creep in with a mandatory 10pm meeting. It still feels better than sitting in traffic though.

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#98

Post by probablybroken » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 2:11 PM UTC

k__ wrote: post #91

AYBABTME wrote: post #36

For the last 2.5 years I've been working at DigitalOcean as a remote employee. DO has more than 50% of the staff remote. I think it's important that a large chunk of a company & team be remote, to be successful in the exercise, so that there be a forcing function to use asynchronous communications. It's been really life changing for me. We have a bunch of style of remotees; work from home, work from coffeeshop, work…

> then getting super depressive from loneliness I read this so often and can't understand it. It's like most people never get friends outside of work. Like they never grew up and are still in the 'I can only get friends at my school/class'-mindset from when they were young. The best people I know I met at places of my choosing, not at work, not at school. I work remote because my private life is so demanding and I co…

I can only speak for myself, but it can be hard or impossible to talk to others without having a good reason to do so - i.e, that person being necessary to your current mission ( work ).

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#99

Post by mattlondon » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 2:22 PM UTC

It is not just remote work either - I've noticed a trend in my work where although I work in an open plan office surrounded by people, my teams are increasingly "global" which means that usually there is 1 team member on their own in each office.

Although I am surrounded by people, since you're not working with these other people, and/or there are desk moves every 3 months or so as teams are growing, you only ever end up with very superficial "friendships"/social interactions. "Hello" "How was your weekend" "Which team are you on?" "I am on this team" etc etc. You're just doing it out of politeness really, then in a month or two they'll move on to another team/office or there will be another desk move and you're back to square one, surrounded by strangers.

It is not unusual for me to go a whole day in an office surrounded by hundreds of coworkers without physically saying anything to anyone apart from "thanks" for holding open the door.

It is extremely isolating.

Re: Working remotely, coworking spaces, and mental health

#100

Post by codingdave » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:12 PM UTC

My company is 100% remote. And I recall very clearly in the interview process one of the most important traits to succeed - Be self-aware.

Everyone is different. Every new remote worker figures out what they need to do to make it work for themselves. And we do not all do the same things. But we all know ourselves well enough to try things, see how it works for ourselves, and figure out what changes we need to make it work. Of course, we also talk to each other, give suggestions, etc. But ultimately, to succeed on your own, you have to proactively care for your own mental health. And self-awareness is vital to doing so.