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I Only Work Remotely

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Re: I Only Work Remotely

#51

Post by mcjiggerlog »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #48

So to provide another point of view... I worked exclusively from home for two years. The cabin fever was so bad I couldn't take it anymore. I may be in the minority for programmers but I need other people around and I need the energy of an office. From a management standpoint. A good whiteboard session goes a long way to kill communication issues on projects that are creative or not 100% straightforward. Although, of…

I work remotely and do end up going a bit crazy if I work from home 100% of the time, especially as I live alone.

A good compromise was going to a free coworking space for the afternoons which has been working out great. I don't have that rush to leave the house in the morning, I chat to some people, I can come/go as I please, I am not constantly interrupted like when I am in the office. It has the benefit of being 5 minutes away on my scooter, too.

For me it's a great balance. I feel way more productive and energised. Every 3 months I go work from the office for a week and the thing I notice more than anything is that I am absolutely shattered by the end of the week. Offices and commuting are incredibly tiring and pretty terrible for work life balance.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#52

Post by freehunter »

johnward wrote: post #37
gcp wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a company with offices in USA, Europe and Taiwan. What's a "normal working hour"?

Normal working hours changes based on the project I'm on. I often work with people in a timezone that is 12 hours off my own. In that case one of us ends up on a 10pm call at some point. I actually prefer 7am-4pm but found that would just lead to 7-7 as "work", more likely useless meetings, usually creeps in later. Now I just start at 9.

I had a project with a company in Singapore that had me working 3am Sunday morning, almost every week. That got old, fast.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#54

Post by AckSyn »

justinlaster wrote: post #42
battlebot wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe try not using drugs as a crutch? It reminds me of a perverse version of what athletes use steroids for. Be your own man, not some chemically altered monster.

We are anything if not constantly chemically altered. From the food we eat, to the drinks we consume, to the things we inhale.

that's an awfully weak crutch to stand on to justify usage of drugs.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#55

Post by justinlaster »

AckSyn wrote: post #54
justinlaster wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are anything if not constantly chemically altered. From the food we eat, to the drinks we consume, to the things we inhale.

that's an awfully weak crutch to stand on to justify usage of drugs.

You can try to hyperbolically describe it as a "crutch", but if you're just going to ignore that you are in fact constantly chemically altered then I'm not sure what to tell you. The whole "be your own man" is baseless feel-good ego massaging.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#56

Post by camhenlin »

justinlaster wrote: post #38
billirvine wrote: post #36

As a founder of startups, I take a bit of exception to the tonality. Yes, lots of inexperienced founders/leaders drink deep of the open office koolaid and do it wrong. But doing it right (allowing flexibility, having private spots, etc.) yields better overall results because people are more creative in groups. The chance serendipity of investigating new ideas with your fellows will always result in a better work prod…

I strongly disagree. In fact, I'm of the opinion these days that if you can't communicate effectively and proficiently over text, you're in the wrong field; at the very least I'm going to question how much you are "with it." There is nothing stopping a completely remote company from having "jam" sessions between developers. Is there any solid evidence that working in an office together yields a better work product? W…

I work remote and do several "jam sessions" a week with other developers on my team, and I think it's even better than in person sessions. We generally have one person "drive" and share their screen over a google hangout, and the other developers, point out issues, ideas, etc just as if we were sitting in front of a projector together. The best part (imo) is each developer gets to be in their own comfort zone, whether that's at a park, their basement, coworking space, or anything in between. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#57

Post by labrador »

Some of us have been making these arguments for decades to little effect. The manager either has discretion to let people work at home or he/she doesn't. And if he/she does it's very much their personal preference. Rock star devs can work at home if their managers are allowed to make that decision and the rock star demands it. Most of the time it feels like a whim of management.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#58

Post by christophilus »

billirvine wrote: post #36

As a founder of startups, I take a bit of exception to the tonality. Yes, lots of inexperienced founders/leaders drink deep of the open office koolaid and do it wrong. But doing it right (allowing flexibility, having private spots, etc.) yields better overall results because people are more creative in groups. The chance serendipity of investigating new ideas with your fellows will always result in a better work prod…

I strongly disagree. I'm at a 100% remote company. After 15 years in the industry at startups and big companies (Microsoft, Lexmark), I can say that this is the most productive team I've ever worked with. Our collaboration is every bit as good as in-office. We whiteboard with live-coding/tooling instead. Works like a charm. We have a casual hangout meeting once a week with the dev team where we share what we learned, etc. It's awesome.

I'm never going back to an office, if I can help it.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#59

Post by mbrzuzy »

lj3 wrote: post #40
gcp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most engineering offices I've been into being a morning person would mean you have less overlap with everyone else, since coming in late and staying late is the norm. In one company I consulted for, a morning person almost got fired when a regional manager noticed he left 2 hours earlier than everyone else. It was hilarious, in the saddest possible way.

Can confirm; I have been that morning person who left 2 hours before everyone else and, while I didn't get fired, I was punished for it.

This is problem with flex time. Companies love to advertise flex time, but when you come in at 7am and leave at 3, you get tons of looks and even the odd comment.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#60

Post by NTripleOne »

Jaruzel wrote: post #21

One of the opening lines resonated with me: "...I cannot trust employers to provide me with an adequate work environment." This is becoming more and more the default position, especially in the contract market. A recent contract I had, had quite poor office space - small old desks, old 17" monitors, no personal storage, chairs in poor repair, and a badly working hot-desk system (I have yet to encounter 'working' hot-…

As far as I'm concerned, hot desking as a concept doesn't even exist - you either (get) move(d) around a lot or you don't.
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