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I Only Work Remotely

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Re: I Only Work Remotely

#61

Post by bjornlouser »

Jaruzel wrote: post #24
bitwize wrote: post #18

Don't you just love it when someone with zero direct reports thinks he can tell managers how to manage? It's a job , it's not a fucking Montessori school, or a correspondence course. If you don't want your employability to dry up once rockstar ninjas become commonplace enough that the demand bubble for them pops, you will cultivate the essential skills of showing up when and where your employer demands and otherwise…

That is an utterly antiquated position. I bet you don't even let poor Bob Cratchit have time off at Christmas. In this day and age, dependability is delivering your tasks accurately and on time. Everything else is just chaff. More managers should get with the program, and understand that skilled workers want to Work to Task, Not To Time.

We must satisfy the emotional needs of management before thinking about the product.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#62

Post by cableshaft »

codingdave wrote: post #27

The "I cannot trust employers" statement struck me. I agree with it strongly, but react differently. Rather than dictate my working environment to people I do not trust to take care of me, I just say no. If I do not trust an employer, I am fortunate enough to have enough savings in the bank to be able to say no to the job offers and walk away until I find someone I can trust. It works well... It makes job changes tak…

Not everyone is has gotten to that point. Congratulations on getting there, I'm sure it took quite a bit of effort.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#63

Post by lj3 »

mbrzuzy wrote: post #59
lj3 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It my case, things went beyond odd looks. You're technically obeying the company policy, so they can't punish you officially, but there are lots of ways to punish you unofficially for violating an unwritten social convention. In my case, suddenly I wasn't trusted with working on anything more complicated than the most basic bug fix.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#64

Post by ianai »

swerner wrote: post #20
wolfgke wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am now looking for a new job and am applying almost exclusively to positions that are several 100km away, if not on a different continent. The reason: the potential employer already understands that this will be a remote position. It can also mean that the potential empolyer will expect you to relocate.

And that is a sure 'no' from my side. I have moved for a job once, I will not make that mistake again.

What was your experience?

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#65

Post by traviswingo »

mbrzuzy wrote: post #59
lj3 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The tons of looks and odd comments bug the shit out of me. Being an engineer, my job is to produce, period. Don't worry about where it happens, just know that every time you pick up the phone and promise something that doesn't exist to someone else, the fact that it suddenly, magically, exists for you to show them is because people like me are plugging away around the clock. Dev work isn't 9-5. It's 24/7 and whenever the light bulb goes off.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#66

Post by antoniuschan99 »

kdelano wrote: post #26
smonff wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on smoking "weed to get creative"? Wich kind of tasks do you achieve by doing this?

For my part, after taking THC(tincture) I "get creative" on architecture solutions, new feature ideation, and things like that. I generally keep any code I write during this time in a separate branch to code review while sober before merging in - it's the ideas that are most important, not the actual code.

They say Coffee or Caffeine is really good when you need to spit out stuff like code. It's similar to when you're fresh or have just exercised and just started working.

If you're taking cannabis for work, be sure to take Sativas.

Terpenes are gaining popularity, but I'm not 100% since some report it being toxic at higher levels. A terpene that I purchased (but am scared to use) are from SpaceBear Co.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#67

Post by olau »

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…

Do you have a citation for the "more creative in groups"? Some years ago I participated in a creativity/innovation course, and one of the things we were taught was the brainstorming in groups had been found to be ineffective (because of group think, I think).

I do agree that occasional chatting/communication is important otherwise, though, although I'm not really sure open plans foster that - seems to me to foster broadcasting rather than more productive one-on-one conversations.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#68

Post by pionar »

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…

> 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.

Totally. I find that things are resolved much more quickly when I'm in the office vs. working from home.

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#69

Post by bshimmin »

Wilya wrote: post #14
bshimmin wrote: post #4

I am a night owl. You can tell me I have to have my butt in a chair within your line of sight at 8 or 9am, but that is very wasteful. You are wasting my time and yours. I am not a morning person. I will start being very effective around 11am and I really get going in the afternoon/evening. So, er, everyone else has to be accommodating of this guy's abnormal working hours, because the first two hours of the day that s…

What he's saying, is pretty much that he doesn't want to work for people that think like you. And it's okay. Not everyone can be a good fit for every company.

It absolutely is okay for him, you're right. And it's absolutely great that there is such demand for tech right now that people can afford to be so particular about their working hours and their various ways of working.

What I find less great is the suggestion that all employers should "accept your employees for who they are and optimize for their abilities" - does anyone really think that if everyone just worked whatever hours they found most pleasing, this would genuinely result in a situation that was even vaguely practical? What would happen to the people with children who actually find that working 9-5 is convenient because they get to spend a few hours with their children when they get back from work before they go to bed? Would those guys just sit around stuck for two hours in the morning whilst the night owls had a bit of a lie-in, and then have to cart the laptop around with them in the evening so they can Slack their late-working colleagues whilst they're giving the children a bath?

I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong and I'm just a dinosaur (who actually happens both to work remotely and to work strange hours sometimes too).

Re: I Only Work Remotely

#70

Post by ThalesX »

mbrzuzy wrote: post #59
lj3 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I recently had a chat with my direct supervisor. I told him I would like to start working flex time 8AM to 4PM and cut my lunch break to 30 minutes, eventually working 8AM to 4:30PM. He had a talk with his boss, gave me the O.K., I requested it in a written e-mail.

Since then, I come in at 08:00AM every morning, I get two and a half hours of productive work until people start coming in and the meetings start. Then I eat lunch and work for 3 more hours and I head for home. I never care about the looks I get from other people because I CMA.

What I want to say is that, as long as you have a Cover Your Ass document, you shouldn't care about how others negotiated their position.

I also requested extra days instead of a pay increase. Should I feel bad about that also?

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