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Remote Only

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Re: Remote Only

#281
post #262
post #207

My somewhat reductive conclusion about remote work is that it boils down to the ability to be an effective writer. If you're not good at written communication, or you work with people who are not good at it, remote work will be miserable. People who are not highly fluent in the company's written language or those with some level of dyslexia will struggle. Also some people get frustrated with the more analytic approac…

> If you're not good at written communication, or you work with people who are not good at it, remote work will be miserable. I had a pretty poor team leader a few years ago with a bums in seat type job. He would never write anything down and teh result was quite frustrating. The spec used to change frequenty and he would come and verbally tell me it. then he would change it again, then again. A week or two later whe…

One species of gatekeeper (control freak) won't write things down.

Another insists that if it's not documented, it didn't happen.

These challenges have confounded me all my working life.

My few truly positive working experiences happened when there was mutual trust, regard, esteem. First time it happened, I was gobsmacked. I'd read about trust, but had never seen it IRL. It was a never ending warm fuzzy bath of shared awesomeness.

I still have few ideas how to find, nurture, create trust (especially in a chaotic env). But I now know it when I see it. And when I'm not feeling it, I mostly just go thru the 9-5 motions, keeping my expectations and investments lower.

Re: Remote Only

#282
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been my experience, 100%. All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area. I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue. For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team. It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the o…

I'm mildly confused. Your post here seems fine and quit readable. How do you arrive at the conclusion, that you're lacking in written communication skills? (sorry for question instead of tips)

Maybe it took a long time to write that post. That's what I struggle with anyway.

Re: Remote Only

#283
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm mildly confused. Your post here seems fine and quit readable. How do you arrive at the conclusion, that you're lacking in written communication skills? (sorry for question instead of tips)

May be evidence that the additional training/work s/he's put in is paying off. I agree that the post does not show a lack of written communication skills.

It's like the people who say, English isn't my first language and then proceed to type a well written essay - stop showing off!

Re: Remote Only

#284
post #6

> Disadvantages > Scares investors - Scares some partners - Scares some customers - Scares some potential employees, mostly senior non-technical hires - Onboarding is harder, first month feels lonely We do a full remote policy at SerpApi.com, however I found this disadvantages list a bit dishonest, they are more way numerous and important, the most obvious are missing real human contacts (and it doesn't get easier wi…

I've been working remote for 3 years now in software and I agree completely.

The biggest downsides are: loneliness, feeling like a shut in, and working all the time because you're only two steps from your "office". These are NP-hard problems to solve, especially for an introverted 4-eyes like me.

Re: Remote Only

#285
post #207

My somewhat reductive conclusion about remote work is that it boils down to the ability to be an effective writer. If you're not good at written communication, or you work with people who are not good at it, remote work will be miserable. People who are not highly fluent in the company's written language or those with some level of dyslexia will struggle. Also some people get frustrated with the more analytic approac…

This has been my experience, 100%. All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area. I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue. For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team. It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the o…

1) I don't believe you. You're a fine writer.

2) Writers write. So write more. The only actionable advice I ever got.

I used to devour howtos like Bugs In Writing. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/601222.Bugs_in_Writing

Once I felt confident that I'm saying what I meant to say, I think I stopped. I should probably revisit the classics for a refresher.

3) Simple is harder. Explaining complex stuff is a ninja power. Just keep at it.

4 bonus tip) Proofread, edit stuff you wrote 3, 6, 9 months ago. Consciously note how your writing skill and voice have changed.

Re: Remote Only

#286
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been my experience, 100%. All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area. I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue. For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team. It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the o…

I'm mildly confused. Your post here seems fine and quit readable. How do you arrive at the conclusion, that you're lacking in written communication skills? (sorry for question instead of tips)

I reread it a few times. I reread it aloud. This is a new discipline.

Re: Remote Only

#287
post #282
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm mildly confused. Your post here seems fine and quit readable. How do you arrive at the conclusion, that you're lacking in written communication skills? (sorry for question instead of tips)

Maybe it took a long time to write that post. That's what I struggle with anyway.

"I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." -- Blaise Pascal

I encourage you to not criticize yourself too harshly.

Re: Remote Only

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been my experience, 100%. All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area. I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue. For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team. It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the o…

1) I don't believe you. You're a fine writer. 2) Writers write. So write more. The only actionable advice I ever got. I used to devour howtos like Bugs In Writing. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/601222.Bugs_in_Writing Once I felt confident that I'm saying what I meant to say, I think I stopped. I should probably revisit the classics for a refresher. 3) Simple is harder. Explaining complex stuff is a ninja power.…

This is great. Thank you.

Re: Remote Only

#289

LOL Disadvantage: "The need to prepare food." Are we talking about generally existing as a human being? Yeah, until they invent food replicators you're gonna have to prepare your own food. Get used to it. I'd say getting to use your own kitchen to prepare your own delicious and nutritious meals is one of the prime advantages of remote work. It saves you way more money over going out to eat, and it's a much more healt…

> The need to prepare food

I'm wondering if that one came from the perspective of those big campuses like Google who have free cafeterias for their employees? Fairly weak point either way.

Re: Remote Only

#290
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been my experience, 100%. All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area. I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue. For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team. It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the o…

I'm mildly confused. Your post here seems fine and quit readable. How do you arrive at the conclusion, that you're lacking in written communication skills? (sorry for question instead of tips)

In a sense, your confusion here -is- the problem:

"conveying complex subject matter in a succinct way for folks lacking detailed domain knowledge."

FWIW, I didn't have the same confusion about the post, so I don't know how lacking the author is in this specific setting.

But I have had the same general struggle.

I have an MA in English/rhetoric and am a software dev, and even with that nexus of training it has been a lot of work to get better at communicating... the struggle to communicate technical issues to non technical people is a lifelong journey with a complex path. It's just hard.

So here's my tip:

smaller sentences. More paragraphs. Simpler language.

And IME we do best when we develop a continual awareness that although communication is difficult, it is possible.

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