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What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

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Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#121

Post by dustingetz »

armandososa wrote: post #70

Why is there so much pressure on Americans to leave their family's home as soon as possible? I lived with my parents and my two sisters in Mexico until I got married at 32 and I think that helped me avoid depression in my twenties. Had I've been alone in those years I think I would have killed myself. And apart for having moral support it was financially sound. When I was doing well with my freelance gigs I would con…

It's the competitive/capitalism culture - we go to the best college we can, and then to pay that off we have to get the best job we, the CEOs have to compete too so wages are pressed down and layoffs happen, and this means the labor has to job hop to make ends meet, and new job generally means relocation again ... in other words total destruction of communities. The laws of power aren't optional and neither is competition.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#122

Post by notacoward »

I've worked remotely for several years, but not alone. From time to time before that I worked alone (i.e. one-person projects) but not remotely. I think it's the combination of the two that's far more toxic than either alone. If you have either collaborators or people nearby, it's fairly easy to get your recommended daily allowance (whatever that is) of human interaction. If you don't have either, and particularly if your outside-of-work social sphere is also small, things can get weird fast. The sort of people who might once have been lighthouse keepers or custodians of some remote outpost might still be OK with that, but they're pretty rare. For anyone else, it's an almost sure route to depression or worse.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#123

Post by silverdrake11 »

I worked in a office setting for four years doing development work (finance). I found it very difficult to make friends and very isolating. Then I ended up getting laid off and living with roommates and found it much easier to make friends and less lonely.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#124

Post by djtriptych »

epa wrote: post #120
THE_PUN_STOPS wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a recent grad I spend two grand of my company’s money every week traveling to new and interesting places all around the country to solve interesting problems. I don’t pay rent and everything I need is free Monday to Friday. On the weekends I fly for free to all sorts of fun places around the country where my friends live. Having only a suitcase of possessions is very freeing, and I’m saving tremendous amounts of m…

Fancy perk for now, soon it will get old and tiresome to you. Enjoy it while you can :)

Yup. This was my life at 19 believe it or not. Grew old after 4-6 months, though it was a blast for a time. Hotels start to feel hollow and flying that much sucks, even in first class.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#125

Post by jessaustin »

acchow wrote: post #99
d357r0y3r wrote: post #10

Great article that really highlights the negative aspects of Digital Nomadism. I work with some folks that do this, and when we talk about it, they can't understand why I would want to just stay in my medium-sized city and travel a few times a year. Like, why wouldn't you want to spend 6 months a year in Thailand? It's such a no-brainer! And for me, it's just sort of mind-boggling that you'd jet set around the world.…

People glorify traveling way, way too much. It's even trickled down into actual work. New grads from college somehow think management consulting's traveling every week is a fancy perk. What?

It really was, before flying became awful. I'd roll in to the airport 15 minutes before takeoff and not have a problem. Thanks Osama!

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#126

Post by [deleted] »

ryanSrich wrote: post #53

I've worked completely remote for the last 5 years. Before doing so, I read articles and sought advice. Most of the advice was the same — "try to get out of the house for a few days per week", "be sure your home office has a door", etc. This type of advice is shallow, obvious, and unhelpful. The only thing that has worked for me is having a disciplined routine that I follow. - Bed by 10pm - Up by 5:30am - Coffee made…

[deleted]

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#127

Post by MoBattah »

androidgirl wrote: post #113
MoBattah wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read your comments and saw this wasn't the first on this theme. Depending on your status, do you have anything against asking guys/gals to grab lunch? Sounds weird but honestly, I ask out plenty of girls all the time not to date them but to see if they'd be an interesting friend. EDIT: I see you're also 21 like myself. Ever tried going to meet ups? Maybe not tech-oriented meetups but hiking, kayaking, boating, etc.

Yeah, loneliness is my personal struggle. I've made steps recently to combat it, I just need to be more aggressive about it. I have been going to meetups occasionally! There is an LGBT women's group I go to near my office sometimes. Still, as the article mentions, making friends is a constant battle! Got to keep working on it.

I like this quote:

"I see that there are many young people here; as an old man, a little advice... Life can set us a lot of snares, a lot of bumps, we can fail a thousand times, in life, in love, in the social struggle, but if we search for it we'll have the strength to get up again and start over. The most beautiful thing about the day is that it dawns. There is always a dawn after the night has passed. Don't forget it, kids. The only losers are the ones who stop fighting."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica

Email in my bio if you'd like a penpal.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#128

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

d357r0y3r wrote: post #10

Great article that really highlights the negative aspects of Digital Nomadism. I work with some folks that do this, and when we talk about it, they can't understand why I would want to just stay in my medium-sized city and travel a few times a year. Like, why wouldn't you want to spend 6 months a year in Thailand? It's such a no-brainer! And for me, it's just sort of mind-boggling that you'd jet set around the world.…

Why does remote work need to be conflated with "digital nomadism"? I have worked remotely almost my entire work life (I loathed working in an office each time I went back), but I've never done the digital nomad thing. It's never appealed to me, nor is it very cost effective unless you want to throw all of your stuff into storage while you travel.

I am still perplexed at how companies push offices as some kind of hyper-collaborative space and yet every time I visit those offices, most people have noise-cancelling headphones on because the ambient noise is insanely distracting.

Many of the negatives pointed out in this article are present in jobs where you go into a physical office. Just like how you can know two married people that exist in the same physical space and are terribly lonely and barely know each other anymore. Or what about jobs where you go into an office with terrible coworkers that you cannot escape, because you are required to be at the office? Funny enough, I had to leave a co-working space for the exact same reason -- a single person that was beyond annoying and would not be quiet.

Every time I get into my car during rush hour, I remember why I work from home. I just talked to a recruiter recently and they were OK with remote, but they required that I go to stand-ups, every Monday, which would be a round-trip two hour commute, mostly sitting in stop-and-go traffic. And that would be time I would not be getting paid for.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#129

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

reaperducer wrote: post #52
vinbreau wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been remote for almost 8 years now. I love it and dread ever having to go back into an office. Faking productivity for show when the workload is low was the worst feeling, as if I was wasting my time and life. Plus I have social anxiety and the pressure to 'fit in' was overwhelming. Now I work from home where my wife and toddler are. Being home to educate her is worth more than just about anything. I don't have…

I've been remote for almost 8 years now. I love it and dread ever having to go back into an office. I did it for ten years, and then returned to the office. It's a difficult transition. It took almost a year to really get back into the routine. But the routine was actually better for me. Though I hate commuting, having a regular sleep/work schedule, responsibilities, and stability seems to have made me a better human…

I work remote and have a set schedule every day, always have. I work Monday through Friday, 8am-4pm.

I do agree with separating spaces. I used to live in a studio and that was a bad idea. Now I have a second bedroom as an office and when I'm done, the door is closed.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#130

Post by 01100011 »

meowface wrote: post #5

I'm a natural recluse who loves living alone and loves working remotely. I've always been this way. This article didn't resonate with me; I don't get lonely and generally don't desire many social connections or interactions. My key issue when working from home is staying focused and avoiding distractions. Still haven't found a good solution (I only end up using website blockers a few times before my hedonistic side t…

shoot, I surf the internet less when I work from home. I do take more breaks to stretch, exercise, or walk around, but those don't distract my mind. In an office, I feel somewhat caged and constrained by the presence of others. I end up trying to get my nervous energy out by surfing and end up distracted.

Not to mention that I get a lot of good work done after the sun goes down, and it's a lot easier to do that when you're working from home and people aren't commenting on how they haven't seen you lately(which happens at my day job all the time unless I'm in a chair 9-5).

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