What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work • Hacker News Board

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

#181

Post by emit_time » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 3:50 AM UTC

GVIrish wrote: post #103

acchow wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Different people enjoy different things. For some people, traveling is fulfilling and exhilarating. For other people being in unfamiliar settings with unfamiliar culture and language is much less fun. And even within that, some people can enjoy travel up to a certain point. Might be fun to travel for work once a month, but not for 3 out of 4 weeks. I traveling for my first job where I was gone 60-80% of the time and…

As someone who plays an instrument, and would like to spend a decent amount of time practicing.

This is possibly a thing that is not very possible, and very cumbersome with long term travel. Especially if you would like to practice multiple instruments.

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

#182

Post by Xcelerate » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 4:04 AM UTC

nvrspyx wrote: post #173

theorique wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 to drive 2 hours every day just to be an ass in a seat. Two hours where all I do is sit in a car and wish to be home. To be fair, an hour by car each way is on the long side of a commute, at least compared to the US average. (For some cities, it's probably pretty good.)

It takes me an hour to get to work and an hour and half back. But, I live in California and only 11 miles from work. Moving out here from the southern US was mind-boggling when it came to the traffic. I live in a damn nightmare now and am looking forward to the day I move out of this state in less than a year.

As someone who also recently moved to the Bay Area from the south, I actually feel like Atlanta traffic is much worse. Granted, maybe I'm not seeing the worst of the Bay Area since my commute is just along one section of 101, but going from Atlanta suburbs to downtown (or back) was an utter nightmare, even on the weekends.

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

#183

Post by golemiprague » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 4:05 AM UTC

The guy went for one year abroad, not sure what exactly he was expecting? It takes time to build contacts in a new place. Most digital nomads don't move from one place to another all the time, they got 2 or 3 bases where they stay most of the time and where they build their social circle.

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

#184

Post by bitreality » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 4:50 AM UTC

eeeeeeeeeeeee wrote: post #128

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 hype…

"Digital Nomadism" is a pretty vague term, most people stop the "nomadic" part of it within a year or two. The need for stability is a realization that everyone must discover themselves. Then the label turns from "Digital Nomad" to "Location Independent".

It's great to be able to choose where you live, what your routine will be, and who you surround yourself with. As a remote worker, you are in charge of all these things which would normally be decided by your company. You'd live near the office, your routine would be determined by your work hours, and you'd be surrounded by your colleagues at the office. All pre-determined.

However, sometimes when we have so much choice, and we must make these choices ourselves, we can get a bit lost. Without concrete requirements, it's easy to get yourself into the wrong routines and forget to properly plan out what you want to do each day, where you want to go, and who you want to see. It's easy to spend a few days in a row without even leaving your house or apartment. You can end up ordering all your food from delivery apps and doing your shopping online.

So it takes a conscious effort to remain happy. It's really a day to day endeavor. You cannot just put in a bunch of effort for a few days in a row and then just veg out for the rest of the week. The brain needs to be constantly stimulated by changing environments and real face to face social engagement.

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

#185

Post by ubernostrum » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 4:58 AM UTC

djtriptych wrote: post #124

epa wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've just about used up my huge cache of frequent-flyer miles. I still have a credit card that generates points I can transfer into a few airlines or hotels if I want, but I'm glad to be done with the amount of time I spent at airports, on planes and in hotels.

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

#186

Post by mvkel » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 5:05 AM UTC

I feel like people say they want to work from home until they do. Then they never want to do it again.

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

#187

Post by jarym » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 9:42 AM UTC

I really resonated with this article and didn’t find much to disagree with from my own personal experience.

Thanks to the author for writing it.

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

#188

Post by user5994461 » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 10:52 AM UTC

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…

What's the size of your house? I found it pretty hard to have a girlfriend or friends over in a small place. You have your own schedule and need for intimacy as an adult, it's hard when parents are always lurking behind the next wall.

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

#189

Post by da02 » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 12:53 PM UTC

mmirate wrote: post #159

d357r0y3r wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly marketing/copywriting types and designers. Some programmers, although that seems to be rarer - could have something to do with what personalities are drawn to these professions.

> marketing Ah, yes, that would indeed explain. And it certainly agrees with the accounts I've heard about my employer's Marketing department's abject stupidity.

Are you saying the stupidity comes from using remote workers? What are some anecdotes you've heard recently?

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

#190

Post by mmirate » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 1:01 PM UTC

da02 wrote: post #189

mmirate wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> marketing Ah, yes, that would indeed explain. And it certainly agrees with the accounts I've heard about my employer's Marketing department's abject stupidity.

Are you saying the stupidity comes from using remote workers? What are some anecdotes you've heard recently?

Aside from the usual "we promised the customer we can do X; whaddaya mean you need 8 months to make it happen!?" ... here's one of the anecdotes:

* * *

The company makes numerous products. Some people in one of our other locations made a new product, and it was being demonstrated at some kind of trade show. So Marketing has T-shirts made for the show, with designs that look like a Beetles album cover, and words to the effect of "Meet the Developers of new product".

Except, of the four or five faces on the shirt's design, only two belong to people who actually worked on that product. Another one or two are developers from a different team; and another one is one of the QAs on my team. This particular QA, I might add, has a ... let's say it's an unprofessional-looking face and leave it at that.

* * *

Conclusion: our Marketing department is stupid, therefore I'm not surprised that other Marketing people are stupid enough to buy into the glamour of digital nomadry.