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What I don’t like about working at a remote job

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Re: What I don’t like about working at a remote job

#92

The problem I’m seeing is the people who see work as: * completing tasks vs * who see work as a piece of their life People _need_ social interaction (this is an indisputable fact of being human) and remote work divorces the social from the productive for the first time in history (there are jobs where you are isolated for periods like oil rig workers, but this is on a completely new scale). There aren’t any proven me…

People can still be social when working remotely. People can be satisfied working remotely without having social reserves and social skills/circle. I definitely consider myself closer to someone who sees work as a piece of their life than someone who completes tasks for money. I love working remotely.

I’m not implying differently. But it’s not built-in to the structure.

Re: What I don’t like about working at a remote job

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve found the best option to be a hybrid. 2 days remote, 3 in office.

But only if everybody else is on the same schedule

So long as the remote days a given person takes off stay the same I've found my team adjusted well any place it was necessary.

Re: What I don’t like about working at a remote job

#96
post #26
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered coworking at a closer destination? I've been working on distributed teams since around 2011, though I have been contracting from home for five years before that. In the very first distributed team I joined, the eng director made it a point to: - Have everyone gather in-person periodically by flying everyone to HQ - Making coworking spaces available - Traveling to the different cities to meet with…

Co-working is not a substitute for working with teammates. To give an extreme example, "Hey, I wish I had a live in partner who gave me hugs and shared in my ups and downs but I don't" -> "You could hang out at a coffee shop and talk to random people" (not as a way to meet someone but as a substitute for having a partner) There's something about working on the same project, collaborating, brainstorming, in the same s…

I mean, it may not be the same thing but if they're really just looking for some comraderie, those "bar coder" meet ups where a bunch of local engineers meet up at different local bars once a week to talk about stuff and make contacts, might kind of fill the void.

Re: What I don’t like about working at a remote job

#97
I rearranged my life to get a remote job, which started in January 2020, a couple months before everyone in my industry was remote anyway. I'd always wanted to be fully remote, and for me it was absolutely the right choice. I'm so much happier now, not having to commute, not sitting next to the guy who bounces his leg all day, being able to run errands in the middle of the day, not feeling like I need to do busy work because someone is looking over my shoulder, or could be.

What is great is that, whereas before covid, it was a little harder to find a fully remote position, it's now really easy. But, at the same time, there are plenty of non-remote places too, so people who want that experience can find it, and they won't be competing with me for that job either.

There are even hybrid offices, where you can work on-site part of the time, and work from home part of the time.

Pretty much any setup you want is available to you with a readiness that wasn't there 3 years ago. It's just a better situation for workers over all.

So, if you don't like working remote, you don't have to!

Re: What I don’t like about working at a remote job

#98

Remote works best for people who already have their lives stuffed with meaning and structure and don't need any help from the office on those fronts. OP might have resonated with me a decade ago, but now I have a wife and kids. I don't need office socialization to give my life meaning. I have my eight hours of work to do and then I have my life to get back to. I definitely don't need to lose two hours a day commuting…

I dislike remote work and have a full social life. What you think would be a good adjective to describe this opinion you just shared, that people who prefer in person work don't have their lives stuffed with meaning and structure?

I didn't say that. Hopefully it's not necessary for me to go through a lecture on logic and standard English to explain why.

"Pregnancy works best for people with uteruses" doesn't mean that pregnancy works fantastically for every person with a uterus.

Unfortunately, on the internet, someone is always ready to take offense at a generalization, even if the generalization implies nothing worth taking offense about.

Re: What I don’t like about working at a remote job

#99

Guy sounds like he lives alone and is depressed. I have exactly none of these problems. Go to sleep by 8:30, wake up around 3 every day, no alarms, no explicit schedule, no planning. It's just habit. I don't need to find stuff to do. I keep the house clean. Keep my car clean. Complete renovation projects. I don't find it takes much mental energy at all to work out every day. What the heck else am I gonna do waking up…

just a couple of things about making assumptions: * The author of the post is a woman * The author mentions her partners job towards the end of the post so we know she is not single and lonely

I don't see an inherent contradiction, it's entirely possible to feels lonely even when not single. She also mentioned that her partner is a surgeon that wake at 4am to end his work day at 7pm.

Re: What I don’t like about working at a remote job

#100
I've been working remotely on and off for 20 years, and consistently for the last 10 years.

A few suggestions:

- Choose to not make every day the same. You're free! Once or twice a week, take a train or bus to a different place for the day, somewhere with good cell signal. Work from a national park, or a beach, a café, pub, museum, library, take a river cruise... whatever. There's nowhere in the world that has nothing to offer. Just get into the habit of picking somewhere different than home and going there to work for a day. In your breaks and before/after working, explore, relax... Just enjoy yourself somehow.

- Be deliberate about arranging calls with coworkers, friends, family. Just hang out on a call. Go for a walk while you take these calls, or do something other than sit in a chair.

- If you don't already have hobbies, you want to discover some that you enjoy. Do something that creates nice memories with your spare time, and that isn't the same as your work, or just relaxing. Once you've got one or more hobbies, if you're missing social interaction, find a (local/regional/national/International) group, meet up, society or some other form of community. Join it and participate. In person, online, maybe travel to go to events related to it. You'll quickly find your people this way. There are friends and partners out there for everyone.

- if you're not happy with where you live... move! It might not seem possible, but it is. Whatever the hurdles, you can get over them. Remote work is freedom to choose your environment. Choose it.

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