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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

#211

Post by Fnoord »

> I can’t move out bc I have nothing determining my location

You can very likely walk near your location. If you can, you can phone a colleague. Combine the two. Sitting for 8 hours behind a computer screen is unhealthy, no matter if its remote or not. Also, the walk allows for inspiration (diffused mode) and will make you more productive afterwards when you are in focused mode. My employer even gives me one hour paid sports a week cause they know they earn it back. Give it a whirl.

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

#212

Post by unethical_ban »

horns4lyfe wrote: post #199
unethical_ban wrote: post #85

Thank you for speaking up for those of us who think WFH is overrated. This is the first time perhaps in my life where I have been beaten over the head by the in-group that I am in the out-group. I'm a mostly straight, white man who never had to worry about being targeted due to who I am, and who never had to worry about food or housing. I'm smart and never had to work to get into college or get a good job. Reading HN…

No one is brow beating people who want to work in an office, as long as you respect that lots of people don’t want to. If you want to, great; every job I’ve talked to a recruiter about in the past two years has been fully remote if you want it to be, or in office if you want. If actually letting people decide how they want to work is so oppressive to you then sorry; otherwise you’re just playing into middle manager p…

Being in an office alone/at a coffee shop is certainly better than being at home every day, but in person group collaboration doesn't work without a group.

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

#213

Post by kkfx »

I partially agree with some points, personally I see the social part only solvable with two separate life, one in person, local, another remote. The issue here is that locally we often have not much matching people: if we work together probably we share some interests, ideas, ... if we simply live nearby we might be TOTALLY different witch might be very good for certain activities but not for others.

Long story short: IMO, so far, WFH is mostly chosen by skilled people and since they are a minority it's hard to find matches outside restricted areas like universities and some companies HQs... That's NOT a WFH issue, but a social one. That's can only be solved after a significant amount of time.

That's means: now many try to relocate to nice places for climate, nature, leisure, ... and so far it's a virgin territory. After a decade or more, like we have "good" and "poor/bad" neighborhoods in cities now we will find "WFH places" where people match enough to satisfy the physical proximity need. The issue is that such process is long and hard, but I see no other evolutions so far...

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

#214

Post by xdfgh1112 »

tjr225 wrote: post #113
Blahah wrote: post #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 nothin…

> Remote work is freedom to choose your environment. Choose it. Sort of. First your employer needs to approve of where you’re going to live assuming it is out of state or country. There are a variety of legal and tax implications. The first remote company I worked for had a list of approved states, for instance. I assume this is common.

My contact specifies my place of work as "anywhere with an internet connection"

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

#215

Post by bamboozled »

getYeGone wrote: post #149

I graduated in 2020 into what was supposed to be a “regular” in-person job, that was turned into a fully remote job due to Covid. I ended up hating it there, and since have found a new primarily-remote job that I love. My life feels hopeless. I wake up, go to the gym, and then work from 9–8. I work so much because I have nothing better to do. Then I watch a movie or some garbage on YouTube and go to bed. I have no fr…

Sorry you feel like this, isolation can feel terrible. I went through a similar thing when I first moved to a remote job. I made friends with people of similar interests. Can you move to a job where you can be in an office with other people? Not sure where you're based but it might be an idea to take a look around.

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

#216

Post by seibelj »

sabellito wrote: post #80
seibelj wrote: post #20

Working remote is for adults with established social structures, skill sets, and maturity. It’s not the ideal environment to start your career. What’s interesting is that successful fully-remote companies are full of emotionally mature and established people. This is a moat in itself.

When you put it like that it sounds like you're saying that people who prefer to work in an office don't have established social structures, skill sets, nor maturity. Is that the point you are making?

No, I’m saying to work successfully remotely, you usually need those attributes. That’s not to say you can’t have those attributes and prefer working in an office. I’m speaking about characteristics of people at successful fully-remote orgs who feel fulfilled in their careers. They aren’t getting meaningful socialization from work so they need it on their own terms.

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

#217

Post by xdfgh1112 »

unethical_ban wrote: post #85

Thank you for speaking up for those of us who think WFH is overrated. This is the first time perhaps in my life where I have been beaten over the head by the in-group that I am in the out-group. I'm a mostly straight, white man who never had to worry about being targeted due to who I am, and who never had to worry about food or housing. I'm smart and never had to work to get into college or get a good job. Reading HN…

Exactly. Most of the commenters already have a family and local social life, and probably know their colleagues from when they worked in the office together. It's totally different for graduates.

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

#218

Post by kubanczyk »

hosh wrote: post #14

I have worked from home, remote or on distributed teams far longer than I have working in-person and onsite, for over a decade. I can't do much about having a harder time socializing and bonding with co-workers. On the distributed teams I have been at, there were periodic in-person gatherings (retreats, or everyone showing up for the same tech conference) where we can do things that is difficult by being remote. You'…

> purpose is what gets you up in the morning, fuels your willpower and self-discipline

This! So much this.

> malaise of modernism

In the past, people could learn their values from literally a single book and it was enough for a lifetime.

Nowadays I have a chance to only slightly nudge any meaningful aspect in my entire lifetime. I now need to understand complex global systems and their local manifestations. That's quite a few books and blogs in itself, but it still would be a breeze without the rampant disinformation. The crux is that the people who managed to "bootstrap" and are standing on a solid foundation have no scalable social mechanism to pass it to others. Getting that ground under my feet honestly felt like 90% of the work.

The bar is just too high for many.

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

#219

Post by solarmist »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #208
solarmist wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Nothing is built into the structure. I think folks are taking this for granted. You have to consciously create such structure regardless of the conditions. It's possible to have anti-social office environments too.

In person it is built-in implicitly, people will be social naturally by proximity alone. Anti-social in person environments are de facto considered problematic.

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

#220

Post by horns4lyfe »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #207
horns4lyfe wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the idea that you can’t make friends working remote dismisses the idea that you can actually make friends through shared interests in a remote environment instead of just proximity and mutual suffering.

Who said anything about suffering? I enjoy spending time with friends at work. Whether that is working together on a project, chatting, or having a beer on company time.

You do, but that’s not true of everyone’s experience, which is why giving people choice is the right way to go.
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