Live data from Hacker News

Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

blog.stackoverflow.com

31–40 of 114 posts

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#31

Likewise if someone is a Japanese citizen, with official residency in Japan, and is in the US as a tourist or a student, and works remotely for a German company, a Canadian company, and a Guatemalan company, and gets paid by wire transfer to his bank account in Japan from his three clients... is he breaking the law in one or more countries? Perhaps there will be a telecommute country, with laws designed to let teleco…

The laws and boundaries around citizenship and taxation really need updating in these high-tech times.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#32
post #6

I wonder what the legal issues are for an American company having cross-border employees. How do they take care of national insurance and income taxes etc for their UK-based employee when (presumably) they have no legal presence there? How does this work for them?

I work for Stack Exchange in Germany (where they have no presence except for me), and I'm a regular employee with all German taxes, social security etc. that entails. These things can be made to work.

[deleted]

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#33
I love working remotely. My current arrangement has a gotomeeting standup every day, jira for tickets, hipchat for persistent chat (I had to recommend persistent chat to them but now they love it), and frequent code pairing through screen sharing. They all go home at five so I can stop then, too. I wonder sometimes if there are other similar arrangements out there - java, spring, etc - but it seems like a pretty high bar to clear.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#34
> #2: When done right, it makes people extremely productive.

Do you have any tips as to how to make this "done right"?

I, and a few of my remote friends, have hard a really hard time being nearly as productive while remote. I find myself really proud of being able to accomplish 4 hours of dev work when at a coffee shop or at home, but in an office I can work 8-10 hours without putting much thought into it.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#35
post #24
post #23

In general I agree that remote working has lot of advantages. Especially if you are a programmer you get the peace and quietness you need to get into the flow, no discussion here. I wrote my best code when I was alone with me and my music. But things are different if you want to build the next big thing with cofounders and there I experienced three big disadvantages: 1. All big (and finally successful) ideas and vent…

(Author, here) Regarding #1 and #2, I have to say that one of the most surprising things about Google Hangouts is that they've really make it easy to... hang out! It's pretty standard on Fridays (or during the week) to kick back for an hour or two and just talk in the hangout. A lot of people just keep it open sort of half-listening while they work, and if they need to do something that requires a lot of concentratio…

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one doing this. A colleague and I run a hangout most of every day, and it really makes it feel a lot like being in the same room. (I had to ask the other day -- "Is that your doorbell or my doorbell?) We can quickly ask one-off questions, have impromptu show-and-tell sessions, and of course engage in random brainstorming and "water cooler" talk. It's also easy to tell if the other person is deep in the zone before interrupting.

I blogged about it a couple of months ago: http://cafbit.com/entry/hanging_out_on_the_job

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#36

Thanks to StackOverflow I'm relatively reputed(?) in one teeny niche of the programming world. This leads to a few recruiter emails per week, and almost all of them I reply to with a cheeky way of saying that I'm not going to move[1]. One company to date has said that not-relocating my entire life is OK with them. The rest can be summed up with the reply that ended an email exchange with an SV angel: > sorry to hear…

I'm with you man. That's how I feel. SV is good ... if you want to live in SV. Not because you want to go there for a job, not when jobs need you more than you need the jobs.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#37

I currently work at home 3-4 days a week with the others being in the office, usually for meetings and collaborating on things. The office is an open floor plan with very poor noise reduction. When not in meetings in that environment, it is hard to get work done even with headphones. Visual and audio distractions persist. That said, there are times where getting together is helpful. When contacted by companies, I ask…

Time spent in the car/traffic is life lost, something you will never get back again.

A 1 hour commute one-way is about 20 hours a week. That's a part-time job for some people. Commuting is simply not that interesting of an activity.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#38
post #35
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Author, here) Regarding #1 and #2, I have to say that one of the most surprising things about Google Hangouts is that they've really make it easy to... hang out! It's pretty standard on Fridays (or during the week) to kick back for an hour or two and just talk in the hangout. A lot of people just keep it open sort of half-listening while they work, and if they need to do something that requires a lot of concentratio…

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one doing this. A colleague and I run a hangout most of every day, and it really makes it feel a lot like being in the same room. (I had to ask the other day -- "Is that your doorbell or my doorbell?) We can quickly ask one-off questions, have impromptu show-and-tell sessions, and of course engage in random brainstorming and "water cooler" talk. It's also easy to tell if the other pe…

Yep. Hangout makes this ridiculously easy.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#39

Here's my big secret about remote working... I sit at my desk a lot less, but work a lot more. I'm one of those people that simply cannot solve complex problems while sitting at a desk. Because I'm not beholden to butt-in-the-chair syndrome, I am free to spend an hour or more going for a walk, visiting a local coffee shop, or taking a bath so I can think and problem solve before typing into a console. As a result, my…

Amen, brother. Heck, I use a wireless headset so that even when I'm in a hangout I can walk around, go outside, etc.

Don't ask me to think about something and then sit still while doing so; you'll get whatever lazy answer I can come up with quickest - or no answer at all.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#40

> #2: When done right, it makes people extremely productive. Do you have any tips as to how to make this "done right"? I, and a few of my remote friends, have hard a really hard time being nearly as productive while remote. I find myself really proud of being able to accomplish 4 hours of dev work when at a coffee shop or at home, but in an office I can work 8-10 hours without putting much thought into it.

There are some things you can do for the environment. The main thing is creating boundaries so that your home life separates from your work life. So for example:

(1) Spatial boundaries. If you can, dedicate an entire work for just working from home. In some places I can't do that, what I do is set up the laptop at the kitchen table and take it down again at the end of the work day. This includes cords. It might seem like a pain in the ass to put the laptop together every morning, but it is no different than if you had gone to a coffee shop. If you have a family with kids, you'll want to set up space that has a door. In return, when the computer is shut down (and you always shut it down or put it to sleep) or the laptop lid is closed, it's now family time.

(2) Temporal boundaries. You want some accountable way of starting the clock, so to speak. Standup is a good method for this. There needs to be something to end it, so you know when to stop and put things away. You will want to announce when you go on lunch or bio breaks. You can also type a quick end-of-day standup on what you accomplished that day. This provides temporal cues on when things are beginning and ending. This way, not only does work not bleed into your home life, your home life does not bleed into your work life.

(3) Social cues. I don't like pair programming much, but in a remote situation, you need to pair more often even if you don't normally pair. "Pairing" can be sharing a Hangout conversation to consult on something or tmux-shared-screen. This way, you don't go off shaving a yak. If you are in a group of peers (for example, some founders), then it is helpful to have everyone check in on each other occasionally. "What can I do to help?"

By setting up boundaries, you keep these things from bleeding into each other and help you concentrate while at work ... and enjoy your home life when you're not working.

With coffee shops: the best approach I have found is to establish a co-working group. You don't need a formal co-working facility if you convince some of your locally-based remote friends (or acquaintances you have met at the local User's Group for your technology niche) to co-work at a coffee shop. Small, family-owned coffee shops, pizza places, even bars, tend to be very friendly for this sort of a thing. You're treated as a regular and you tend to start camping out at a particular corner during the non-rush hours. Once a week can be enough.

Post reply on HN