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Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

blog.stackoverflow.com

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Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#91

Post by timjahn »

hkmurakami wrote: post #61
simonsarris wrote: post #20

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…

This morning, I turned left out of the driveway on my bike to head to work -- the same driveway that I've lived on since 1989. It's "early spring" already in Silicon Valley, and the distinct smell of the brisk, moist air and the sight of the fresh, yellow-green-Crayola-colored grass that has sprouted up all over the hills following the winter rains made me think, "ah, it's this time of year again." I couldn't help bu…

Beautifully written!

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#92

Post by eli_gottlieb »

eriksank wrote: post #86
jacques_chester wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is when you call a payroll company and let them sort it out for you.

Nothing beats moving to a low-admin country, though. Since you're working remotely anyway, you could as well do that from Ecuador or so. The lower/non-existing tax bill will easily pay for any flights back home. Enjoy the beach!

Yes, let's all figure out ways to bilk the government and screw over people who don't have exactly the same arrangements as us.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#93

Post by eli_gottlieb »

overgryphon wrote: post #45
nirvanatikku wrote: post #25

This blog post is wonderfully written; it succinctly outlines the benefits and the caveats from both the employer and the employee's perspective. "I’ll let you in on a secret: most of our remote developers work longer hours than our in-office devs." This reminds me of the 'unlimited vacation' policy, which, if I'm not mistaken has effectively showed that employees don't end up taking as many days off as they would if…

I'm not sure "unlimited" vacation time is empowering. It makes who goes on vacation more or less than whoever else something that may be silently judged. Bob went abroad for five weeks- is that excessive? Bob has no way of knowing what others will think, and may not go abroad at all to avoid the potential fallout. This judgment is also very difficult to uncover- if one person discourages his team from taking vacation…

It makes who goes on vacation more or less than whoever else something that may be silently judged. Bob went abroad for five weeks- is that excessive? Bob has no way of knowing what others will think, and may not go abroad at all to avoid the potential fallout.

Why is a team full of grown men, mature adults, silently judging a team member for doing something the rules entitle them to do?

/armor-piercing-question

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#94

Post by sveiss »

mattmanser wrote: post #69
MortenK wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually the individuals are not employees pr. Se, unless the company in question has a local legal presence in the country of the employee. Instead they are hired on a simple business contract containing similar terms as a standard employement contract. The employee then sends invoices for their salary. In theory this makes them contractors, but in practice they are employees. The employee will however most often hav…

In the UK this is not legal. It's not even vaguely close to being outside IR35. While I have no familiarity, I doubt it is legal in many other countries with a socialist state that requires employers to pay things like national insurance. Basically if you walk like an employee, and talk like an employee, you're an employee and shouldn't pretend to be an independent contractor and you probably should not set up your o…

(Disclaimer: not a tax expert or an accountant, but I have spent too many hours researching this stuff as it applies to my own situation.)

IR35 only applies when there's an intermediary -- usually when you're providing services via a limited company, then taking dividends at the lower tax/NI rate instead of a salary.

If you're self-employed and contracting with a foreign company, then IR35 can't apply (or so I was told when I spoke to HMRC to ask precisely this question).

Now, HMRC could decide that it's not a true self-employment relation. In my case (self-employed, working remotely for a company in the US, limited degree of control by engager, purchasing my own equipment, bearing the risk of invoices not being paid) I think there are enough factors to make it a true self-employment relationship and HMRC's online questionnaire agrees.

Even if you were contracting through a limited company, if you met the self-employment test you'd probably meet the IR35 test when operating through a Ltd. I'd prefer not to risk it -- which is why I went the self-employment route.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#95

Post by hakaaaaak »

I love working remotely, and I want to believe the following, but I'm not sure that it is true:

"...most of our remote developers work longer hours than our in-office devs. It’s not required, and probably won’t always be the case, but when going to work is as simple as walking upstairs (pants optional, but recommended) people just tend to put in more hours and work more productively."

From personal experience, what happens is that the remote worker went downstairs to play with the kids and pets or watch something on T.V. that someone else was watching while they had a snack. Then they work 30 min more later to make up for it. It isn't working more- it is spreading out the work.

Also the post mentions that a self motivated, proactive worker is more likely to do well remotely. But, that depends. Micromanagement of remote workers is really bad, but so is just saying that they have to figure out what to do on their own if that is not their personality/work type. I personally work better when it is clear enough what needs to be done, and maybe if it is something I'm unfamiliar with, then a lot more information about the internals and business requirements and logic is provided, but I'm not told how to implement it. That is true whether I'm remote or not. But each person has their own way of doing things, and usually those aren't evident or may be misunderstood in an interview, so I don't think you can just say "they need to be proactive and self-motivated" and somehow some mystical force draws the right people to work on your team.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#96

Post by oijaf888 »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #92
eriksank wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing beats moving to a low-admin country, though. Since you're working remotely anyway, you could as well do that from Ecuador or so. The lower/non-existing tax bill will easily pay for any flights back home. Enjoy the beach!

Yes, let's all figure out ways to bilk the government and screw over people who don't have exactly the same arrangements as us.

How is moving to a country with a low tax rate bilking the government? For that matter, what government?

Also if you are an American citizen you have to pay taxes on your worldwide income even if you don't live in the US anymore. There are pretty good exemptions (I think its like the first 90K of income) but you still have to file every year.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#97

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Google hangouts is good - but I think Sococo Teamspace is better. But remote-working tools have been debated elsewhere, so I'll just say that some tool is very much better than phone calls, emails etc. It really helps to remove the friction to communication, shortening conversations that could take days by email, to minutes 'in person' via tools.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#98

Post by JoeAltmaier »

aantix wrote: post #48
tunesmith wrote: post #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…

What do you use for screen sharing? Most of the products I have utilized feel laggy..

Its tough. Screen sharing can have tremendous bandwidth limitations. I've been using Sococo Teamspace, but I work there too.

The best advice is to upgrade your remote-office (i.e. home) IP provider to 5Mb or better UPLINK.

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#99

Post by JoeAltmaier »

df07 wrote: post #24
tferris wrote: 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've been using a hangout-like tool called Sococo Teamspace (I wrote part of it). It combines video, audio, screen sharing and chat, and you keep it open all day. It has the advantage that you can see who's in all the company-related spaces, who's sharing with whom right now. You can see if the standup is starting by who's in the standup space. You can chat with Bob who's late because he's talking with Tom in his office, by P2P chatting "Hey? Coming to standup?" without interrupting.

The real juice is removing the friction to communicating. You don't want to be scheduling conference calls or chatfests. You want to be able to click see if Bob's available, click into his space and say "Hey Bob, got a minute?"

Re: Why We Still Believe in Working Remotely

#100

Post by mattmanser »

sveiss wrote: post #94
mattmanser wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK this is not legal. It's not even vaguely close to being outside IR35. While I have no familiarity, I doubt it is legal in many other countries with a socialist state that requires employers to pay things like national insurance. Basically if you walk like an employee, and talk like an employee, you're an employee and shouldn't pretend to be an independent contractor and you probably should not set up your o…

(Disclaimer: not a tax expert or an accountant, but I have spent too many hours researching this stuff as it applies to my own situation.) IR35 only applies when there's an intermediary -- usually when you're providing services via a limited company, then taking dividends at the lower tax/NI rate instead of a salary. If you're self-employed and contracting with a foreign company, then IR35 can't apply (or so I was to…

If you're self-employed and contracting with a foreign company, then IR35 can't apply

I guess that makes senses now thinking about it. I really hate IR35, there's so much grey area.

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