My experiences of working remote for a year
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Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#2Remotely.
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#3I've worked 100% remote for 7+ years, and it is awesome.
- I've had the opportunity to see my kids grow up (they're 6 and 9 now).
- I get to see my wife for lunch and a coffee break every single day (she also works from home)
- As a developer, the amount of focus I'm able to achieve in my home office is incredible.
It isn't for everyone, though. Here's some things I've learned:
- If you're any sort of extrovert, you're going to need to find outlets to recharge your social batteries (I'm an introvert, so not much of a problem for me).
- It is MUCH easier working for a 100% distributed company. I've had friend work in both fully distributed organizations, and semi-distributed, and it is much tougher in the semi-distributed environment.
- You absolutely need to set yourself up for success. I have a home office in the basement, and it is _the_ office, not another room. You need something more than your kitchen table if you really want to do it long-term.
- You need to find a system to keep your focus up. I use the pomodoro technique and GTD.
- If you work with a team, it is critical you jump on the phone a few times a week to touch base, and a few times per year face-to-face. It is as much for human interaction as it is for the work itself.
Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but I think more companies should give it a go.
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#4This shows the real problems with remote workers - they spread your company information to all kind of online platforms. The author here, of course, goes to the extreme with storing company passwords in a closed source password app and uploading them to dropbox!
Remote workers must have some sense for privacy and security, this is more important than anything else.
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#5Nice article. As someone who has never worked at a normal office, I'm glad that you're finding remote work better.
I'm in my mid 20s, I do contract work and has several personal projects that I have high hopes for. But there are moments when I'm bored/stuck when I think having a coworker nearby whom you could instantly talk to would be better.
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#6This shows the real problems with remote workers - they spread your company information to all kind of online platforms. The author here, of course, goes to the extreme with storing company passwords in a closed source password app and uploading them to dropbox! Remote workers must have some sense for privacy and security, this is more important than anything else.
There's no reason that these tools cannot be hosted on the company's own servers and made accessible remotely via VPN. However, that's a decision every company has to make for itself.
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#7I've worked 100% remote for 7+ years, and it is awesome. - I've had the opportunity to see my kids grow up (they're 6 and 9 now). - I get to see my wife for lunch and a coffee break every single day (she also works from home) - As a developer, the amount of focus I'm able to achieve in my home office is incredible. It isn't for everyone, though. Here's some things I've learned: - If you're any sort of extrovert, you'…
> You absolutely need to set yourself up for success. I have a home office in the basement, and it is _the_ office, not another room.
This is the most important piece of advice. You need to have a space that is for work and for work only. When you enter that space, it puts you in a work mindset.
If you work wherever, you will never be able to focus.
> it is critical you jump on the phone a few times a week to touch base
In my experience, it is critical for you to jump on the phone every day, once a day. Like clockwork. The meeting shouldn't last more than 5 minutes.
Go over what you did the previous day and discuss what you're planning to do today. Discuss anything that's blocking your progress. Then start your day.
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#8I've always dreamed of working remote.
I'm the kind of person who lives his work, I treat it casually (or try to) but when I'm in an office I feel the pressure to "look busy" and when I go home I (now) lose motivation to continue working (even when I get a surge of inspiration)
I've looked for remote work for a long time, but being a systems administrator this is hard.. employers want you to be in a bullpen full of other people, random noises, distractions, people looking at your screen nonchalantly. I just can't get used to it.. although over the last 8 years I've become a little harder to it.
Working from home 4 out of 5 days makes the most sense, you meet people when needed but "get things done" the rest of the week, communication is crucial but face to face communication, while important, is not the most important thing at the sacrifice of comfort and quality work.
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#9I've worked 100% remote for 7+ years, and it is awesome. - I've had the opportunity to see my kids grow up (they're 6 and 9 now). - I get to see my wife for lunch and a coffee break every single day (she also works from home) - As a developer, the amount of focus I'm able to achieve in my home office is incredible. It isn't for everyone, though. Here's some things I've learned: - If you're any sort of extrovert, you'…
What's GTD?
Re: My experiences of working remote for a year
#10This shows the real problems with remote workers - they spread your company information to all kind of online platforms. The author here, of course, goes to the extreme with storing company passwords in a closed source password app and uploading them to dropbox! Remote workers must have some sense for privacy and security, this is more important than anything else.
A classic company nowadays will have their code in Github, their e-mail and documents over at Google, even more documents in office 365 cloud, critical company files in Dropbox etc.
All for the sake of convenience. For me the important thing is to keep a work machine which is solely dedicated to work, which is only connected to the necessary services.