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Working remotely, 4 years in

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Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#141

Post by ibz »

criddell wrote: post #137
ibz wrote: post #67

5+ years here. Definitely not looking back to go to an office. After doing the DN thing in Asia for a year, I bought a farm house in my home country in Europe and moved over here. Being able to live in nature instead of in a city is an amazing, life changing experience. I often have people over visiting me - either friends or couch surfers. Planning to AirBnB the barn as well, which I converted into a nice big loft.…

Is your internet connection fast and reliable?

I've got a satellite connection. Unlimited traffic for 100EUR / month. Much more than I would pay for internet in a city, but hey... And yes, it is reliable and quite fast bandwidth wise. The ping time is not that great though (which means there's always a small delay when you talk to somebody). Has never been an issue though, and I do Google Hangouts every day!

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#142

Post by ibz »

thenaturalist wrote: post #69
ibz wrote: post #67

5+ years here. Definitely not looking back to go to an office. After doing the DN thing in Asia for a year, I bought a farm house in my home country in Europe and moved over here. Being able to live in nature instead of in a city is an amazing, life changing experience. I often have people over visiting me - either friends or couch surfers. Planning to AirBnB the barn as well, which I converted into a nice big loft.…

Mind sharing if/ how it's possible to visit? I'm starting out to work remotely and travel and would come by.

Sure! Email me at hn myusername me and let's keep in touch! There are very cheap flights from Berlin to here if you're flexible. :) Cheers!

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#143

Post by ibz »

openfuture wrote: post #101
ibz wrote: post #67

5+ years here. Definitely not looking back to go to an office. After doing the DN thing in Asia for a year, I bought a farm house in my home country in Europe and moved over here. Being able to live in nature instead of in a city is an amazing, life changing experience. I often have people over visiting me - either friends or couch surfers. Planning to AirBnB the barn as well, which I converted into a nice big loft.…

Have you checked out trustroots? I prefer it to couchsurfing.

Yup, I'm on trustroots as well. Indeed, it looks like a nicer alternative, now that CS is becoming more and more commercial. Not that many people on trustroots yet though.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#144

Post by brightball »

cpayne624 wrote: post #140
brightball wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody sees how much you are invested into your day to day work. They just see bunch of commits / builds and the little gray or green presence indicator on your messenger app. But if you are struggling for 3 days x 10 hours per day to fix a bug, chances are high that nobody will realize this. What you just described is why it’s so important to have daily standups and an assumption that when people on a team finish…

I’d agree except for the I-will-interrupt-the-next-dude (chick) when I’m finished my story to pair part. Make it known that you’re available to pair if needed, but pairing as SOP would have me interviewing.

Pairing is very much a cultural thing. It's either normal or it's not. If it's not it tends to only be a "ask me for help if needed", which leads to not doing it. That's not really pairing either, that's just "Let me know if anybody needs any help."

The perks of pairing are regularly unsticking stuck people, getting another set of eyes on a problem, learning from each others development habits as a side effect of doing your job. People tend to really overthink what is involved in pairing, turning it into some rigidly drilled type of exercise.

All that is needed to get most of the benefits is to fire up a screen share and verbally communicate while the main developer keeps working. Everything else falls into place. Even if it's just for a couple of hours here and there rather than "finish this entire story with this person" it's beneficial.

When people get stuck on something, it can become harder for them to focus. They'll start looking for alternatives like opening HN or Facebook, reading an article, etc. For a lot of people trying to prove themselves, asking for help isn't going to happen until it's too late and that makes it easy for people to work in their own little bubble.

If it's considered an interruption for you to screen share while the person continues to code, you're doing pairing wrong.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#145

Post by cpayne624 »

brightball wrote: post #144
cpayne624 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d agree except for the I-will-interrupt-the-next-dude (chick) when I’m finished my story to pair part. Make it known that you’re available to pair if needed, but pairing as SOP would have me interviewing.

Pairing is very much a cultural thing. It's either normal or it's not. If it's not it tends to only be a "ask me for help if needed", which leads to not doing it. That's not really pairing either, that's just "Let me know if anybody needs any help." The perks of pairing are regularly unsticking stuck people, getting another set of eyes on a problem, learning from each others development habits as a side effect of doi…

This is the typical response to pair push-back. And I have no interest in convincing anyone why it is not for me. I will interview.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#146

Post by ibz »

jamiegreen wrote: post #72
ibz wrote: post #67

5+ years here. Definitely not looking back to go to an office. After doing the DN thing in Asia for a year, I bought a farm house in my home country in Europe and moved over here. Being able to live in nature instead of in a city is an amazing, life changing experience. I often have people over visiting me - either friends or couch surfers. Planning to AirBnB the barn as well, which I converted into a nice big loft.…

What do you do, if you don't mind me asking? (I am assuming developer, but interested to learn more specifically your niche/years of experience)

Python. Data processing and such. I like doing pretty much anything that is not UI. Been in the field (programming, that is) for ~15 years. Currently working for a failed startup that got acquired by another startup. :) Did this satisfy your curiosity?

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#147

Post by brightball »

cpayne624 wrote: post #145
brightball wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pairing is very much a cultural thing. It's either normal or it's not. If it's not it tends to only be a "ask me for help if needed", which leads to not doing it. That's not really pairing either, that's just "Let me know if anybody needs any help." The perks of pairing are regularly unsticking stuck people, getting another set of eyes on a problem, learning from each others development habits as a side effect of doi…

This is the typical response to pair push-back. And I have no interest in convincing anyone why it is not for me. I will interview.

That's the thing...it's the typical response because it's true...

If pairing periodically is enough of a burden on you that it would cause you to interview elsewhere, it really seems like you're overthinking the impact.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#148

Post by jamiegreen »

ibz wrote: post #146
jamiegreen wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do, if you don't mind me asking? (I am assuming developer, but interested to learn more specifically your niche/years of experience)

Python. Data processing and such. I like doing pretty much anything that is not UI. Been in the field (programming, that is) for ~15 years. Currently working for a failed startup that got acquired by another startup. :) Did this satisfy your curiosity?

Very interesting, thanks for the answer! :)

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#149

Post by cpayne624 »

brightball wrote: post #147
cpayne624 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the typical response to pair push-back. And I have no interest in convincing anyone why it is not for me. I will interview.

That's the thing...it's the typical response because it's true... If pairing periodically is enough of a burden on you that it would cause you to interview elsewhere, it really seems like you're overthinking the impact.

You’re being dogmatic. Assuming that something works for everyone because it works for you, and if they say it doesn’t, it’s because they “don’t understand,” is wholly closed-minded.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#150

Post by criddell »

ibz wrote: post #141
criddell wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your internet connection fast and reliable?

I've got a satellite connection. Unlimited traffic for 100EUR / month. Much more than I would pay for internet in a city, but hey... And yes, it is reliable and quite fast bandwidth wise. The ping time is not that great though (which means there's always a small delay when you talk to somebody). Has never been an issue though, and I do Google Hangouts every day!

Is your uplink via satellite as well, or is that over a different channel?

And can it stream Netflix?

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