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Working remotely, 4 years in

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Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#171

Post by dasmoth »

ganzolo wrote: post #78

I had a totally different experience from the author of this article. Maybe, this was due to the fact that I was working remotely for 4 years with different startups maniacs. Biggest issues were : - 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 hou…

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.

This is possibly the biggest (theoretical) feature for me. I want to be judged in results produced, not work done. In practice, even remote-friendly places seem to want (at least) daily check ins, and a lot of visibility about how people are working, not just what they manage to build.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#172

Post by kostarelo »

ganzolo wrote: post #78

I had a totally different experience from the author of this article. Maybe, this was due to the fact that I was working remotely for 4 years with different startups maniacs. Biggest issues were : - 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 hou…

From what I read, your experience must have to do with the specific environments you were working on. Lots of companies that had embraced the remote first culture (GitLab[1], Automattic to name a few) have overcome those issues and you will hear lots of happy testimonials from their employees.

The fact though is that remote working will work for some people but will completely fail with others.

1: https://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-GitLab-EI_IE12...

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#173

Post by [deleted] »

ganzolo wrote: post #78

I had a totally different experience from the author of this article. Maybe, this was due to the fact that I was working remotely for 4 years with different startups maniacs. Biggest issues were : - 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 hou…

[deleted]

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#174

Post by err4nt »

I have been self employed, working from wherever, for just shy of 7 years now.

Overall the experience has been life-changing in a positive way, and I would highly recommend people try this arrangement at least once in their careers to see if the tradeoffs give them an advantage.

Here are some benefits, in no particular order:

- I have the flexibility to rearrange my days so I never have to take time off work for things like shopping, errands, appointments, visits, meetings, and even events I want to attend during the day

- Because I can choose when I work, I am able to capture my most creative and productive times during the day for work, and spend my downtime doing chores or things that require little creativity

- By changing my surroundings according to my mood, I can 'hack' my productivity to a small extent (going to a lively environment when I feel unmotivated, isolating myself when I need to focus and block out interruptions, etc)

- I don't have a set wake up time, nor a set bed time. If I need to work late one day and it works to my advantage to stay up later rather than break, I can 'push' my next day back

And here are some downsides, in no particular order:

- You can go a little stir-crazy working from home too much, the onus is on your to get out of the house and surround yourself with other people to stay social

- Sometimes you will find yourself pushing life out of the way to make room for work because of the same flexibility that lets you push work out of the way for life sometimes. Not having set hours is a blessing and a curse at times, but overall beneficial

- It can be hard to gauge how you stack up to others if you're not seeing other people doing the same kind of work as you are. Some people are self-starters and compete against themselves for continual improvement, but if you lack in this area it can be a struggle to not stagnate and get too comfy in your role

For me, the benefits have far outweighed the downsides, and I can't imagine ever going back to the 9–5, butt-in-chair-all-day kind of work arrangement. I feel that by working remotely I am doing my best work ever, and I have the freedom and flexibility to improve myself too!

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#175

Post by bproven »

padobson wrote: post #108
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.…

Or I can drive to the city whenever I feel like. Imagine how open the highways would be if this was how everyone worked/lived. Clear the highways. Save the planet. Work from home.

The bay area would have 50% less traffic, less noise, less pollution, less resource waste building these huge corp complexes...sounds like something that should be implemented now. At minimum incentives to push workforces to 50% of the time at home - when you need to go into the office (critical in-person collab, etc) then you can go...

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#176

Post by keyboardmonkey »

14 years as 100% remote... living in the middle of nowhere, 40 acres of land to run around and enjoy (fly huge model planes at lunch time, fire up the bbq with the wife and fams, etc etc) and life is good. I have a reclining workstation that has helped for a number of reasons, but it's made from a chair that's light enough to carry out to the back porch when the weather is nice. Some companies like to take a little off the top of your pay due to being remote, but if you go looking in the right spots you can get remote work at bigger city salaries. Even when the pay was shorted a little, the lifestyle more than makes up for it.

...make sure that you get enough personal interaction (the hardest and most important depending just how "remote" you are), and make sure that you appreciate the lifestyle perk that it is, and be happy.

As much as I love it, it's really not for everyone... I've seen some people be allowed to go remote, move away from the office, not be able to deal with the remoteness and quit. It happens.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#177

Post by bproven »

Buttons840 wrote: post #158
padobson wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or I can drive to the city whenever I feel like. Imagine how open the highways would be if this was how everyone worked/lived. Clear the highways. Save the planet. Work from home.

How can we make this happen? I've been thinking of this as a potential startup idea. What hardware/software can we build that would make companies feel comfortable with many remote workers, and also ensure those remote workers are able to collaborate and work efficiently?

The comfort level would be: are you completing your projects on time? Good. You are not? (b/c goofing off at home instead of working) Goodbye! That would do it.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#178

Post by beached_whale »

Buttons840 wrote: post #158
padobson wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or I can drive to the city whenever I feel like. Imagine how open the highways would be if this was how everyone worked/lived. Clear the highways. Save the planet. Work from home.

How can we make this happen? I've been thinking of this as a potential startup idea. What hardware/software can we build that would make companies feel comfortable with many remote workers, and also ensure those remote workers are able to collaborate and work efficiently?

Don't forget shipping. Trucks move a lot of stuff

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#179

Post by enobrev »

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.…

I enjoy similar comforts, but prefer to live in major cities. I've been working remotely for 17 years, and in that time I've lived in Brookyln, Seattle, and now Chicago.

No alarm clocks, ever. No driving unless I need to haul something. No commutes. I refuse to deal with rush-hour. I truly enjoy naps and long lunches and have no set schedule - sometimes I'm up nights, sometimes days.

I could very well move to a farm-house in the country, but I think I'd lose my mind. I truly enjoy city life, as a personal preference. I used to think I wanted to be a "nomad", but it turns out I really enjoy my sit-stand desk with three monitors, a comfortable chair, and everything just how I like it. I'm far more productive than I ever have been while on the road. Instead, I prefer taking long breaks with my wife to travel without any work-related devices.

I'm not always incredibly healthy when it comes to eating, exercise, and extra-curricular activities, but mentally I generally feel I'm in far better shape than most of my peers who deal with the bustle of a daily on-location occupation. I have the utmost respect for their ability to carry on every day. It's just not for me.

Re: Working remotely, 4 years in

#180

Post by xtracto »

Buttons840 wrote: post #158
padobson wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or I can drive to the city whenever I feel like. Imagine how open the highways would be if this was how everyone worked/lived. Clear the highways. Save the planet. Work from home.

How can we make this happen? I've been thinking of this as a potential startup idea. What hardware/software can we build that would make companies feel comfortable with many remote workers, and also ensure those remote workers are able to collaborate and work efficiently?

One reason I have heard people put forward against remote working has been "whiteboard brainstorming" (the absense of). While I think it deffinitely could be an issue, I think in the future Augmented Reality will remove the problem.
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