I worked as an online freelancer for 6 years. I can relate to the story. Yes its scary and chalenging shift of career.
Working remotely, 4 years in
21–30 of 210 posts
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#22Any recommendation for video conferencing? We are using hangout and it is not reliable at all :(
I have no real good recommendation (so I am thankful for all ideas in this thread), but I would not recommend Hangouts and Slack.
We use both in the company I work for and it is a pain in the ass to use. and the image quality isn't really that great.
But both are at least usable.
More important is imho that people know how to use the tools. Give people room to interrupt/ask questions. Make breaks in between your thought units a little bit longer. Because you won't have non-visual signals that someone wants to ask a question. And on the other hand: Give people the chance to bring their thoughts to an end. Don't interrupt premature.
Be more considerate and kind. Go out of your way to compensate for the non-visual signals of communications, that regularly help a lot in f2f situations.
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#23I have worked remotely for three years. Here are my tips:
Slack is your best friend but if you chat for more than a minute straight about something technical call your collegue otherwise you will lose your time.
Written language is not spoken language. Sometimes misunderstandings can arise.
Do separate your work environment from your daily life. If your house is small, like mine, light off your computer during lunch otherwise you will find yourself reading some docs, checking some code, etc.
Video conferences are not phone calls. When my team need to stay focused everybody have appear.in open in the background.
Always dress like you will dress if working in your office.
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#24Any recommendation for video conferencing? We are using hangout and it is not reliable at all :(
Others have recommended a bunch of services. I'm going to recommend that you also take a look at your conferencing hardware. A good speaker/microphone/camera set up can really make a difference. You need to spend at least $200 (but can spend upwards of $1000). I'd recommend looking at the Logitech BCC950 (about $200) or one of the Jabra Speak table conference mics (about $100 but you also need a camera). Polycom IP p…
Exactly that. And don't let high price or fancy bling bling blind you.
We got some high end blue tooth speakers that are crap (but cost upward of 4.000€ for 4 pieces). I just asked Google for these things and found them to be Sennheiser TeamConnect Wireless. At least connecting to them with a MBPro when you also want to use AppleTV wireless just isn't a solution.
Never hat so much hassle with setting up conferencing. Give me a good landline for voice and a camera/Tv setup for image.
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#25I've been working remotely for about 8 years, and I have to say it's a challenge. I have great colleagues and a great manager and we work on stuff we care about, so I am in no position to complain. However, all things being equal, I would much prefer to be in the office 3 days per week (not 5!). For all the advantages of working remotely, the social isolation is extremely unnatural and not good for you. Today, for ex…
Depending on the type of work, I find 1-2 days a week working from home to be optimal. It provides good concentration time, but I don't think I could ever consider fully-remote work, it's just too lonely. If you're not good at seeking out social interaction when you're already feeling depressed (like me), it sounds like it just wouldn't be compatible at all.
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#26[deleted]
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
He mentions being lonely during the 3rd and 8th months and provides links I believe.
> He mentions She. Or they, which I recommend when the subject's gender is irrelevant even if you know of it.
He, by definition, is gender neutral and fine for use when the gender is unknown or irrelevant.
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
He mentions being lonely during the 3rd and 8th months and provides links I believe.
He mentions being lonely during the 3rd and 8th months and provides links I believe. The author's name is in large type at the top of the page.
I am with you. It is. And assuming a male gender isn't really helpful - but we all fall for this trap sometimes.
I try to stay with the gender neutral "they". Especially if it just isn't of any relevance for the topic/discussion at hand.
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#29Any recommendation for video conferencing? We are using hangout and it is not reliable at all :(
We use zoom ( https://zoom.us ) and works quite well. Beside that, I heard a lot of good things about Jitsi ( https://jitsi.org )
I second zoom. I found it has the clearest video for screen sharing. I use it alot for pair programming. At least once a day. Really easy to share control and read the other screen.
The 1h cap is no issue. Great time to have a 5min break before starting again.
Every person i talk to who sets it up the first time always struggles to click the "audio by computer" button and i have to spend the first 2-3min explaining how to get their mic working. But it saves the setting after that. Only ever an issue once per person.
Re: Working remotely, 4 years in
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
> He mentions She. Or they, which I recommend when the subject's gender is irrelevant even if you know of it.
He, by definition, is gender neutral and fine for use when the gender is unknown or irrelevant.
The English pronouns he and she are gender-specific third-person personal pronouns.
The English pronoun they is an epicene (gender-neutral) third-person pronoun that can refer to plural antecedents of any gender and, under certain circumstances, to a singular antecedent that refers to a person.
Source: https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21719768-prais...