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What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

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Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#201
post #99

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People glorify traveling way, way too much. It's even trickled down into actual work. New grads from college somehow think management consulting's traveling every week is a fancy perk. What?

Different people enjoy different things. For some people, traveling is fulfilling and exhilarating. For other people being in unfamiliar settings with unfamiliar culture and language is much less fun. And even within that, some people can enjoy travel up to a certain point. Might be fun to travel for work once a month, but not for 3 out of 4 weeks. I traveling for my first job where I was gone 60-80% of the time and…

I used to love travel but too much work travel killed my passion for it in all forms. Now I dread flying anywhere and staying even in suites(with points) in hotels is just meh. I'd rather be home with my dog and wife and familiar stuff.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#202
post #45

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To each their own. I found that working remotely pigeonholes you into your role; its much harder to network in a remote org, to find other opportunities within the org when you're ready to explore a new role. My current org has offices around the world; I can work from any of them, or from home. I can apply for other internal roles, and keep my benefits and salary while changing up the work I'm working on. Working fr…

I agree with vinbreau. I've been 100% remote for about 10 years now and echo his comments. > I also don't want to have superficial conversations with coworkers I would argue this is a problem with the relationship between you and your coworkers and/or the size of your company and nothing to do with the means by which you communicate. Some of these people also may just not be your "kind" of person you like. In additio…

I don't find the last part to be true. When I worked fully remote, we would meet up a couple of times a year and go for dinner and beers and lunch together and had a blast. Video calls were mostly all-business though since it's just not a pleasant experience.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#203

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It takes me an hour to get to work and an hour and half back. But, I live in California and only 11 miles from work. Moving out here from the southern US was mind-boggling when it came to the traffic. I live in a damn nightmare now and am looking forward to the day I move out of this state in less than a year.

It's possible to cycle 11 miles in about 35 minutes. Make the most of the good weather. You will be fitter, healthier, less stressed, less polluting, and after the initial outlay for a new bike and all the gear, save money on vehicle, insurance, and fuel.

Likely the only connection to work is on the side of a 10-lane highway though. Not exactly a pleasant bike ride.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#204

Great article that really highlights the negative aspects of Digital Nomadism. I work with some folks that do this, and when we talk about it, they can't understand why I would want to just stay in my medium-sized city and travel a few times a year. Like, why wouldn't you want to spend 6 months a year in Thailand? It's such a no-brainer! And for me, it's just sort of mind-boggling that you'd jet set around the world.…

What I don't like is the way people are conflating work and travel. Sometimes people tell me they go down the beach or a nice park to code etc, I just couldn't think of anything worse. One thing I love about traveling is when I set aside time to "focus on traveling", do I really want to be traveling through some beautiful place while staring at my devices and responding to email? Nope. I have worked full-time remote,…

Coding on the beach or in a park? This can't be for a very serious programming task. I've tried it a few times and the glare + lack of ergonomics makes me go to a cafe and then ultimately back to the hotel to bang out actual work lol

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#205
post #144

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i read your article, and im praying that it's satire. and if not, i'm extremely concerned that it has 34k "claps" or whatever you call it on medium

lol. it is not satire. the claps are just a reflection of that a lot of people consider this a good life strategy.

I'm exhausted just skimming through it. Whatever works for you I guess

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#206

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I've been remote for almost 8 years now. I love it and dread ever having to go back into an office. Faking productivity for show when the workload is low was the worst feeling, as if I was wasting my time and life. Plus I have social anxiety and the pressure to 'fit in' was overwhelming. Now I work from home where my wife and toddler are. Being home to educate her is worth more than just about anything. I don't have…

Now I work from home where my wife and toddler are. Being home to educate her is worth more than just about anything. I don't have to drive 2 hours every day just to be an ass in a seat. Two hours where all I do is sit in a car and wish to be home. To be fair, an hour by car each way is on the long side of a commute, at least compared to the US average. (For some cities, it's probably pretty good.)

An hour each way isn't on the long side anymore, especially in and around Bay Area/SF unless you pay the price for it in higher rent/mortgage.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've definitely noticed basic stuff like sleep, diet, and exercise help to keep me focused. Exposure to sunlight helps, too. But there are still many days where I don't get much done even when I've got everything else right.

I have a similar situation to yourself. Honestly I have found that working environments become "soiled" for me over time. I try to constantly mix up where I am working in my place or get out of the house to a coffee shop to work if I am not focusing. Keeping s good rotation of these work spaces has been a huge boon. Often times I work from the couch in the living room, take a break, move to the kitchen, then end the…

Thanks, this is good advice. I'll try it.

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#208

I enjoy running my business (postjobfree.com) from my home in Florida. It also allows me to have "non-standard day" (about 30 hours, that is about 6 hours longer than regular ~24 hours day that most people have). I am not sure if such non-standard day is good or bad for me, but I like it so far. To stay mentally sane, I make sure that: 1) I exercise every day (usually, run for ~3 miles). 2) Talk with people -- both b…

So your schedule shifts 6 hours forward each day?

Correct: about 6 hours forward every day (sometimes more, sometimes less).

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#209
post #75

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If you keep posting uncivilly and unsubstantively like this we'll ban the account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Excuse me? What is so uncivil about my comment? I would point out the flaws of my own country just as quickly as I would those of Thailand. The culture of Thailand is a burden to its people, as well as its economic and education situation. To brush aside my comment is to condemn the good people of Thailand because without broaching the elephant in the room, nothing will change. Please take your fake social justice el…

We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines and ignoring our request to stop.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol. it is not satire. the claps are just a reflection of that a lot of people consider this a good life strategy.

I'm exhausted just skimming through it. Whatever works for you I guess

a lot of the article is focused on how to do deep work without getting exhausted. feels like that is a valuable skill to invest in.
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