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Working remotely is hard

moishelettvin.com

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Re: Working remotely is hard

#31

Post by vogt »

jcroll wrote: post #24
dplgk wrote: post #2

Working remotely is excellent. 1.5 hours less commuting - that's more time to get work done or go to the gym or read the news. No one can come to my desk to socialize or ask a quick question to fuck up my flow. No one requiring me to arrive at an office at an arbitrarily early time. No dress code. No ad hoc meetings in the conference room. Listening to music I like aloud. All conf calls done on speaker. I'm home to r…

> No one can come to my desk to socialize Yeah who would want that? I've done both and both have their pros and cons, socializing is definitely a perk and introvert or extrovert should not be underestimated in keeping you healthy and happy and a skilled professional.

You answered your own question. An introvert would not want that. You can force your standards of what makes someone a "happy and skilled professional" on them if you like, but that's not always a case grounded in reality.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#32

Post by buf »

beachy wrote: post #19
buf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

speak.io Super low bandwidth audio/video/screensharing.

Its funny, your elevator pitch makes me want to use them. But over at their web site, they just look like a me-too skype replacement. They don't push the low bandwidth aspect at all.

They were just purchased by Slack as well.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#33

Post by libraryatnight »

dplgk wrote: post #2

Working remotely is excellent. 1.5 hours less commuting - that's more time to get work done or go to the gym or read the news. No one can come to my desk to socialize or ask a quick question to fuck up my flow. No one requiring me to arrive at an office at an arbitrarily early time. No dress code. No ad hoc meetings in the conference room. Listening to music I like aloud. All conf calls done on speaker. I'm home to r…

I jog during the time I normally would be commuting, on nice days I work with the windows open, at the office I have a certain level of anxiety - just thanks to the traffic around me. I'm with you on this, working from home is awesome. It suits my personality.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#34

Post by asdfologist »

jcroll wrote: post #24
dplgk wrote: post #2

Working remotely is excellent. 1.5 hours less commuting - that's more time to get work done or go to the gym or read the news. No one can come to my desk to socialize or ask a quick question to fuck up my flow. No one requiring me to arrive at an office at an arbitrarily early time. No dress code. No ad hoc meetings in the conference room. Listening to music I like aloud. All conf calls done on speaker. I'm home to r…

> No one can come to my desk to socialize Yeah who would want that? I've done both and both have their pros and cons, socializing is definitely a perk and introvert or extrovert should not be underestimated in keeping you healthy and happy and a skilled professional.

If you get your work done more efficiently, you actually have more time to socialize, with the people of your choosing.

Also, socializing in the workplace tends to be very superficial, because you're extremely limited in the range of topics you can discuss. God forbid that you say something unprofessional.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#35

Post by calebm »

I've been working remotely for the last 7 months, and I find it awesome! The biggest downside for me is less socialization with coworkers. But what helps a lot, is that my team meets one week each quarter, which helps build/maintain good rapport in the team.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#36

Post by port6667 »

Love remote work. With so many companies online now it should be a lot easier to get jobs like this.

Save money by not commuting daily. No suit dry cleaning each week. Eat tasty home made food and leftovers. Way way way way wayyyyy less stress than dressing up looking brighteyed and having to sit at a desk all day so your slave owners can stare at you not working for 8 hours plus two 15 minute breaks plus 30 minutes "lunch"

Re: Working remotely is hard

#37

Post by c23gooey »

thetmkay wrote: post #20

For me, and what I took away from this article (confirmation bias), it is that a huge barrier to working remotely is the social and personal identity we implicitly associate with work. The loosening of tribalism from your job (which between 20-40 could be your main "tribe") may be the root cause of the sense of isolation/loneliness. I wonder if it's as much the emergence of meetups & co-working spaces rather than the…

I agree that co-working can do as much as the online tools. Not to discount the importance of being able to effectively communicate with the people you are working with, however I have found that being around others who are getting their own thing done is inspiring and motivational. Working remotely in a co-working space has given me the best of both worlds - I get the social aspects of being around others and the motivation of being around others working, but no one bother me about my work cause they are not involved.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#38

Post by lojack »

vogt wrote: post #31
jcroll wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one can come to my desk to socialize Yeah who would want that? I've done both and both have their pros and cons, socializing is definitely a perk and introvert or extrovert should not be underestimated in keeping you healthy and happy and a skilled professional.

You answered your own question. An introvert would not want that. You can force your standards of what makes someone a "happy and skilled professional" on them if you like, but that's not always a case grounded in reality.

As an introvert, I like a little bit of socialization throughout my day. Too much is certainly draining, but if I worked from home I would become a hermit and have an unhealthy amount of socialization.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#39

Post by d_t_w »

buf wrote: post #6

I'm the CTO of 17hats. The entire engineering team works remotely. It's not as challenging as you seem to suggest. Right now is the best time ever to be remote. Excellent tools like Slack and Speak really help comms. We pair program very often by sshing into a tmux session which makes any lag close to nil. We use Trello for sprints. And Invision for product work. It's extremely efficient. We have our usual retrospect…

I've been working remotely for the same client since late 2012, in general it's been ideal in a number of ways and the positives out-weigh the negatives.

I do miss the casual social side of having colleagues in an office from time to time, but I tend to be quite a social person. That, and maintaining delivery over a long period of time requires focus and discipline, no small effort.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#40

Post by vinceguidry »

I wouldn't work remotely even if you gave me 25% more salary to do it. My ideal work context would be a six hour day at an office in the city that I can walk to from my condo. Sit-stand desks, balance-ball chairs, decent coffee, but no catered lunch / dinner. I want to take coworkers or dates out. Preferably with a nearby park that I can take walks in.

Sit at home with a computer all day? Sounds too much like solitary confinement for my taste.

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