Ask HN: Has working remotely harmed your career growth?

I've been working remotely for the past 10 years, and only the first year of that was with a totally remote organization.

It's very important that the organization is well equipped to handle remote workers (i.e. more than just one or two people are remote). The local people in the company should take pains to make sure that the remote people are included.

As a remote person, it's important to make sure that you communicate often. Deliver well, talk to people, make yourself visible by being a part of things that matter. Look for ways in which things could be better, because they always exist.

Make sure your manager knows your career aspirations, and let them help you with that.

Do spend time in the office and with your coworkers when you get a chance. I've made 4-6 trips per year over the past 9 years. Face time does matter, so take advantage of it!

At many (most) companies, there is a ceiling for remote workers. If you want to be a VP, you'll almost certainly need to be at headquarters. I have had engineering, management, product management, project management, and architecture roles remotely, though, so there is a lot of possibility available!

I've been working mostly remote for the last five years in three different organizations. I can't say that it's harmed my career.

In the first one, all my peers were remote and we established close and lasting relationships that remain beneficial to this day.

In the second, corporate HQ was local, but my manager wasn't, so I rarely went to the office. It was the nature of the place not to have good relationships - seriously dysfunctional. Remote or not was the same, and I preferred to save the commute time and not soil my karma.

In my current gig, my hiring manager was remote but left, so I've been visiting the office every week or so to have a better relationship with my local new boss. I work in a large team, but everyone I deal with is remote (sales for a very large company) so those are the important and long-term valuable contacts.

Although I hope the OP responds since I'd also be interested in details, one thing I've read that helps create a positive environment for remote workers is to make the entire company remote (such as Gitlab) rather than a mix of office and remote employees. This way everyone's using the same communication channels and it reduces the situations where certain groups are more in or out of the loop than other groups.

I agree that’s ideal. I did it once and really liked it. I thought I could do it again but my current company shut the office in my city shortly after I joined.

Remote != home. If you lack social interaction or networking, join a co-working space.