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Remote Only

remoteonly.org

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Re: Remote Only

#31

Post by chpmrc »

baddox wrote: post #23
chpmrc wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This assumes that the only place a remote worker can work from is their home. There is nothing more detrimental to a person's psyche. Cafes and coworking spaces are the most obvious and effective solution to this problem. I made countless friends while working remotely and a good 90% of them I met in a coworking space (and the so called "digital nomad" community is made of some really awesome people). Plus you have t…

I don’t think it’s very detrimental if you have a separate room or area of your home that is only used for your remote work.

That surely helps but at the end of the day it depends on your personality. Some people can go a lot longer working completely alone (e.g. if you have a family), others prefer working in a more social environment (e.g. solo travellers), at least occasionally. I definitely prefer the latter.

Re: Remote Only

#33

Post by toddsiegel »

ozten wrote: post #20
toddsiegel wrote: post #16

> People don't have to say when they are working. This is a bad idea. People should not have to work all on the same schedule, but having some shared understanding of when people work or take time off is certainly a good thing.

I read this as "You don't constantly have to announce that you are working", maybe some copy editing would make the intent clearer.

If you mean announcing every time you walk the dog, or run a quick errand, then sure, of course.

I work remotely and keep regular hours. I communicate any major deviation from those hours.

I’ve worked with people that keep super random hours. That is fine too, but they have to communicate some kind of expectations to the team. It’s super frustrating when they don’t. It becomes hard to manage if you’re directly depending on them for any reason.

Re: Remote Only

#34

Post by bradford »

cgb223 wrote: post #8
hartator wrote: post #6

> Disadvantages > Scares investors - Scares some partners - Scares some customers - Scares some potential employees, mostly senior non-technical hires - Onboarding is harder, first month feels lonely We do a full remote policy at SerpApi.com, however I found this disadvantages list a bit dishonest, they are more way numerous and important, the most obvious are missing real human contacts (and it doesn't get easier wi…

Can you expand on the disadvantages then? If you were to write that list, what would it look like?

I'm not the parent poster, but I think the document glossed over the biggest perceived disadvantage:

Despite technological advances, I still believe that face-to-face communication is the most efficient way to transfer information and come to conclusions on difficult decisions. It's also the least susceptible to misinterpretation.

Re: Remote Only

#35

Post by matwood »

subway wrote: post #2

For the love of all that is sane, please top trying to push nonstop video calls onto remote employees. Embrace asynchronous communication.

> For the love of all that is sane, please top trying to push nonstop video calls onto remote employees.

Nonstop video calls are dumb, but people should try to be on video when there are scheduled meetings. It really helps to see other people when having a discussion.

Re: Remote Only

#36

Post by dstik »

subway wrote: post #2

For the love of all that is sane, please top trying to push nonstop video calls onto remote employees. Embrace asynchronous communication.

I completely agree that the most effective way for remote teams to communicate is via asynchronous video messaging instead of real-time video conferencing. Some of the difficulties I've experienced coordinating meetings with remote colleagues include:

- Difficulty scheduling a time that fits for all participants. Some team-members are inevitably stuck with a non-ideal timeframe. Often times it's the same employee suffering each meeting, which leads to resentment.

- Interruptions during productive hours. See the Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html) - reacting to interruptions can be disastrous.

- Frustration from choppy/laggy video that results in loss of important parts of updates and valuable information.

I'm actually building an app called Tape to address these kinds of issues and to improve communication and collaboration across teams by integrating into existing workflows not against them. If any of you guys are interested in learning more or trying out our product, I'd love to connect: https://trytape.typeform.com/to/pKe6X5

Re: Remote Only

#37

Post by keithnz »

I'd be interested to know some long term remote workers experiences with regards to interruptions. It's one of the things that I believe would be better. In many places I've worked I tend to become a "go to" person which results in many many interruptions, it doesn't make too much difference how much you write down, it's usually always quicker to just ask someone who you know knows the answer to whatever question you have. Remote working seems like it would put up just enough of a barrier that written information / async communication would be an easier go to?

Re: Remote Only

#38

Post by nemothekid »

existencebox wrote: post #13
hartator wrote: post #6

> Disadvantages > Scares investors - Scares some partners - Scares some customers - Scares some potential employees, mostly senior non-technical hires - Onboarding is harder, first month feels lonely We do a full remote policy at SerpApi.com, however I found this disadvantages list a bit dishonest, they are more way numerous and important, the most obvious are missing real human contacts (and it doesn't get easier wi…

I don't share your pessimism about the list of downsides, and am honestly surprised, as while normally I chuckle at the "HN is always negative" sentiment, this post being the top reply is a real head scratcher, as someone who is both 1. on a >75% remote team, and 2. who has been advocating/watching HN advocate for remote for quite some time. I'd say "missing real human contacts" is summarized well under a combination…

>I don't mean to be dismissive, but "that seems like a personal problem."

This is incredibly dismissive. Almost all the "advantages for employees" are personal. How is "No commuting time or stress" not a personal benefit? The advantages for remote work are almost entirely being sold that they are better for people. If someone has a personal problem with an aspect of it, then it should be taken seriously.

Imagine if you told an employer that the commute to work was rough so you would like to work remote and he told you "that sounds like a personal problem, why don't you move closer to work?"

Re: Remote Only

#39

Post by existencebox »

s-shellfish wrote: post #30
existencebox wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't share your pessimism about the list of downsides, and am honestly surprised, as while normally I chuckle at the "HN is always negative" sentiment, this post being the top reply is a real head scratcher, as someone who is both 1. on a >75% remote team, and 2. who has been advocating/watching HN advocate for remote for quite some time. I'd say "missing real human contacts" is summarized well under a combination…

You might want to try using a writing style less similar to coding. I don't know if I'm noticing a trend between an influx of new users from reddit after their BS UI redesign, but your text can get quite dense (it's not lacking in information that makes sense). Did upvote you because I feel you made some very experienced and work-aware points.

Meta-comment: You're right, and it's a weakness I've observed in my own posts for years now. There are other commentators that often come into HN threads I post in, and make my point better+more succinctly than I could have. I wish I could replicate/learn from those examples better. I think it's less of a redditism and my own overly-loquatious style/attempting to avoid misunderstanding through verboseness. The feedback is really appreciated.

Re: Remote Only

#40

Post by solarkraft »

namibj wrote: post #19
kilroy123 wrote: post #15

Not sure if it's just my perception, but it seems the pendulum has swung back around and remote work is looked at unfavorably. I've worked remotely the last 3+ years and I'm currently looking for a new gig. Seems like there aren't a lot of companies who are ok with full-time remote. For the few that are, there is really stiff competition for those few jobs.

Check out German software-related companies. Small ones are usually flexible to be persuaded to hire you, if you can get through to them, that is. A good application should work, and as usual, don't give up too soon. They don't even know they can handle it. Maybe do some research as to how they'd have to do payroll, to reduce the scariness of someone overseas.

Where can I specifically find German tech companies?
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