Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Remote Only

remoteonly.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 374 posts

Re: Remote Only

#361

Post by mcovey »

nvarsj wrote: post #207

My somewhat reductive conclusion about remote work is that it boils down to the ability to be an effective writer. If you're not good at written communication, or you work with people who are not good at it, remote work will be miserable. People who are not highly fluent in the company's written language or those with some level of dyslexia will struggle. Also some people get frustrated with the more analytic approac…

Even though I'm much better at expressing myself with writing than through speaking, I get some anxiety about bothering people or keeping their attention that makes it difficult to "work through" a problem remotely. When I know exactly what I'm doing and just need to communicate it, everything's great. When there's an issue that two or more people need to look at and discuss at the same time, it gets much more difficult. I'd be the perfect remote worker for a company without tight deadlines where there are never any "fires" that need to be put out. But there aren't very many of those.

Re: Remote Only

#363

Post by dennisgorelik »

linsomniac wrote: post #308
nvarsj wrote: post #207

My somewhat reductive conclusion about remote work is that it boils down to the ability to be an effective writer. If you're not good at written communication, or you work with people who are not good at it, remote work will be miserable. People who are not highly fluent in the company's written language or those with some level of dyslexia will struggle. Also some people get frustrated with the more analytic approac…

This does ring true. Years ago when I was running a remote-primary shop we hired this one guy that just struggled. I spent the next year trying to get him on track and one of the big issues was his writing was terrible; both internally and with our customers. Right before we finally gave up, I went back and looked at all his interview communications. As part of the interview we would exchange several e-mails to see h…

Why didn't you hire his wife when you learned that she wrote these emails?

Re: Remote Only

#364

Post by dennisgorelik »

> Asynchronous communication over synchronous communication.

I think it is a mistake to try to bundle "remote" work with "asynchronous" work.

These are orthogonal things.

Re: Remote Only

#365

Post by dredmorbius »

wyclif wrote: post #346
dredmorbius wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Write more, but get feedback . Unselected, ungoverned, training, can simply reinforce bad habits.

If your spelling is poor, make an effort to improve. But don't wait for that to happen. Start composing your email in Google Docs or the word processor of your choice with spellcheck turned on. It is worth the extra step of copy pasting your emails in order to get spelling and grammar right.

Spelling's one of the least problems with writing.

Structure, meaning, flow, logic, and engaging the reader the most difficult.

Logic and rhetoric over grammar.

Re: Remote Only

#366

Post by ahtu123 »

specialist wrote: post #285
pricees wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been my experience, 100%. All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area. I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue. For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team. It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the o…

1) I don't believe you. You're a fine writer. 2) Writers write. So write more. The only actionable advice I ever got. I used to devour howtos like Bugs In Writing. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/601222.Bugs_in_Writing Once I felt confident that I'm saying what I meant to say, I think I stopped. I should probably revisit the classics for a refresher. 3) Simple is harder. Explaining complex stuff is a ninja power.…

I was never that good at writing but just putting some effort and caring about what you write down makes a huge difference. After you write an email or a document, read through the whole thing and edit. Is it obvious what I want to happen? Do I sound like a dick? The biggest improvement for me was to give more concrete answers. Like when someone asks you for a meeting, don't just say "yeah any time's fine", actually give a few dates and times that work for you. It also cuts down on the annoying back and forth of scheduling via email.

Re: Remote Only

#367

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

nvarsj wrote: post #207

My somewhat reductive conclusion about remote work is that it boils down to the ability to be an effective writer. If you're not good at written communication, or you work with people who are not good at it, remote work will be miserable. People who are not highly fluent in the company's written language or those with some level of dyslexia will struggle. Also some people get frustrated with the more analytic approac…

We had the same problem even in person to be fair: one of the guy didn't speak english properly, we had a lot of troubles understanding him. And he also talked a lot, which made things worse (listen to a lot of things you don't understand). In the end, communication must be great, no matter what.

Re: Remote Only

#368

Post by pitaj »

pricees wrote: post #271
nvarsj wrote: post #207

My somewhat reductive conclusion about remote work is that it boils down to the ability to be an effective writer. If you're not good at written communication, or you work with people who are not good at it, remote work will be miserable. People who are not highly fluent in the company's written language or those with some level of dyslexia will struggle. Also some people get frustrated with the more analytic approac…

This has been my experience, 100%. All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area. I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue. For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team. It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the o…

One good to practice is to think of something that really bothers you: traffic, politics, your in-laws, whatever. Then write a blog post explaining why it makes you angry, and giving ways to fix it.

Re: Remote Only

#369

Post by narag »

SigmundA wrote: post #270
narag wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine the difference in traffic and office space if every job that could be remote was. I was wondering how much work cannot be remoted and it seems a lot. Remote work is a privilege.

It seems to me nearly all white collar office/desk jobs could be remote as they basically involve sitting at a desk with a computer and phone. I believe more than half of all jobs in the US are considered white collar. Perhaps I'm overly optimistic about what could be done remote, but modern cities seem to be basically a bunch of tall buildings with offices that have a desk and computer to sit at.

It seems to me nearly all white collar office/desk jobs could be remote as they basically involve sitting at a desk with a computer and phone. I believe more than half of all jobs in the US are considered white collar.

You are cheating! Not all white collar workers can work remotely. Everything healthcare, legal, teachers, everybody with a public-facing work, computer technicians, sales... Actually, could anybody make the reverse list? Better than dismiss the discussion with another downvote.

Re: Remote Only

#370

Post by linsomniac »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #363
linsomniac wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This does ring true. Years ago when I was running a remote-primary shop we hired this one guy that just struggled. I spent the next year trying to get him on track and one of the big issues was his writing was terrible; both internally and with our customers. Right before we finally gave up, I went back and looked at all his interview communications. As part of the interview we would exchange several e-mails to see h…

Why didn't you hire his wife when you learned that she wrote these emails?

Weeeeell... She didn't apply... :-)
Post reply on HN