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6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

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Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#51

Post by wmu »

smdz wrote: post #19

7 years successfully working from home (4 for my employer, 3 years being self-employed). I have only one advice - Be responsible for your work and for yourself. > 1. Be as available as possible. I would highly discourage this advice. That is you setting up yourself for abuse. This happens with office employees or clients - you have to set limits and NOT respond even if you are right there. You can add a couple of hou…

I've been working for three years remotely and fully agree with you. Never ever allow your job to take over your life.

I allowed, and after two years I was dreaming about eight-hour work in an office. I was a good programmer and was able to deliver results quickly. But my private life was destroyed and my mental health ruined. When I got a remote job I wasn't aware of its perils; of course, some of the problems I had was my fault.

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#52

Post by Boothroid »

maxxxxx wrote: post #10
nottorp wrote: post #8

If you want to be treated equally you have to join an organization where the majority of workers are remote. Otherwise you run into crap like "make yourself available all the time". If you're the only remote employee, the OPs advice is pretty good, but I'd add "look for a real remote company" to it. Also... video chat? What's it for? In a remote context you get those very useful text based communication tools that co…

This is a really important point. Remote work works only in a fully/majority remote company. In mostly onsite companies you will most likely be the odd man out.

Absolutely. There's also a danger of resentfulness from those that aren't home based.

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#53

Post by Boothroid »

teuobk wrote: post #14

Another idea that has worked well for me: get a dog. It can get lonely working alone at home; dogs keep you company. It can be easy to stay in the house all day; dogs are a good reason to talk walks outside. It can be easy to let the workday roll into the evening; dogs get hungry for dinner and let you know, which serves as a reminder that, yes, you should stop work for the day.

Only problem is it can make life a lot harder if you're looking to move back to office based job.

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#54

Post by sdoering »

nottorp wrote: post #50
pavel_lishin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also... video chat? What's it for? Being able to have a quick discussion, and being able to rely on audio and visual queues to carry on a conversation - as opposed to typing something out and waiting for to other part(y|ies) to respond.

This is work not dating, how about clear written statements instead of cues? :) Edit: I suppose that if your only socialization is with co workers, you need those video chats and stuff. In that case I suggest going out and meeting friends once in a while.

During my time as a consultant in an agency I learned that human interaction helps a lot in the beginning of a new project. Getting to know all stakeholders and people working on the project fosters better understanding down the line and helps in achieving a way more smoothly running project.

I really like my alone time but I learned that the human element is not to be underestimated.

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#55

Post by irascible »

Great writeup. Jibes pretty well with my experience working remotely for the last 3 years. Be available. Be positive. Don't try and be the cool guy.. be the guy who is bringing all his skills to the table. Be friendly. Be public in your praise of others work, and try to resolve your issues privately. Keep the public channels clean and on point.. one of the biggest positives I find in working remotely is that your entire job history is laid out in your slack transcripts.. and if well maintained, is useful just like a github log. I fucking love it.

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#56

Post by pavel_lishin »

nottorp wrote: post #50
pavel_lishin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also... video chat? What's it for? Being able to have a quick discussion, and being able to rely on audio and visual queues to carry on a conversation - as opposed to typing something out and waiting for to other part(y|ies) to respond.

This is work not dating, how about clear written statements instead of cues? :) Edit: I suppose that if your only socialization is with co workers, you need those video chats and stuff. In that case I suggest going out and meeting friends once in a while.

> This is work not dating, how about clear written statements instead of cues? :)

I think you're really underestimating the value of direct person-to-person communication, and how much it can help - especially if one of the team members isn't as good as written communications as you are.

It's also very helpful when multiple people need to discuss something - there's a lot less dead air, since we can typically speak faster than we can type. If I bring something up, and Bob has a comment on it, he can very obviously indicate that he's about to speak ,and then do so - instead of starting to type out a reasonably long reply only to get interrupted, or for me to wonder whether anyone's replying at all.

Written works great in something like email, but for relatively quick discussions, face-to-(virtual?)-face is still excellent.

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#58

Post by jcroll »

throwawayfoo wrote: post #30
jcroll wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying you're introverted is like saying you enjoy reading more than being active. Both are healthy and liking one more than the other is not an excuse not to make sure you do both regularly.

Enjoying an activity is not equitable to one's nature.

Oh it's in your nature to be an anti social dork in a basement? Unfortunate for you!

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#59

Post by [deleted] »

smdz wrote: post #49
jwong_ wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the 3 years of self-employment after 4 years of remote? If so, how did you transition to self-employed? I'm thinking of doing the same, but I'm having trouble sussing out a path to do so.

Short story, the company I worked for remotely did not encourage remote-work. And was selective at who gets to work remotely. That itself creates a lot of problems with the team and with the opportunities you get. As this guy mentions "Be as much available as possible". That technically ends up in over-work. Management will like it, but I did not like it at all. Having said that it was riskier for me to keep the remo…

[deleted]

Re: 6 months of working remotely taught me a thing or ten

#60

Post by jwong_ »

smdz wrote: post #49
jwong_ wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the 3 years of self-employment after 4 years of remote? If so, how did you transition to self-employed? I'm thinking of doing the same, but I'm having trouble sussing out a path to do so.

Short story, the company I worked for remotely did not encourage remote-work. And was selective at who gets to work remotely. That itself creates a lot of problems with the team and with the opportunities you get. As this guy mentions "Be as much available as possible". That technically ends up in over-work. Management will like it, but I did not like it at all. Having said that it was riskier for me to keep the remo…

Thanks for the advice! My company is mostly remote but going through some tumultuous changes so I'm looking at my options while also trying to orchestrate a hop to another country. Maybe it's best I push consulting to the wayside after I settle in the new country. The guideline numbers you gave helped me out -- always good to have a ballpark to measure yourself against.
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