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Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

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Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#51

Post by normloman »

coob wrote: post #49
normloman wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem with a company vacation: The people I work with are not my friends. I despise most of them. This is true for every place I've worked. It's probably true for most people here. You don't chose your co-workers. And now you're forcing me to take my vacation with these people, who I put up with every day at work. You may be puzzled reading this. "But my company is like a family." Some companies are really like…

> I despise most of them Doesn't sound like the problem is with your colleagues.

I was expecting someone to make that comment. I admit, I'm very selective about people who I consider my friend. But the notion that co-workers can be annoying is universally accepted. Otherwise, The Office, Office Space, Dilbert, and the like would not exist. Obviously they exaggerate: most people don't absolutely loathe the people they work with. But how many of your co-workers do you really want to vacation with? I bet most people would say "a few."

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#52

Post by morgante »

normloman wrote: post #47
odonnellryan wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think developers forget sometimes - and I really don't mean this in a negative way - that they are people too, not machines. People generally need some level of human contact, in person, to grow and form strong bonds with each other. I think remote works great, but it only works if you get to see some people you work with sometimes. The money the company saves can be put into a fund to bring the team together a few…

My problem with a company vacation: The people I work with are not my friends. I despise most of them. This is true for every place I've worked. It's probably true for most people here. You don't chose your co-workers. And now you're forcing me to take my vacation with these people, who I put up with every day at work. You may be puzzled reading this. "But my company is like a family." Some companies are really like…

> You don't chose your co-workers.

This is where you're going wrong. Personally, who I will be working with is one of the biggest factors in deciding where to work. A great team can make a tough job fun and a terrible team can make a great job unbearable.

> Can you ask people to leave their family behind for a week so they can bond with their co-workers?

Honestly, I think if you're a 100% remote company that's a totally reasonable demand. Even just counting commute time of 1 hour a day, that's already 250 hours of additional family time that's been returned to you—more than enough to make up for a single week of "working" non-stop.

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#53

Post by normloman »

morgante wrote: post #52
normloman wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem with a company vacation: The people I work with are not my friends. I despise most of them. This is true for every place I've worked. It's probably true for most people here. You don't chose your co-workers. And now you're forcing me to take my vacation with these people, who I put up with every day at work. You may be puzzled reading this. "But my company is like a family." Some companies are really like…

> You don't chose your co-workers. This is where you're going wrong. Personally, who I will be working with is one of the biggest factors in deciding where to work. A great team can make a tough job fun and a terrible team can make a great job unbearable. > Can you ask people to leave their family behind for a week so they can bond with their co-workers? Honestly, I think if you're a 100% remote company that's a tota…

You assume isolated hours are equivalent to long stretches of time. If I told my wife she wouldn't see me for an hour a day, she wouldn't bat an eye. But if I told her I had to leave her for a week, she'd miss the hell out of me. An hour isn't long enough to miss anyone.

Furthermore, you have less choice over your co-workers than you think. One interview is not enough time to know whether you can be friends with someone. Especially at a huge corporation, where hundreds of people may work, and constantly move departments. And unless you're the hiring manager, you have no control who will be hired after you.

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#54

Post by wiremine »

avinassh wrote: post #44
wiremine wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you suggest this even for new grads looking for a first job? Nope. I've been a full-time remote worker for 6.5 years, and 1/2 time (2 days a week) for 4 years before that. During that time I've managed and hired remote workers. The reality is remote work is not for everyone, and I think that is even more so for new grads. There is a lot of mentoring that happens early in someone's career, and that is difficul…

would recommend remote working for someone who has 2 years+ experience?

Yes, I think that's a reasonable time to start thinking about working remotely, depending on what sort of career path you're looking for. I think it's difficult to do management for the first time in a remote environment, although it isn't impossible.

If you want to freelance, remote work is ideal. And, if you can freelance for a 100% distributed company, you almost fit right into the culture.

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#55

Post by espinchi »

Since we're talking about remote work.

How is this handled at the administrative/legal level?

Does the company (US based, in this case) have to create subsidiaries in all the countries where the employees are? Or do they have to register themselves as freelancers and have a contractor contract?

I know, I know we're not lawyers here. But anyone has some pointers?

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#56

Post by greg7gkb »

jasonkester wrote: post #18

Nice writeup. I've noticed that a lot of the negatives (which the author nails, by the way) go away if you move the entire company remote. I've been working for the last 4 years with a 150 person software company that has no office whatsoever. Everybody is remote. As such, we get to remove the biggest land mine, which is being the "remote guy" on an otherwise onsite team, missing out on communication and finding your…

This is really interesting. Would you mind stating which company you work for?

Also, are there other companies that operate 100% remotely? I'd be interested in putting a list together.

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#57

Post by jasonkester »

greg7gkb wrote: post #56
jasonkester wrote: post #18

Nice writeup. I've noticed that a lot of the negatives (which the author nails, by the way) go away if you move the entire company remote. I've been working for the last 4 years with a 150 person software company that has no office whatsoever. Everybody is remote. As such, we get to remove the biggest land mine, which is being the "remote guy" on an otherwise onsite team, missing out on communication and finding your…

This is really interesting. Would you mind stating which company you work for? Also, are there other companies that operate 100% remotely? I'd be interested in putting a list together.

Articulate: https://www.articulate.com/company/careers.php

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#58

Post by hanley »

eertami wrote: post #22
jasonkester wrote: post #18

Nice writeup. I've noticed that a lot of the negatives (which the author nails, by the way) go away if you move the entire company remote. I've been working for the last 4 years with a 150 person software company that has no office whatsoever. Everybody is remote. As such, we get to remove the biggest land mine, which is being the "remote guy" on an otherwise onsite team, missing out on communication and finding your…

>It's the future. If you're not remote, find a way to fix that. Would you suggest this even for new grads looking for a first job? I just know that commuting every day is going to be incredibly depressing but I haven't seen much in the way of remote opportunities for fresh grads.

From firsthand experience, I would strongly suggest not working remotely as a new grad. I had a lot of experience before and during college, and then just happened to fall into a remote job with a company that is completely remote when I graduated this past spring. I was intrigued by the idea of having no commute and working from home/wherever, but I'm finding that I don't absorb as much information being remote as I have in my previous jobs. Work-related communication is great because my company works hard at that, but it's all the other stuff that I don't get when I'm not sitting near other developers - stuff like best practices, new technologies worth trying, active brainstorming, and development tools. Earlier this week my coworker mentioned a browser add-on he'd been using for 6 months that is incredibly useful to our job and I had never heard of it; I think if we were working in the same location then that tool would have been mentioned a lot sooner and everyone on the team would have been using it 6 months ago.

The ultimate goal as a fresh grad is to learn and absorb as much information as possible, as quickly as possible, and I think that working remotely hinders that.

Also as others have suggested, it's important to find a mentor(s) when you're a new grad, and that's harder to do as a remote worker.

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#59

Post by tomislav »

espinchi wrote: post #55

Since we're talking about remote work. How is this handled at the administrative/legal level? Does the company (US based, in this case) have to create subsidiaries in all the countries where the employees are? Or do they have to register themselves as freelancers and have a contractor contract? I know, I know we're not lawyers here. But anyone has some pointers?

I have my own LLC where I'm employed and just send an invoice every month. I found its the easiest way to handle taxes, health insurance and business expenses.

Re: Remote Working – 3 Year Retrospective

#60

Post by ddorian43 »

jasonkester wrote: post #18

Nice writeup. I've noticed that a lot of the negatives (which the author nails, by the way) go away if you move the entire company remote. I've been working for the last 4 years with a 150 person software company that has no office whatsoever. Everybody is remote. As such, we get to remove the biggest land mine, which is being the "remote guy" on an otherwise onsite team, missing out on communication and finding your…

How much does it cost living in the Caribbean ?
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