New Job! And...100% remote!

One of my last 'started threads' was regarding a new job (~1.5 yrs ago), and here I am again! The last year and a half has been a time of challenge, opportunity, and personal growth. It was my first foray into a global org and I unexpectedly (but thankfully!) found myself in a team lead role. You cannot ask for a better chance to prove yourself!! I hit it out of the park, established myself, and as a result I will be starting a new job that is 100% remote and 100% security

My main question is to those who currently or have worked remote...how did it change things for you both professionally, and personally? I will be upgrading my home office setup (new desk, chair, etc) but have also explored either splitting time at friends places who also work from home or renting shared space at local tech incubators. Having worked in a global org I am used to nearly all of my meetings being virtual but it is still nice to have some water cooler chat, or lunch/happy hour drinks with friends. I can still do the latter since I live in the city, but I still feel there will be some adjustment to this new role.

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danny069

Well congrats, that's an easy commute, are you going to get dressed up for work or stay in your PJs? lol

DatabaseHead

It depends on your personality type, I was an only child and love solitude, it's not loneliness for me.

However, to your point when I was working remotely I would go to my friends house and work there. We would drink at lunch and usually check out around 2 or so...... Of course this wasn't a frequent occurance but it happened enough.

Good move on upgrading your office, I own a 4 bedroom home and one of those rooms is my office. Bookcases, printer stand, great desk and chair, it's a very nice set up.

Good luck and best wishes on your new job.

coffeeluvr

Congratulations on the new job!

dhay13

congrats. i usually wear shorts and t shirt. i don't mind the alone time and am also an only child. i find i am more productive because my commute was so long that i was mentally worn out by the time i got there and there are no distractions.

Expect

I have been working remotely for the last 1.4 years, this is quite subjective in many ways, but I honestly hate the fact I work from home. I'd love to hear about other experiences from remote workers about their day to day routines, maybe I can change mine a bit to make it more productive.

Pros to working from home:
1) it's comfortable
2) It will save you some money
3) you won't get stuck in traffic, you can work from internet cafes, home, shared office (quite some $$$), etc.
4) hard for bosses to micro-manage you.
5) you can take care of errands and other commitments.

Cons:
1) It's hard.
2) You will be home all day, sometimes in your PJs. this is not a good overall feeling after sometime.
3) it may depress some people, especially in the winter.
4) Management career path is unlikely. statistically speaking - most managers do not work from home
5) Health is an important factor, you will have to take care of yourself in terms of staying in shape, getitng exercise, etc. it's harder when you're at home most of the day.
6) There are too many environmental temptations. (T.V, bed, fridge, etc)

I can't stress enough how important it is to take care of yourself when working from home. make sure to get good exercise (try every day), get comfortable office equipment, make sure you walk around every hour, make sure your office is in a room with a window, etc.

if you haven't done this kind of job in the past, the best tip I can give is to wake up, take a shower and get dressed as if you're heading out. even when you're at home.
Being in pyjamas all day is/can be devastating... and I used to play video games more than 14 hours a day, so I know a thing or two about staying at home for long periods of time... and I still find it hard today

.

Shared offices can be a good choice if you get sick of working from home, but they cost quite a bit if you want your own dedicated spot (you're looking into the $300-$400 a month) and you will not be provided with good equipment usually (i.e. monitors), some offices provide you with a decent workspace though.

Also, if you have kids/wife at home and need to work, make it clear that entering your office is not allowed, otherwise you're gonna be distracted.

hope that helped

networker050184

I agree with Expect on taking care of your health and staying active (and pretty much everything else). That was the biggest adjustment for me as I used to hit the gym on the way to/from work. Some days I'd end up not leaving the house at all and put on a good 10-15lbs the first year. Making time for walks or the gym has been key to get back into shape for myself. I live in the city so I try to make most of my travel walking and public transportation outside of work as well.

Ensure you have a good private office space and family understand that. Comfy headset is a must. I'm ready for an upgrade myself. Don't be afraid to invest money in the home office if you need things your company won't foot the bill for. I went minimalistic for a while and it wasn't that great.

Be interactive through chat, email, phone calls or whatever your company has. My whole group works from home all around the country so not like we have much chance to meet face to face if we wanted to, so we make a point to sit on the phone a few hours of the day even if there isn't a set agenda. Water cooler talk usually ends up starting conversations about work projects anyway. We sit in a chat room as well and share jokes, ask work questions etc.

In the end it's all about discipline with your work and personal life. Step away from the computer when you're off shift. I still struggle with this one from time to time. I start early and leave late just because it's right there in the next room.

Wearing PJs all day is definitely a nice perk though!

JoJoCal19

Congrats on the new remote job! I worked 100% remote for 4 years for a global bank. I missed face-to-face interactions with the people I liked but other than that I loved everything about it. Woke up 5 minutes before I needed to be on, woke up at what would be my normal time if I commuted, to study. I loved not having the distractions of BS in the office, having my kitchen and bathroom right there. I also loved being able to save the time commuting in the afternoon to go right into spending time with my family.

I'm really miserable in my current situation so I've been looking for a fully remote position. Since I'm studying up pentesting that should work in my favor as a ton of those types of positions are remote. At this point I would take a cut in pay to be able to work remotely.

scaredoftests

My husband has worked at home for about 16 years. sometimes, he carries his work home with him.

DatabaseHead

Working out should be a priority regardless if you work remotely or not, IMO.

The avoidance of office politics and gossiping is such a beautiful thing.

Techytach

I suggest starting the day with a certain routine to get things going. Like going out for a coffee or breakfast. It forces you to shower and dress. And it forces some human interaction.

broli720

Congrats. For me, remote work has been a godsend. More time with friends and family plus I'd say I'm probably in the best shape of my life health wise. My advice is to stick with a schedule and routine.

MrAgent

I worked from home for 4 years straight. I liked it at first, but then I began to miss being in an office with coworkers and having that camaraderie. Now I am back in an office, and I like it a lot. The commute is a pain, but I love the job and the people I work with.

You can also kind of be forgotten. As the old saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind."

Do your due diligence to let people know you exist, and that you are working hard.

E Double U

Pros:
- More time with my wife and kids
- Save money
- Wake up later
- No dress code
- Jog or perform errands on lunch break

Cons:
- Miss out on office fun
- I take less breaks at home

BuzzSaw

Expect wrote: »

I can't stress enough how important it is to take care of yourself when working from home. make sure to get good exercise (try every day), get comfortable office equipment, make sure you walk around every hour, make sure your office is in a room with a window, etc.

if you haven't done this kind of job in the past, the best tip I can give is to wake up, take a shower and get dressed as if you're heading out. even when you're at home.

THIS!

I don't have a job where I worked remote 100% of the time, but I have large portions of time where I work from home. In my experience, if you want to be an effective employee and person, you will want to take this advice.

The days where I act like im going to work and not just hanging out at home are the days you get the most done

greg9891

scaredoftests wrote: »

My husband has worked at home for about 16 years. sometimes, he carries his work home with him.

LOl and Congrats on the new JOB.

scaredoftests

Don't forget to go outside, take a walk etc. There are days, when my husband is so busy, he still has his jammies on when I get home. He was so busy once, he was so alarmed by that he bought a treadmill desk.

lsud00d

Thanks for all of the congrats and positive feedback! I will get an hour of my day back (vs. commuting to my previous job) and I look forward to the extra half hour of sleep and getting to the gym before the after work rush!

@Expect @networker050184 @DatabaseHead @broli720 I definitely agree with taking care of yourself and not falling into bad habits. My gym is 5 minutes from my house and I am normally itching to get there before 5 PM. I try to do an activity outside every day and work with as much natural light as possible...I spend enough time in front of the computer, it's important to disconnect and work both your mind and body in other ways.

@JoJoCal19, sorry to hear about your current spot man. I seem to recall you starting a new job ~1 year ago...is this still the same one?

@MrAgent how is your new-ish job going?

@scaredoftests is your husbands desk height adjustable? I am looking into getting a sit down/stand up desk as part of the office upgrade. If anyone has any recommendations on this last part, let me know!

scaredoftests

Yes, it is adjustable.

MrAgent

lsud00d wrote: »

Thanks for all of the congrats and positive feedback! I will get an hour of my day back (vs. commuting to my previous job) and I look forward to the extra half hour of sleep and getting to the gym before the after work rush!

@MrAgent how is your new-ish job going?

It's going well. I'm on a red team doing exactly what I want to be doing. Commute sucks, but the job makes it worth it. It doesn't seem like work at all. Good luck on your new gig. Hope you enjoy it!

sillymcnasty

My 2 brothers and cousin all work remote.

They all got fat.

But I'm jealous of them, because being fat is a lifestyle choice. I would much rather work from home and have 0 commute time, and being in NYC, not spending 9 dollars on a salad because I didn't bring lunch from home one day or another.

dhay13

I have actually lost 35lbs since going 100% remote. I knew it would be likely I would gain weight and I was already a little heavy so I decided to watch my diet much closer. Haven't really increased my exercise but definitely eating better and trying to stay under 1800 calories a day now.

wayne_wonder

I did it for a year and found i took less breaks than when at work!

Didn't even switch the tv on but it was nice being able to be there for the kids/help wife out when i could etc and no travel saved me so much money on petrol (Or gas) for my American Friends

I enjoyed it and i'm looking to get back into that type of role again where i can pick and choose

UnixGuy

Wow congratulations my friend!! well deserved.

I haven't worked remotely, but since no one has posted this yet...

Why working at home is both awesome and horrible - The Oatmeal

JoJoCal19

lsud00d wrote: »

@JoJoCal19, sorry to hear about your current spot man. I seem to recall you starting a new job ~1 year ago...is this still the same one?

Yea it's the one I started in February. It's not horrible, but it's just not a great situation for me. I'm looking every day at remote jobs and once my wife starts working in January and we switch our insurance to her job, I'll be more inclined to jump ship.

cyberguypr

Congrats on the gig! I built myself a fancy home office earlier this year and could use a remote job for a while.

kiki162

You get a LOT more done working from home that you do in the office. Which is a good thing, especially if you enjoy what you do for a living. I feel like I have more time with my family, and time to get stuff done around the house. One of the things that I noticed is that when my team goes into the office once a year, everyone is so used to working from home that everyone seems a bit annoying towards the end of the week after constant interruptions and noise from other cubes. You can also deduct a lot of your home office expenses...which is a nice thing.

bgold87

I work for a global company as well and my whole team works remotely. It took some getting used to at first, but not having the stress of getting up early, traffic, wear and tear on your car more than makes up for it. It's going to take a lot of $$$ to get me to go back into the office. Plus my wife works from home too, so she's my work buddy now.

The hardest thing for me is know when to "leave" the office. If something comes up, everything I need is just downstairs and find myself working more often than not.

Clm

I get the option to work from home once a week make sure you invest in a good comfortable chair and some decent screens,

lsud00d

Thanks everybody! This really is a great community and all of this feedback has been very helpful.

@UnixGuy thanks mate! And the Oatmeal, always on point

@cyberguypr, any suggestions on a chair and/or desk?

@bgold87 I agree, being so accessible to work will make it more of a challenge to take a break.

DatabaseHead

+1 Kiki

You avoid all the ridiculous gossip and the drive by's. If you have a good set up it's a no brainer.......