You wanna work remote?
Tags: productivity, webdev
Published: 2020-03-18 06:04:52

For the past 7+ years, I've worked remotely, and I've learned a lot in the process. If you want to work remote, consider this post of what remote work is, why I like it, some things to consider, and some tips that can help it work better for you.

### Remote work is
- Just as much work as working in an office.
- By definition, a communication challenge.
- A high burn-out risk.
- The best commute you will ever deal with.
- NOT something you can do on a beach, barring a few exceptions.
- NOT something your family and friends will understand the boundaries of, at first.


### My remote experiences, in a nutshell

Technically, my first experience remote was as a mortgage officer. I had an office home base, which was important for storing the cubic ton of files that need to be stored. But I also spent about 40% of the time working on the road, meeting with lenders and clients. I learned a lot about what _not_ to do during this time. Such as, don't leave home without a clear line to the internet/phone. 

After that, I started a crypto remittance company called Dollero. I spent more than a year behind a desk working from the moment I awoke to the moment I went to sleep, with few breaks. It's no coincidence that I learned my most important lesson here: burnout is very real; balance is key to preventing it. 

Balance, to me, is taking disconnected breaks. This means short walks, paying attention to my dog, playing a game, stretching, cooking, even doing chores.

The startup also taught me very important lessons in strong communication and how to communicate effectively when the team is not physically in the same location.

Most recently, I was a student at Lambda School (a remote full stack web development school) and a Section Lead within the school. As a student in Lambda, I learned a powerful remote tech stack, including Slack, Zoom, Trello, and Figma. As an employee, I learned the complexities of remotely managing teams of Team Leads that, in turn, remotely managed groups of students.

The complexities were almost entirely around communication. For example, it is important to communicate often with a remote team because, unlike in a physical office where you may sense your teammate is stressed out, you'll never know unless you interact with them. You gotta meet with the team and meet often to stay 'in tune'.

### Why do I like remote work?

The most productive I have ever been has been while working remote. I like the freedom of setting my own schedule and I like the focus on deliverables. 

I learned balance over the years, so I know how to step away when I need to. When it comes to pushing the envelope to meet a deadline, I can do it, because I've sustainably maintained high productivity.

Traffic sucks. I used to live in the Bay Area and I really don't like sitting in a car behind infinity other cars, with infinity cars behind me, for what seems like infinity time.

I like remote work in more ways that I'm going to go into here. My last reason is that I like to groove out. My version of groove out is often high volume jazz or rock. And headphones are cool, but I haven't found the right ones, so I prefer to play the music through the Bose. Not everyone gets down like that, so it helps that I'm miles away from each of my coworkers.

### What are some things to consider?

Don't go to work in your sweatpants every day. It makes going to work in your sweatpants less 'special' and there's only one level to go forward from sweatpants. You definitely don't want to go there. So dress up normally. 

Routines are important. This is tightly correlated with not wearing sweatpants everyday. The routine is good in the office and other places. It has just as much importance in a home office. 

This leads to my next point, try your best to have a home office. If your bed is in your home office, that's not your home office. That's your bedroom. Your bedroom is for sleep and other recreational activities. Go to your home office to do work. Burn out happens to people that let their work take over all facets of their life (well it's much more complicated than that, but you get the idea).

Be wary of coffeeshops. I like to talk to people, and it's fun. But coffeeshops in a small town (like where I live now) is a big productivity killer.

Try to hold the weekends sacred. You need a break and you need to have balance. 

Sleep. No one is at the top of their game if they are not getting the amount of sleep their body needs.

### What are some tips to make it work better?

- Use Git, Slack, Zoom, and Trello (or equivalent)
- Install Slack and Zoom on your phone
- Set auto sleep notifications
- Communicate frequently and often
- Communicate! It will feel like you are over-communicating, but strong communication is SUPER important when remote
- Git commit with meaningful messages
- Respond to messages in a timely manner
- Turn on your camera when you Zoom
- Create a place where coworkers can informally video chat (I like all day zooms, not required, with no set meeting) where team mates can join to talk about quick issues in conjunction with set meetings
- Attend stand up meetings with regularity
- Treat stand ups like sacred meetings that are only missed in exceptional circumstances
- Be sensitive and understanding of everyones particular time zone; if you set regular meetings at 5pm PST, and your team has EST members, that might be right in the middle of their family's dinner
- Remember that when you are working at home, you are still working; be professional, remind friends and family that you are working even though you are at home

### Summary

If you have experience working remote and would like to add or disagree with anything here, leave a comment. If you are planning on working remotely for the first time, I hope this helps! 

Good luck!