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For the last 2.5 years I've been working at DigitalOcean as a remote employee. DO has more than 50% of the staff remote. I think it's important that a large chu

For the last 2.5 years I've been working at DigitalOcean as a remote employee. DO has more than 50% of the staff remote. I think it's important that a large chunk of a company & team be remote, to be successful in the exercise, so that there be a forcing function to use asynchronous communications. It's been really life changing for me. We have a bunch of style of remotees; work from home, work from coffeeshop, work from coworking spaces and work from a new place every day. I've tried all of these styles, starting with work from home, then getting super depressive from loneliness and getting a coworking space (DO pays for it), then realizing I didn't use it and instead working from a mix of home, coffeeshop, and random visits I pay to my friends. And now I've been switching to mostly working from the crazyest settings I can think of. I worked from camping spots, from a sailboat, in a national park, on a beach in Asia, and it all works out once you're used to "travelling from anywhere". I'm having the best time of my life by experimenting with what it really means when your ability to feed is now decoupled from your physical location. I feel like I'm living in a future that maybe more of the people will have the chance to live soon, and that it's my duty to find a "Theory of Working In The Future". My first theorem is "Don't stay home everyday else you shall go crazy". Also, think about the implications of OneWeb and the constellation that SpaceX has been working on; I'm thinking "what if I could get low latency/high bandwidth internet from the middle of any ocean"? The future looks bright. [edit]: just realized I'm kind of praising my employer a lot here. My comment isn't meant as recruiting spam, tho I think DO's great to remote folks. Also we're building massive distributed systems everyday and it's fun. So uh... check this out? http://grnh.se/wv3fgo http://grnh.se/wv3fgo

webaholic 10y ago
What qualifications does DO look for in an employee? I applied there but was rejected outright.
- googler9955288 10y ago
  Well, probably because you are a fucking ass?
- AYBABTME 10y ago
  It really depends on the time and what projects we had running, and the needs we had in term of experience and background at the time! It doesn't mean anything about your adequacy. Try again, things change every month! In general for remote positions, we look for people who've done it successfully before (or some shape of something like that - for instance I had experience as a research assistant for a prof from afar), or that have a lot of experience in their field of expertise. (note: I'm an engineer, I'm not really involved in hiring stuff, so take what I say with a grain of "needs to be confirmed by competent authorities")
  - dastbe 10y ago
    Is DO actually only hiring people with 7+ years experience? I ask because if not, I'd be interested in knowing how the decision to not put any entry/3-5 years experience positions affects the pipeline of candidates.
ianai 10y ago
I feel like your experience is germane. You're relating your experience with remote work directly. If anything, what's really coming across the loudest is your drive to be productive to the point of being conscious of problems arising from work conditions.
edem 10y ago
Is this REAL remote (I can apply from any country) or "just within the US" remote? I checked the link you provided but this was not detailed.
- AYBABTME 10y ago
  I'm from Canada but in Argentina right now. We have lots of folks in Europe and some in Asia! We have folks doing the round the world dance too. We had folks in Australia.
  - edem 10y ago
    Is that a YES to "REAL remote" or no?
    - AYBABTME 10y ago
      It's a yes!
      - edem 10y ago
        Thanks! What can you tell me about the interview process?
        edem 10y ago
        Why all the downvotes?
- farslan 10y ago
  It's REAL remote. I'm working a Software Engineer working for DigitalOcean from Turkey :)
  - edem 10y ago
    How did you conduct the interviews? Did you have to travel or over Skype?
traverseda 10y ago
I'm working on getting some support from the marine engineering department of my local uni to assess the idea of a ferrocement boat with basalt rebar reinforcement instead of steal. I think this has a bunch of advantages over other techniques for this kind of lifestyle. I would love to receive some emails (myusername@gmail.com) or comments talking about oneweb, and the freedom it could provide for people who like this kind of lifestyle. Some testimonials that there are actually people considering this.
- AYBABTME 10y ago
  I'm not exactly sure I understand what you're saying but my plan is 100% to, when I become an adult that needs to settle down, buy a catamaran instead of a condo and live and work from there!
calchris42 10y ago
Agreed asynchronous communications can have a ton of benefit as mentioned in the article (fewer meetings, schedule flexibility). But on the other hand, taken to the extreme, this also can lead to just the isolation the article mentions. I spent ~5 years remote at a larger company where the vast majority of employees were on site. Needless to say, the culture didn't adopt any "remote best practices". I worked from home during this time, and am probably somewhere similar on the social spectrum as the author: some aspects of introversion and extroversion. I think the frequent meetings and synchronous communication with colleagues is exactly what kept the job from feeling too isolating during that time. (However, meetings were TOO frequent for productivity).
jaegerx 10y ago
You forgot shark week. It's nice putting faces to handles. I can't be mad at you if I've drank beers with you.
- coldtea 10y ago
  You'd be surprised. The worse office politics and hostility still happen to people who meet every day.
alltakendamned 10y ago
What's your setup like that enables you to work from those crazy settings ?
- AYBABTME 10y ago
  My mac and tethering. It's more about being used to not work with external screens and SSHing on workstations to do data heavy operations.
- coldtea 10y ago
  As long as you have internet and a laptop, what's crazy about ANY setting?
  - alltakendamned 10y ago
    Fair point. However not every setting has very good internet. It might be slow or not reliable, strategies to mitigate that would be very interesting to me.
    - coldtea 10y ago
      Fair point as well. Some basic tips: mosh shell, international 4G data plans, dvcs and local dev/testing vm (with vagrant etc) for working autonomously in chunks, etc.
mderazon 10y ago
Out of curiosity, do you have kids ? I bet the answer is no. I envy you that you can do it. Having young kids makes things like that more complicated. Still possible, but not optimal.
- dominotw 10y ago
  >Out of curiosity, do you have kids ? I bet the answer is no. I live a somewhat similar lifestyle( although not as extreme as gp ), I have 2 cats which that I leave with my girlfriend when I fly out. >I envy you that you can do it. I sometimes regret not having a structured lifestyle and warmth of family. I am envious of my friends with kids who are going with the flow of life and are not living in existential dread. It's a classic human dilemma of freedom vs security.
  - subway 10y ago
    > I sometimes regret not having a structured lifestyle and warmth of family. I am envious of my friends with kids who are going with the flow of life and are not living in existential dread. It's a classic human dilemma of freedom vs security. I've been working remotely in a semi-nomadic manner for a few years now, and while on average I have no desire to give it up, this sentiment definitely pops up from time to time. I find I oscillate between a desire to be in a place where nobody knows my name, and places where I'm (relatively) well known. Working remotely grants me the opportunity to adjust my location and lifestyle accordingly.
- dwiel 10y ago
  I traveled like this with my family with 1 kid and a pregnant wife as well as with two young kids. I really enjoyed how having young kids acted as an ice breaker with people in other countries. We tried to stay in each place for at least a week at a time. We're wanting to settle down a little more now so we can have a stable social life and do more things like gardening, but I also know someone who has 3 kids and lives out of an rv with his family.
  - sanderjd 10y ago
k__ 10y ago
> then getting super depressive from loneliness I read this so often and can't understand it. It's like most people never get friends outside of work. Like they never grew up and are still in the 'I can only get friends at my school/class'-mindset from when they were young. The best people I know I met at places of my choosing, not at work, not at school. I work remote because my private life is so demanding and I couldn't get it work with 40h in an office.
- johnward 10y ago
  > like most people never get friends outside of work. 60 hour weeks and a young family will do that. I literally don't have a single friend outside of family members. I'm also suffering from bipolar depression but it's either support my family or be happy. I'd rather they be happy. I guess.
  - driverdan 10y ago
    > 60 hour weeks There's your first problem. Stop overworking.
    - ayamgaga 10y ago
      Maybe. But then it's not that simple for everyone to break out of such a vicious cycle and find friends when you don't have friends to help already.
    - johnward 10y ago
      Required.
- probablybroken 10y ago
  I can only speak for myself, but it can be hard or impossible to talk to others without having a good reason to do so - i.e, that person being necessary to your current mission ( work ).
  - throwaway26960 10y ago

webaholic 10y ago

What qualifications does DO look for in an employee? I applied there but was rejected outright.

googler9955288 10y ago
Well, probably because you are a fucking ass?
AYBABTME 10y ago
It really depends on the time and what projects we had running, and the needs we had in term of experience and background at the time! It doesn't mean anything about your adequacy. Try again, things change every month! In general for remote positions, we look for people who've done it successfully before (or some shape of something like that - for instance I had experience as a research assistant for a prof from afar), or that have a lot of experience in their field of expertise. (note: I'm an engineer, I'm not really involved in hiring stuff, so take what I say with a grain of "needs to be confirmed by competent authorities")
- dastbe 10y ago
  Is DO actually only hiring people with 7+ years experience? I ask because if not, I'd be interested in knowing how the decision to not put any entry/3-5 years experience positions affects the pipeline of candidates.

ianai 10y ago

I feel like your experience is germane. You're relating your experience with remote work directly. If anything, what's really coming across the loudest is your drive to be productive to the point of being conscious of problems arising from work conditions.

edem 10y ago

Is this REAL remote (I can apply from any country) or "just within the US" remote? I checked the link you provided but this was not detailed.

AYBABTME 10y ago
I'm from Canada but in Argentina right now. We have lots of folks in Europe and some in Asia! We have folks doing the round the world dance too. We had folks in Australia.
- edem 10y ago
  Is that a YES to "REAL remote" or no?
  - AYBABTME 10y ago
    It's a yes!
    - edem 10y ago
      Thanks! What can you tell me about the interview process?
      - edem 10y ago
        Why all the downvotes?
farslan 10y ago
It's REAL remote. I'm working a Software Engineer working for DigitalOcean from Turkey :)
- edem 10y ago
  How did you conduct the interviews? Did you have to travel or over Skype?

traverseda 10y ago

I'm working on getting some support from the marine engineering department of my local uni to assess the idea of a ferrocement boat with basalt rebar reinforcement instead of steal. I think this has a bunch of advantages over other techniques for this kind of lifestyle. I would love to receive some emails (myusername@gmail.com) or comments talking about oneweb, and the freedom it could provide for people who like this kind of lifestyle. Some testimonials that there are actually people considering this.

AYBABTME 10y ago
I'm not exactly sure I understand what you're saying but my plan is 100% to, when I become an adult that needs to settle down, buy a catamaran instead of a condo and live and work from there!

calchris42 10y ago

Agreed asynchronous communications can have a ton of benefit as mentioned in the article (fewer meetings, schedule flexibility). But on the other hand, taken to the extreme, this also can lead to just the isolation the article mentions. I spent ~5 years remote at a larger company where the vast majority of employees were on site. Needless to say, the culture didn't adopt any "remote best practices". I worked from home during this time, and am probably somewhere similar on the social spectrum as the author: some aspects of introversion and extroversion. I think the frequent meetings and synchronous communication with colleagues is exactly what kept the job from feeling too isolating during that time. (However, meetings were TOO frequent for productivity).

jaegerx 10y ago

You forgot shark week. It's nice putting faces to handles. I can't be mad at you if I've drank beers with you.

coldtea 10y ago
You'd be surprised. The worse office politics and hostility still happen to people who meet every day.

alltakendamned 10y ago

What's your setup like that enables you to work from those crazy settings ?

AYBABTME 10y ago
My mac and tethering. It's more about being used to not work with external screens and SSHing on workstations to do data heavy operations.
coldtea 10y ago
As long as you have internet and a laptop, what's crazy about ANY setting?
- alltakendamned 10y ago
  Fair point. However not every setting has very good internet. It might be slow or not reliable, strategies to mitigate that would be very interesting to me.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    Fair point as well. Some basic tips: mosh shell, international 4G data plans, dvcs and local dev/testing vm (with vagrant etc) for working autonomously in chunks, etc.

mderazon 10y ago

Out of curiosity, do you have kids ? I bet the answer is no. I envy you that you can do it. Having young kids makes things like that more complicated. Still possible, but not optimal.

dominotw 10y ago
>Out of curiosity, do you have kids ? I bet the answer is no. I live a somewhat similar lifestyle( although not as extreme as gp ), I have 2 cats which that I leave with my girlfriend when I fly out. >I envy you that you can do it. I sometimes regret not having a structured lifestyle and warmth of family. I am envious of my friends with kids who are going with the flow of life and are not living in existential dread. It's a classic human dilemma of freedom vs security.
- subway 10y ago
  > I sometimes regret not having a structured lifestyle and warmth of family. I am envious of my friends with kids who are going with the flow of life and are not living in existential dread. It's a classic human dilemma of freedom vs security. I've been working remotely in a semi-nomadic manner for a few years now, and while on average I have no desire to give it up, this sentiment definitely pops up from time to time. I find I oscillate between a desire to be in a place where nobody knows my name, and places where I'm (relatively) well known. Working remotely grants me the opportunity to adjust my location and lifestyle accordingly.
dwiel 10y ago
I traveled like this with my family with 1 kid and a pregnant wife as well as with two young kids. I really enjoyed how having young kids acted as an ice breaker with people in other countries. We tried to stay in each place for at least a week at a time. We're wanting to settle down a little more now so we can have a stable social life and do more things like gardening, but I also know someone who has 3 kids and lives out of an rv with his family.
- sanderjd 10y ago

k__ 10y ago

> then getting super depressive from loneliness I read this so often and can't understand it. It's like most people never get friends outside of work. Like they never grew up and are still in the 'I can only get friends at my school/class'-mindset from when they were young. The best people I know I met at places of my choosing, not at work, not at school. I work remote because my private life is so demanding and I couldn't get it work with 40h in an office.

johnward 10y ago
> like most people never get friends outside of work. 60 hour weeks and a young family will do that. I literally don't have a single friend outside of family members. I'm also suffering from bipolar depression but it's either support my family or be happy. I'd rather they be happy. I guess.
- driverdan 10y ago
  > 60 hour weeks There's your first problem. Stop overworking.
  - ayamgaga 10y ago
    Maybe. But then it's not that simple for everyone to break out of such a vicious cycle and find friends when you don't have friends to help already.
  - johnward 10y ago
    Required.
probablybroken 10y ago
I can only speak for myself, but it can be hard or impossible to talk to others without having a good reason to do so - i.e, that person being necessary to your current mission ( work ).
- throwaway26960 10y ago