GitLab Team member since Feb 2019 here. I've worked remotely for the past 11 years now, but this is my first experience at an all-remote company. A few points-

GitLab Team member since Feb 2019 here. I've worked remotely for the past 11 years now, but this is my first experience at an all-remote company. A few points--I've experienced managers who have both supported my working remote, acknowledging that the proper tools, organization and workstyle make it possible for anyone to be successful while working remotely, but I've also had managers (at my previous employer, who I'd call a "distributed" company) who maybe just 'tolerated' my being remote because of the results I was able to produce. I heard about how I might miss opportunities because of lack of face-time with execs, and sat through calls where I was the only one not in the room and the conference room speaker pod felt like it was miles away. In the end, collaborative tools and individuals who deliver results are going to be successful regardless of location, IMO. But, all-remote puts us all on a level playing field, so no one is missing out on opportunities for growth, advancement or development, because we’re all sitting in the same exact place. Then, it’s our skills, expertise and drive that set us apart, not our location. And, all-remote means the company is both investing in the proper workplace and collaboration tools to enable success, but also in the necessary training (asynchronous comms were a completely new concept to me: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#internal-communication https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#internal-co...) and documentation (i.e. GitLab’s handbook which documents EVERYTHING and is now 2960 pages long: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/tools-and-tips/#count-handbook-pages https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/tools-and-tips/#count-hand...) to enable work across time-zones and lifestyles. And, on a personal note, as a working mother, all-remote and async comms means I can start when I get my kids off to school and be finished and waiting for them when they get off the bus. And, when someone is sick and needs to stay home, I no longer feel like it’s a huge, stressful obstacle that I need to work around, or apologize for, or even, pretend as though it’s not happening (check out this entry from our handbook “Having pets, children, significant others, friends, and family visible during video chats is encouraged. If they are human, ask them to wave at your remote team member to say "Hi"”: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#video-calls https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#video-calls. Being able to focus on my family AND my career at the same time? That’s kind of priceless.