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I am running job interviews and candidates ask to work remotely often, even from junior candidates that need at least 6-12 months of development to be truly use

by kfk 5y ago

I am running job interviews and candidates ask to work remotely often, even from junior candidates that need at least 6-12 months of development to be truly useful to us. We teach valuable stuff, data engineering, we offer good salaries, they know they will get into a lucrative carrier with us, yet they think they can do all of this remotely. I have to tell them - it’s not realistic. It’s not realistic to learn complex concepts without meeting your more experienced colleagues at least 2-3 times per week. Online courses can only go so far, same with zoom calls and slack. Some candidates understand my point, some don’t, I am sorry for those who don’t. Of course there are people that are self-driven and can do all remotely, but in my experience if you need to develop you are much better off being in an office with people that can mentor you daily.

maybelsyrup 5y ago
> It’s not realistic to learn complex concepts without meeting your more experienced colleagues [...] Eh, dunno. A) It's not the complex concepts that benefit from physical proximity to other members of our species, in my experience; it's the subtleties, the little tricks, hacks, and bits of hidden knowledge that are really amenable to someone shuffling over to your desk, grabbing your keyboard, and going "here look at this weird way of doing it" in 20 seconds of physical interaction. Junior people can learn complex things remotely, but maybe physical proximity can give them those little details better. Which leads me to > [...] at least 2-3 times per week. B) So let'em come in twice a week and work from home the other 3. What's the problem? One of my siblings hires junior people at their firm and this is the way they've been operating since before the pandemic. The kids get trained up real nice and are happier in their work not having to commute 3x/wk.
- kfk 5y ago
  We already have a 2-3 days work from office policy but for some that is not good enough, they want full remote. Many other IT companies are now offering full remote... but I think it’s not in the interest of the employees that need to develop and learn. Again it’s my own experience, I might be wrong, I am just suggesting to approach this topic with care.
literallyaduck 5y ago
Screen sharing and cameras go a long way, office networking and what people say offline can be important, but I fully believe it is possible for tech work to be fully remote. Paired programming is possible if not better while remote. Programmers don't have the best hygiene in my experience and not having a sweaty meatbag in the chair next to me while we share concepts is justification enough. Perhaps if your work isn't all on a computer you can't get around this, but at least for programming I firmly believe in remote work.

by kfk 5y ago

maybelsyrup 5y ago

> It’s not realistic to learn complex concepts without meeting your more experienced colleagues [...] Eh, dunno. A) It's not the complex concepts that benefit from physical proximity to other members of our species, in my experience; it's the subtleties, the little tricks, hacks, and bits of hidden knowledge that are really amenable to someone shuffling over to your desk, grabbing your keyboard, and going "here look at this weird way of doing it" in 20 seconds of physical interaction. Junior people can learn complex things remotely, but maybe physical proximity can give them those little details better. Which leads me to > [...] at least 2-3 times per week. B) So let'em come in twice a week and work from home the other 3. What's the problem? One of my siblings hires junior people at their firm and this is the way they've been operating since before the pandemic. The kids get trained up real nice and are happier in their work not having to commute 3x/wk.

kfk 5y ago
We already have a 2-3 days work from office policy but for some that is not good enough, they want full remote. Many other IT companies are now offering full remote... but I think it’s not in the interest of the employees that need to develop and learn. Again it’s my own experience, I might be wrong, I am just suggesting to approach this topic with care.

literallyaduck 5y ago

Screen sharing and cameras go a long way, office networking and what people say offline can be important, but I fully believe it is possible for tech work to be fully remote. Paired programming is possible if not better while remote. Programmers don't have the best hygiene in my experience and not having a sweaty meatbag in the chair next to me while we share concepts is justification enough. Perhaps if your work isn't all on a computer you can't get around this, but at least for programming I firmly believe in remote work.