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I worked remotely for a year and half and later worked from home for my own business. From my own perspective, I found it unsustainable. Mainly, there are the

I worked remotely for a year and half and later worked from home for my own business. From my own perspective, I found it unsustainable. Mainly, there are the psychological benefits of working around other people that the internet can't replicate. These were the stages I went through when I landed my remote job back in 2004: 1. Euphoria. I was finally free of cubicle hell! I couldn't believe my luck of landing a job working remotely. I could start and stop work whenever I wanted. I could even take a nap after lunch 2. Contentment. I was more productive. I was being judged on results only. All is good. 3. Isolation. I started to feel a little left out from from the happenings at the main company office. I would hear stories about company gatherings and events. When I was at the office, I wouldn't get any of the inside jokes or stories about the "crazy" night I wasn't there for. 4. Insanity. Must...get...out...of...the...house... Also, career development is really hard working remotely. Most people are fine being an individual contributor early in their career but once you've been in the industry for 10 years or so, you'll start thinking about what's next. I'm more satisfied coming into the office at a company that gives me flexibility to be myself and work the way I want than I was working remotely from home. YMMV.

dhh 15y ago
Two things. We've definitely found that this setup works better with people who already have strong social ties present. Close by family, friends helps, but spouse + optionally kids really does it. Also, at 37signals the career path is not one that leads into management. If you're looking to climb the ladder at a bigco, then sure, I wouldn't recommend remote working.
technomancy 15y ago
I worked remotely for two years out of LA as one of two engineers for a tiny startup, and that describes my experience there perfectly. I've been working remotely for the last three years out of Seattle, and it's totally different. Part of it is the availability of plenty of coffee shops from which to work (http://technomancy.us/156 http://technomancy.us/156), part of it is having more hacker friends locally with which to co-work, but a lot of it comes down to just having a lot more communication with my remote team. At my last job I spent the majority of the day pair programming over SSH and VoIP. Also, being the one remote guy on a team that's otherwise all in-house is much, much harder to pull off.
joeyespo 15y ago
You should look into coworking then. This can help bring just the right amount of balance to fight the isolation problem. Even better, it can bring the employed and self-employed together and provide a fresh perspective when you need one.

dhh 15y ago

Two things. We've definitely found that this setup works better with people who already have strong social ties present. Close by family, friends helps, but spouse + optionally kids really does it. Also, at 37signals the career path is not one that leads into management. If you're looking to climb the ladder at a bigco, then sure, I wouldn't recommend remote working.

technomancy 15y ago

I worked remotely for two years out of LA as one of two engineers for a tiny startup, and that describes my experience there perfectly. I've been working remotely for the last three years out of Seattle, and it's totally different. Part of it is the availability of plenty of coffee shops from which to work (http://technomancy.us/156 http://technomancy.us/156), part of it is having more hacker friends locally with which to co-work, but a lot of it comes down to just having a lot more communication with my remote team. At my last job I spent the majority of the day pair programming over SSH and VoIP. Also, being the one remote guy on a team that's otherwise all in-house is much, much harder to pull off.

joeyespo 15y ago

You should look into coworking then. This can help bring just the right amount of balance to fight the isolation problem. Even better, it can bring the employed and self-employed together and provide a fresh perspective when you need one.