UPDATE: Anyone work a fully remote job?

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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,904
12,374
126
www.anyf.ca
One thing I would love about a remote job is ability to use my own equipment. The stuff they tend to get at work is low budget bare minimum. I work at a NOC. If I setup my own NOC workstation at home it would be no less than 3 4K screens so I can fit all my programs instead of having to overlap everything on some low res displays. I have 5 monitors at work and it's still not enough. A single 4k would be equivalent to 4 of those. (after a while you can only add so many monitors due to video card/windows limitation)
 

repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
4,544
3,471
136
Interesting reading the perspectives here. I've been wanting to move away from MA to Colorado but really want to take my job with me. I met someone at a conference who made the same move 9 years ago (same company) and found it totally worthwhile, though with some of the same tradeoffs mentioned here.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,930
5,802
126
Interesting reading the perspectives here. I've been wanting to move away from MA to Colorado but really want to take my job with me. I met someone at a conference who made the same move 9 years ago (same company) and found it totally worthwhile, though with some of the same tradeoffs mentioned here.
That is one reason I am interested in it. My current position it simply isn't even a possibility. But I'd love to land a remote job then head to the Carribean for a few months then head out west permanently, and I could do it all at my own pace.
 

007ELmO

Platinum Member
Dec 29, 2005
2,051
36
101
I've worked remotely for years. At my current job it's permanently remote. But what happens is some companies/clients expect you to be available all day, not away for 15 minutes, and because they can't see you in person - impromptu Skype calls happen throughout the day. I'm sometimes on the phone for 4-6 hours of a normal 8 hour day. Working from home also involves longer calendar hours (6AM to 7PM, maybe not working the whole time).

I thought working from home would mean I would travel more, instead, I ended up leaving the house LESS. Depends on the gig, my first work from home gig was much better in teh respect I didn't work with as many people. If you have less coworkers to deal with, it can work.
 

TheInternet1980

Golden Member
Jan 9, 2006
1,651
1
76
I work remotely 100% of the time for federal contractor. Pretty sweet. I live in Cleveland, but my team is located in Fairfax. It's more involved than you would think. Constant meetings, deliverables to deliver on, etc. The commute down the hallway to my home office in the morning is pretty nice though.
 

007ELmO

Platinum Member
Dec 29, 2005
2,051
36
101
I also live in Cleveland. My last job had very few coworkers, I basically had to do it all at every client, and it was very nice. Full control of your work hours, very little communication. I would garden and landscape for hours a day as a break from work.
 
Reactions: TheInternet1980

Tweak155

Lifer
Sep 23, 2003
11,448
262
126
I did work from home for 3 years straight, would not go back to it 100%. I now work from home 1 day per week... might max it to 2 but that's it.
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
I couldn't do 100% from home. I do 1 to 2 days a week and that's enough. I work for a consulting company, so it's mostly remote stuff for clients anyway, but I would have much less social interaction. I guess it helps I don't have real set hours at my job, the commute is easy, the pay is nice, I get to change projects every now and again, and I actually like banter with my coworkers.
 

TheInternet1980

Golden Member
Jan 9, 2006
1,651
1
76
I also live in Cleveland. My last job had very few coworkers, I basically had to do it all at every client, and it was very nice. Full control of your work hours, very little communication. I would garden and landscape for hours a day as a break from work.

Hey neighbor! West side or east side? Also, our join dates are oddly close.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,930
5,802
126
Somewhat of an update...

I'm in the midst of talking to 2 companies for remote work and just did a javascript assignment for one. I went above and beyond the solution they asked for so I hope it comes off as good solution for them. It was for a card game that was for 2 players however I made it work for X players so they can make it have as many players as they want. The other one I should be on the 2nd round of interviews as well.

On another note, I just got another job offer from a company that I didn't even reach out to and they kind of found me through a recruiter and I went through 2 short interview rounds with them casually at lunch time while wearing just a hoodie and jeans lol. It's similar work to what I do now with a $10k more base salary + 10% 401k (not even matching, they just put that in - 3% at each pay period + 7% lump at end of year). Everything else is pretty similar (100% company covered health insurance for family, although no high deductible plan this time but also no HSA, 27 days of PTO, and some other stuff). I am not sure if $10k is enough to make me jump ship though so I'm going to discuss with the wife tonight.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,930
5,802
126
wow. How old are you and what is your job? 100k is like 70k EUROS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You rich.
35, Senior Software Architect by title but pretty much doing engineering as my day to day.
 

louis redfoot

Senior member
Feb 2, 2017
289
14
41
been self-employed over 10 years, i work from home. got my start selling stuff on ebay. currently i'm an investor, do some freelance writing and contract consulting work.

i wouldn't want to work any other way. the work's always there, i pick it up and put it down whenever. no commute (i live in l.a.), don't have to dress up. the main downside is that i'm always home, which can get tedious. but no biggie, just gotta make myself go out.
 

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,255
403
126
I'm not sure I have the discipline to work from home 100%. Well... I might be able to pull it off if I really tried but it's more accurate to say that I don't have an interest in working from home, even part time. At least at this point in my life. As much as I am a shy introvert, I enjoy going into the office and working there. I also don't have a bad commute (I live 5 minutes or so from work) so that ain't a factor either.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,930
5,802
126
I'm looking for some advice on contacting this remote company that I'd like some input on.

I have had a really good feeling about this one remote company that I've had 2 interviews with thus far. I had about a 90 minute Google Hangout interview with a remote company and 3 of their team members about 2 weeks ago and I thought it went great. I just had that good vibe. They knew I was going on vacation this past week and now that I'm back, I still have yet to hear anything back from them. Now previous to this, the process was moving somewhat slowly. I think it was like 10-12 or so days between my first Hangout interview with them and the 2nd one with more of the team.

Since I've been talking to them I've also received another job offer that is $25k (the one I mention above that offered $10k more initially) more than I'm currently making, and it is kind of a "you would be stupid not to take it" type of job. It's not remote though it's local. But before I make my decision with them I want to see what this remote company says and if they are going to make me an offer or anything.

I was going to shoot them an email today and just say "hey just checking in, it's been 2 weeks, any updates, blah blah" type of email.

My question is - should I mention I've gotten another offer to them in the email and tell them that I'm waiting to hear back from them before I make any decision with the company that made me an offer? Or should I just completely leave that out? The reason I was thinking about mentioning it was because maybe it will make them answer me quicker, but at the same time, I don't know if it sounds like I'm giving them an ultimatum too.

Anyone have an opinion on it?
 

repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
4,544
3,471
136
Anyone have an opinion on it?

I think if they want you, it's not going to make any difference regarding whether you get the job or not, but it may push them to move. I'd do it but be careful with wording to make it not sound like an ultimatum.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,930
5,802
126
I think if they want you, it's not going to make any difference regarding whether you get the job or not, but it may push them to move. I'd do it but be careful with wording to make it not sound like an ultimatum.
Yeah and part of the thing is, this job offer for the new position expires in like 3 days. Now granted they know that I am also interested in this other job and I am positive they would extend that deadline as it seems to be their standard one, but I would rather know sooner than later so I can make a decision.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,930
5,802
126
I think if they want you, it's not going to make any difference regarding whether you get the job or not, but it may push them to move. I'd do it but be careful with wording to make it not sound like an ultimatum.
This was the general gist of the email I was thinking of sending them with this being the bulk of it.

"I was wondering if you had any updates on where I stand in the interview process. I had another job offer come my way but I really enjoyed the team, culture, and product at <company-name> so I wanted to hear if there is a possibility of me coming on board before I answer the other company back. If you could let me know if there are any updates or anything, that would be great."
 
Reactions: Ns1

MrDudeMan

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
15,069
92
91
I run my own business (electrical engineering and software development) from home and I wouldn't have it any other way. I get up at 5 AM and I work until 7 AM when my kids are getting ready for school. I work again from 8 AM until noon and then I work in my yard for a few hours. I work on and off for most of the afternoon and then again when my kids go to bed. Some days I work 14-16 hours and others I work 2-4. I absolutely love the flexibility of the whole deal because I don't have to waste any time 'getting ready' or driving. The stuff people complain regarding working from home doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I'm very organized and disciplined when I sit down to do work, so maybe that's the difference.

Down time in an office environment is the most annoying thing ever, at least to me. When I get bored, I go outside and cut fire wood, work on building a shed, build a gravity stone retaining wall, or one of about a million other things. I clear my head and get the perspective that caused me to become blocked while still being useful instead of sitting at my computer fiddling with something or aimlessly browsing the internet.

Vacations - I don't have to bother with taking time off or arranging for things to be handled. All of my employees are on Skype for Business all day and I setup my PBX to call my computer and cell phone. Of course, I can and do turn it off sometimes, but my clients often specifically want me and they can still get me when I'm in France for weeks at a time. I have zero issues with taking a phone call that will last 15-20 minutes while I'm on vacation because I get to keep my finger on the pulse of the business and, honestly, I don't like being completely away from work for longer than a few days at a time.

I built a gym in my barn, which I use a few times a week probably. Nothing serious, but I lift a little bit for fun and to keep in shape. I often hit the weights when I can't figure something out because the adrenaline seems to help me work through things. If I didn't have a gym at home, I'd probably go to a gym around the same time of day, but less frequently.

I've worked at big companies in big buildings with tons of people and also medium and small companies. There are nice things about going into the office, but the enormous waste of time is all I can see at this point. I get so much more done on a daily basis because I'm never waiting in a car, conference room, at someone's desk, or any of the other reasons people are often twiddling their thumbs at work. I still meet people for lunch on a semi-regular basis and I have people over for game night once a month or so.

Frankly, at this point in my life, I can't find any reasons to dislike working full-time remote. My employees love it as well. I offered to rent office space for several of them who live in roughly the same area and they weren't interested. I've never had an issue with someone slacking off, but I admit that could be dumb luck. Not everyone is cut out for working at home because it takes a level of motivation and ambition that maybe some people don't have.

Even if I hated working from home for business reasons, I'd still do it because I love Colorado and working from home allows me to live here. I've lived all over the US and I'll never move again unless I have no choice.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,806
46
91
One thing I would love about a remote job is ability to use my own equipment. The stuff they tend to get at work is low budget bare minimum. I work at a NOC. If I setup my own NOC workstation at home it would be no less than 3 4K screens so I can fit all my programs instead of having to overlap everything on some low res displays. I have 5 monitors at work and it's still not enough. A single 4k would be equivalent to 4 of those. (after a while you can only add so many monitors due to video card/windows limitation)
My company sent me equipment to use. No way would i spend my own money on work equipment.
It was brand new at the time but i haven't had a hardware upgrade in 5 years.
 

Carson Dyle

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2012
8,174
524
126
My company sent me equipment to use. No way would i spend my own money on work equipment.
It was brand new at the time but i haven't had a hardware upgrade in 5 years.

If we're talking about a desktop system, unless there's a security reason to keep the systems separate, I'd much rather use my own computer setup. There would be close to zero advantage in having a second system to do company work. A laptop? It's nice when someone gives you a pricey laptop, but I'm not carrying two laptops wherever I go, so I'd be using it for personal use, which is often frowned upon.
 
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