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Things to Know for Your First Remote Job

by kixpanganiban on 2/18/20, 5:56 AM with 10 comments

• by exdsq on 2/18/20, 7:05 AM

  I’ve been working remotely more on than off over the last two years, full time since last summer. The two things I recommend are buying a Fitbit and making sure you’re active enough throughout the day, and going to a cafe for breakfast or lunch alongside meeting a friend/going to a meet-up two or three times a week.

  It’s surprisingly easy to end up spending days indoors and destroying any sort of work/life balance. I know this has happened to myself and numerous team mates across the three companies I’ve worked remotely at. Keep an active eye on it!

• by borumpilot on 2/18/20, 9:05 AM

  So the original blog title is:

  3 Things To Know For Your First Remote Job.

  And it is really just three things. - Know your timezones - Map your day in blocks of time - Know your tools (chat, documentation etc.)

  Well that might work for some type of jobs, I know for mine that I need a little more. "Map your day in blocks of time" would be all cool when there are no timezones to worry about. Cool when you can claim you do meetings just 3 hours a day, I know I can not with members all over the globe.

  What I needed to find out the hard way, and find myself explaining to new team members is: - Setup your cam so that your background is clean (no roommates / family members entering the picture unintentional) - Get a SUPERB headphone with an EXCELLENT microphone - Turn your mic to MUTE when you are not talking - No, interruptions in a conversation do not work like when face to face, specifically not with more then 2 remote people in the meeting - Wear "professional" clothing (even if it just the shirt) - Do not eat or drink while in a meeting - Your cool click clack keyboard makes a lot of noise - We hear your mother scream in the background - Practice makes perfect: do take some time to setup your cam / mic / background / whatever in a one on one session with a more experienced colleague.

• by warent on 2/18/20, 6:56 AM

  > Remember, the key is to assign your blocks and sticking to them. It’s also important that you let your teammates know what your blocks look like, so that they’d know not to expect you to take calls early your morning.

  I'm not sure what world makes something like this possible, but every client I've had in the past (I contract to businesses) needs flexibility. If I were this rigid then there's no way it would be possible to meet their needs. Not necessarily specifically with early morning, but just throughout the day.

• by amatecha on 2/18/20, 6:56 AM

  Useful tips which I overall agree with. Having worked remotely more frequently lately, I've had to quickly figure out some of these things (like blocking out time/schedule for myself, separately from the rest of the team, for example).

• by tter3 on 2/18/20, 6:26 AM

  Who the hell is buying a $50 calendar app?