8 years working remote, and I don't miss the office

Hey,

I'm Sergio Pereira, and this is the Remote Work newsletter 👋

Last week I shared my observation that more and more startups are hiring team members remotely, and delaying their first full time hire, as they opt for fractional contractors in the early days. (To which some people replied to say they are seeing the same thing).

Today, I'll make it a personal edition, as I reflect on my 8 years working fully remote. Some people ask if I miss the office and in-person collaboration. Not really, although there are some tradeoffs to consider.

I have a busy personal life, with 2 kids, 3 dogs, my triathlon training and activities in my local community. This is only possible because I work remote, I reckon. If I had to commute to an office, or travel frequently for work(, or both like in the beginning of my career). I would have to let go of some of these things I enjoy.

Also, the ability to hire internationally means my teams are spread around the globe. In a startup context, no one really expects that we'll meet in person that much, if at all. Just like me, every person in my teams has their own personal life in their own country and community. They don't long for much traveling or commuting, that's the life many of them are trying to escape from, actually.

There are aspects I miss, on the flip side of these upsides, though. For a period of my life, I traveled a lot for work, especially in Europe and in the US. I used to attach my professional wins (and frustrations too) to physical places, as I tweeted here a good while ago. A clear example of that is San Francisco, where I went through final interview and onboarding for my first remote job.

I used to go for a morning run, whenever I was in a new city for work. However, working remote I travel with family way more often than I ever did when I had such frequent business travel. I build this memories without depending on where work demands me to travel to. Just like I'm doing today, by the time you read this, I'm wandering through some village in the north of Spain.

I also do miss some aspects of in-person collaboration. Especially the whiteboard sessions. In all offices I setup, way back in the day, my first purchase would be a custom white board for the full width of the longer wall. White boarding has always been a key activity in those in-person days, and it was very often quite enjoyable, and sometimes productive as well.

I've replaced that with Miro a long time ago, and I think it actually extends the capabilities of a traditional white board. But there's nuance in the in-person vibe there, I reckon, especially in promoting participation of the quiet team members.

That's a clear tradeoff. If I were to have all my team in a room for a white board session, I'd need to only hire locally in my city (or fly people from all over the world into a common location for a period). Doing it over zoom on Miro we can do it much more frequently, and remove such constraints.

The thing I don't miss at all about going to the office is the low salaries. Yes, going to the office in a low wage country means I earn a meagre salary. That was the first few years of my career, and I did consider a lot emigrating during those early days. Remote work removed that barrier, and also removed the need to emigrate for salary's sake. That's still the biggest upside for me, I admit, even above the flexible lifestyle I built around working remotely.

I get inspired by the chats with community members at the Remote Jobs Braintrust. Check this recent testimonial from Fernando, I reckon I'm re-living this life-changing moment through the community members. And I love it!

In case you're actively looking for a remote job, have a look at the Jobs Copilot. 300+ customers are using it to access the best jobs available online, including the majority of them which aren't published in job boards.

Thanks for reading this newsletter until the end. You can read all past editions here. Make sure to share it with your friends and colleagues so they can read it too.

If you're interested in sponsoring this newsletter, send me an email or DM.

Cheers,

Sergio Pereira, 
Startup CTO & Remote Work Lover