gemini://gemini.sh0.xyz/log/2022-10-19_re_remote_work

My pre-pandemic job was 80% on-site, downtown Minneapolis. I got up early, took the bus down the street all the way into the city. Our company had moved downtown a few years prior so there were still a lot of people who originally signed up for a much more local commute, and the company said work part time remote if you want. We were a web services business, no real need to always be in the office if your day to day didn't require it. I didn't mind the commute as I wasn't driving. My wife, however, liked the days when I was Work From Home as it meant I was off work and instantly available. So some Fridays, or weeks with lots of other stuff going on I'd stay home and work out of my home office.

Sadly, our business was reliant on our clients having a lot of daily/weekly/monthly activity. When their sales tanked they didn't need us. It took a few months to really fall apart but we basically had all our biggest clients call up in a two to three week period and cancel all old and new work. Everyone was working from home at that point and in our monthly "State of the Union" meeting we were told that after the meeting was over we'd no longer be working. Schedules would be setup to drop off your equipment so we would reduce contact and that was that. First time I ever lost my job.

A big thing I missed about that job was interacting with my coworkers, both in work and non-work activities. We did the little pods with no walls between our cubicles. Everyone sitting so close together that often the entire room would have ongoing conversations while we all typed away. Lots of Midwestern rivalry going on which was always fun. During my lunch breaks I frequently found myself walking a few miles around the city. We have the sky walk allowing you to get from most buildings without ever going out in the cold, but even in the dead of winter I'd just bundle up and hike around. There is something about the noise of the city I oddly miss, having grown up in the country.

I've just started my second job in this post pandemic world. The last one I met a few members of my team once or twice during my two years there. That is including the time I swung by their houses to drop off my equipment they could use. "Hey, nice to finally meet you in person. Well have a great life!" I'm hoping that with this new job I'll get out more and interact with people. It feels like a place I'd want to stay at so navigating this new world sort of requires me to figure it out. We do have a few team members who live out of state, but for the most part everyone is within a 50 mile radius.

I miss having a whiteboard. I am planning on cleaning out my office, which went to shambles when I was WFH 100%, and setting up a board on my wall with an HD webcam pointed at it so I can easily stream what it is I'm writing. Still haven't found a way to resolve the "hey, sorry to bug you but can you come over here and show me X" part of office life that we are missing. Slack and Teams and all those apps can't replace the ability to look over and see someone isn't nose deep into their code, that they can give you the 2 minutes you need to get past something. Often these apps become so noisy that your brain blocks them out. I've gotten to the point where I have to set timers just to make sure I stop what I'm doing and go see if anyone needs me.

I also miss not being home so much. Its been nice that my kids have seen me way more than they would have before the pandemic. I think they have had a better pandemic experience having both of us home. But the lack of separation of work and home life has definitely been difficult. There is no decompression time. Once I'm done with work I'm on the home clock. Even if you have a crappy car drive home, at least there is time to walk from your office to your car. When your kids are running around yelling "daddy is done with work" before I'm actually done there is zero transition time.

Being a software developer you have one of two options. Stick with the companies that are local, or open yourself up to more global opportunities. Before the pandemic there were lots of companies that had remote contractors and full time employees. Some companies were exclusively remote. Doing the remote gig is something a lot of us do. It requires a special type of person and needs to be an active choice. Sadly due to the pandemic many of us didn't have much choice. Will be interesting to see how many places stay remote only. This may be a more permanent change than we first thought.

Re: Remote Work Blues