The Remote Reality Check
Why it’s time to retire the “WFH” stereotype and recognize that we’ve been working remotely for years.
SUNY Geneseo, my undergraduate alma mater, stopped accepting new students into its Computer Science major in 2010. The stated goal was to help close a $7.2 million structural deficit, but the cut of the Computer Science program proved to be rather prescient. In the decade and a half since then, the program continued to come with the promise of a job with a six-figure salary. Last week, that promise’s premise came under the scrutinizing lens of The Daily’s “Big Tech Told Kids to Code. The Jobs Didn’t Follow.” It’s worth a listen. As a product of the program, it hit me hard, especially the observation that there are plenty of senior roles to be had, but one of the interviewees aptly asked how college graduates could qualify for a senior role if they didn’t have the chance to mature through an entry level role? It’s a fantastic question, and worth pondering artificial intelligence’s role in altering the hiring landscape.
The latest apocalypse prediction failed to manifest a few weeks ago. When I was in college, I actually believed one of them, which spurred me to write some deep thoughts on the end of the world. I really need to find that sheaf of papers, ‘cause it’d be an interesting read. I bring this up because I came across the Doomsday Scoreboard, which has all kinds of details on apocalypse predictions from the past. Most importantly, the metric Successful Apocalypse Predictions So Far is pretty great: it’s sitting comfortably at zero.
And now, on to the main point of today’s dispatch: working remotely.
While on a trail run this week, I had what I think is a hot take on the topic. I realized that the concept of remote work frequently conjures up people at home in their pajamas, taking calls from a spare bedroom with the camera off. But here’s the epiphany from my trail time:
Working Remotely ≠ Working From Home
Yes, I work from home. And by extension, I work remotely. Not everyone is cut out for working from home, when you’re not around other people and need to be disciplined, motivated, and all that cool stuff that’s the calling card of long-term WFH veterans like me. But, I realized that a pretty significant percentage of the working world works remotely, though they work in an office with other people.
Hear me out: if you have even one person working from a different location than you, you’re part of a distributed team. If your employer houses employees at multiple addresses, in the same city or across time zones, you’re in a remote workplace. Your meetings aren’t all in conference rooms, but when they are, there’s someone on a video screen from across the street or halfway around the globe. When you chat with someone on Slack or Teams, you’re chatting across a geographic boundary. You are all working remotely.
When I started a Twitter chat years ago (remember Twitter, right?) I initially named the account @wfhchat, but quickly realized how narrow that was. It wasn’t just for the work-from-home crowd. I broadened it to @workingrem, in a bid to be more inclusive of the many and varied ways that people get work done even though they’re not in the same space. It’s why I named my first book The Art of Working Remotely, with the tagline How to Thrive in a Distributed Workplace.
It’s not about where you’re working. It’s just work, distributed. And the principles, tips, and techniques apply equally whether you work from your home, an office building, or a co-working space.
A Tip for the Modern Worker
You won’t regret an office pet. Sharing an office with a pet can be wonderful for all parties involved. It’s nice to have a constant companion during weekdays. A pet can smooth out the stressful highs and emotional lows of your workday and improve your morale. It’s great for your pet, too. It’s comforting for them to be in a shared space with another human. Pets are great icebreakers, too, even if you’re virtual. It’s easy to start a conversation when an animal enters the picture.
Yeah, that’s my very own office pet, Phoebe! This tip is one of 365 in my Handbook for the Modern Worker. That followed my first book, The Art of Working Remotely, about my experience working from home since 1998. Depending on where you work and which way the wind is blowing, these may be banned books or fan fiction. I hope it’s the latter.
Mail Bag: If you work remotely and have come across an issue that needs solving, a thorn that needs removing, or just an observation you’d like to share, hit reply. I’d love to hear from you.