[stingraycharles]

"Hiring remote engineers by flying them in turned out to be a disaster. Great engineers — and great people — can sometimes turn out to be shitty at being remote,” Smith said. “The reason is they’ve never worked remotely before and they’re not used to distractions at home so they’re on their best behavior."

That's an interesting argument. I guess it's just an example and I shouldn't read too much into it, but to me the opposite is true: at home I am completely in sync with my surroundings, have no distractions and have certain "rituals" that make me more productive. It's the constant interruptions and distractions at the office that would make me terribly unproductive if someone would fly me in to assess my abilities on-site.

[fapjacks]

Absolutely this for me, too. I find it hard to buckle down and hack productively in flow in any open office plan (which is all startups). I end up going to one of the "meeting rooms" and staying in there holed up all day with headphones on facing away from the windows into the hallway just to get any work done, and even then, I get constant interruptions because I end up having to turn the lights off because they're too bright, and people think the room's empty and available (even when "booked" through those fancy systems some companies use).

Meanwhile, working remote, I can lay on the couch or in bed and hack meaningfully for 12 hours and do it again the day after. Actually, this is what I do for side projects while I'm on vacation, and it's how I truly de-stress and relax. It strikes me as completely strange that I have to explain this to pretty much every single (non-recruiter) person that emails me about a job about why I am only interested in remote positions. How can the tech industry be so old and this idea still so foreign?

[pasbesoin]

When I'm somewhere like that regularly, I've taken to bringing in my own torchiere floor lamp, if the ceiling's not too high and I have control over the built-in lighting. Nice, indirect light, off of the usually white ceiling tiles. Note that bulb choice/color also makes a difference, with such a lamp.

IKEA now has them for like $8. Pop in a $1-2 LED bulb, and Bob's your uncle.

Of course, my encounter with facilities involved convincing them I'd not brought in a halogen lamp (remember those, in torchiere lamps?) that was going to burn the place to the ground. (Back then, it was a compact fluorescent. A technology I've come to despise for various reasons.)

For something more compact and portable, I might look for a lightweight sconce that I could hang on one of those 3M removable hooks. Or, if they don't bother you, a very compact/portable desk lamp.

P.S. That place, I might have been better off if it HAD burned to the ground.

[iamdave]

I end up having to turn the lights off because they're too bright

Hear hear; I work remotely and check-in physically maybe twice a month when delegates come down to our satellite office. I find artificial lighting absolutely grating. Working from home it's a rarity for me to turn on a light until as late as dusk.

[metaobject]

I work from home 3 days of the week and usually go into the office twice a week. In every location I've worked (we tend to get moved about every two years), I invariably end up standing on my desk to twist some/most of the fluorescent tube lights directly over/around my desk so they disengage and go dark. The only challenge then is fending off well-intentioned facilities personnel who want to replace the "failed" light.

[iamdave]

First job I ever had was as one of those well-intentioned facilities personnel, at the Denny's corporate HQ. First couple of months on the job was pushing a cart around a 40 story office tower replacing lightbulbs and ballasts before adding other tasks-it was meant to, and served a good purpose of helping me orient to getting around the building.

Anyway, there were a few corner offices I eventually set up a little system with: if that office owner didn't want their bulbs replaced, to put a sticky note covering the light switch. I'd come through, check for a sticky "okay, no new bulbs for this manager" and move along. Was a pretty good system until our facilities manager politely asked me to stop and change the bulbs anyway.

[fapjacks]

I am disappointed I can't give you more upvotes for building and maintaining this anti-bright-light system. Kudos!

[ktothemc]

Then you might be a great remote worker. The point is to trial them in the environment they're actually going to be working in.

[maxaf]

This also helps avoid chicken-or-egg problems such as "You haven't worked remotely before, so we won't hire you to work remotely".

[DoofusOfDeath]

I've been remote for about 3 years, and I do agree a little with the idea that being at home can pose new distractions.

But IME it's a solvable problem: Train others in the house that just because you're "home" doesn't really mean you're "home", during the workday. Improve soundproofing as needed. Adjust work-habits in some cases, etc.

If companies would put as much money and attention into getting remote workers properly setup as that otherwise would have put into facilities management, office-space rental, etc., I bet the gap would close pretty quickly.

[beisner]

Anecdotally, I am completely unable to work at home. I need an office, or a cafe, or some space away from my personal private spaces. Keeps me accountable, and removes a large class of distractions that (from experience) I would be unable to resist.

[jcadam]

I've found these distributed companies are only interested in considering candidates who have 'remote' work experience.

Another of life's little Catch-22s I suppose.

[sytse]

We're fully remote and regularly hire people with remote work experience. However, it is important that our team members are self managing and we do ask questions about that during the interview.

[jcadam]

Sure, the only thing I can point to is side projects (see I can be productive when noone is watching!), but that's not the same, I suppose. I'm an introvert and live inside my own head anyway.

Problem, the industry I work in (defense) doesn't do remote, for obvious reasons.