[toomuchtodo]

To each their own. I found that working remotely pigeonholes you into your role; its much harder to network in a remote org, to find other opportunities within the org when you're ready to explore a new role. My current org has offices around the world; I can work from any of them, or from home. I can apply for other internal roles, and keep my benefits and salary while changing up the work I'm working on.

Working from home exclusively does not appeal to me. I also don't want to have superficial conversations with coworkers in other parts of the world on a video chat client; that has no value for anyone. I would love to grab a pint with you though and chat about who you are as a person outside of work. Otherwise, you're just a resource I need to interact with to get my job done.

Luckily, the job market is large enough that everyone can have the sort of job they desire (fully remote, mostly remote, full time in office).

[chrisan]

I agree with vinbreau. I've been 100% remote for about 10 years now and echo his comments.

> I also don't want to have superficial conversations with coworkers

I would argue this is a problem with the relationship between you and your coworkers and/or the size of your company and nothing to do with the means by which you communicate. Some of these people also may just not be your "kind" of person you like.

In addition to my remote work mates I have also found remote gaming buddies. Both workers and gamers alike I have found deep relationships with. I know all about their kids, pets, activities, deaths, illnesses, etc. Comparing these faceless friends to friends I regularly see in my area are the same. In some cases the faceless people are deeper because you can chat whenever. IRL friends you have to deal with families and work schedules and a month may go by before we can meetup to grab a drink or movie together, especially when they start having kids.

I would bet if you can't find much to talk about remotely you wouldn't find anything more to talk about in person besides the weather and how the coffee tastes today. Just because a person is next to me doesn't mean I like him or will have a deep relationship with him/her. I've sat in an office before, 5 years with a team. Some people just aren't compatible. When I left, I no longer communicated with them, the ones I did develop a relationship with I still talk to to this day.

[d357r0y3r]

> Just because a person is next to me doesn't mean I like him or will have a deep relationship with him/her.

This is absolutely true, of course.

What I would like to point out is that interaction in the physical space is higher resolution than what you tend to get in virtual environments. In my experience, when you make a remote friend, you have even better interactions when you're together physically.

It's sort of like sports - you may like watching a certain sport or you may not like it. But, regardless of how much you like it, you'll like it more if you're actually at the game. There's just something about being there in person that makes it more fun.

[ZeikJT]

I get the idea you're trying to convey but for me personally it's the opposite. I don't care for sports, but I dislike bring at any game in person even more because the cult-like feeling of the audience is deeply terrifying to me. It's a fear of what this many people could do en masse if unhappy.

[redisman]

I don't find the last part to be true. When I worked fully remote, we would meet up a couple of times a year and go for dinner and beers and lunch together and had a blast. Video calls were mostly all-business though since it's just not a pleasant experience.

[eeeeeeeeeeeee]

I agree, if you are working in a company that is not 100% remote and then remote seems to be more like "flex time."

I've risen from an L1 help desk support member to running the entire support team and reporting to the CEO, all remotely.