A Day in the Life of

a Remote Developer

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

meet.js Summit 2019

Katowice

Hi! 👋🏻

I'm Patryk, a:

  • Full-stack JavaScript Developer
  • Product Designer
  • Remote Work Advocate

I also:

  • work remotely for 6+ years
  • (sometimes) stutter (🇵🇱  jąkam się)

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

What is remote working?

remote working

noun

a situation in which an employee works mainly from home and communicates with the company by email and telephone

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

What is remote working?

remote working

noun

a situation in which a person works from wherever they want and communicates with the company or client mostly through online communicators (eg. Slack, zoom)

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

What is remote working?

🏝

workation

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

🏠

home office

👨🏼‍💻

remote work

🗺

digital nomadism

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

✋🏻

Who works remotely?

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

12%

of software developers

work remotely

Why remote work is great? 👨🏼‍💻

🌎 

global opportunities

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

💰

higher salary *

🤸🏼‍♂️

flexible schedule

🚇

no commute

🕦

saved time

🐣

freedom

Why remote work is great? 👨🏼‍💻

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

40%

of software developers

would like to work remotely

Why remote work is great? 🏢

🌎 

global talent pool

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

💰

lower costs

🤸🏼‍♂️

flexible workforce

🎯 

goal-oriented work

🧘🏼‍♂️

internally motivated team

🐣

being an early adopter

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

Corporations are

remote teams in denial

Qualities of distributed teams

Trust

over control

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

Asynchronous

over synchronous

Transparency

over politics

Work

over meetings

Self-starters

over managers

Getting stuff done

over hours in the office

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

The average worker

is only productive for

2 hours and 53 minutes. 

How to find remote work?

1. Freelance Platforms

Freelancer, Upwork, etc.

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

👌🏻 Pros:

  • 🤔 none?

👎🏻 Cons:

  • low rates
  • big competition

How to find remote work?

2. Vetted Freelance Platforms

Toptal, Arc.dev, Pilot.co, X-Team, Moonlight, Braintrust, etc.

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

👌🏻 Pros:

  • freedom
  • high-quality clients
  • good rates
  • finding client & handling payments isn't your problem

👎🏻 Cons:

  • (usually) long vetting process
  • no employment guarantee
  • being platform-dependant

How to find remote work?

3. Remote-first Companies

GitHub, Stripe, Automattic, Dribbble, Buffer, Basecamp, Sketch, Nozbe, iRonin, etc.

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

👌🏻 Pros:

  • no middleman
  • remote-first approach
  • perks & benefits of being an employee

👎🏻 Cons:

  • huge competition

How to find remote work?

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

Common problems

Isolation & Loneliness

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

✅ Meet with friends.

Go to meet-ups.

Work from a co-working space.

Find a social hobby.

Hang-out with coworkers on audio/video call.

Common problems

Poor Work-Life Balance

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

✅ Have rituals to transition between work and life.

Don't listen to work-life blending coaches.

Embrace work-life-sleep balance.

Find a computer-free hobby.

Set your working hours.

Common problems

Distractions

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

✅ Set you working hours & communicate them to others.

Try Pomodoro Technique.

✅ Use Post-it notes.

✅ Turn on Airplane / Do Not Disturb mode.

Have a dedicated space to work from.

Common problems

Poor Communication

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

✅ Use emojis & gifs.

✅ Embrace asynchronous style of communication.

✅ Use other means of communication if needed.

eg. video call, screen sharing, pair programming

Myths vs Reality

Patryk Pawłowski

patryk.me

Thanks 🙏🏻 

Patryk Pawłowski

Developer, product designer & remote work advocate.

patryk.me

 

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