How to Determine If Candidates Will Thrive in a Remote Work Environment

The way I see it, too, is that companies that don't embrace flexible work hours in fully remote companies (as opposed to just flexible working arrangements) aren't really a remote company. They're just pushing off the capital cost of having an office to the employee themselves. It's a pretty dishonest thing to pass themselves off as a remote company if they expect you to work like you do in an office environment.

The flexibility of being able to intermingle personal tasks throughout the workday is paramount to remote work. It totally does reduce stress and it allows you to work when you're productive and not work when you're not. I find that I'm a very bursty developer and I think that's more the rule than the exception in our profession. Remote work arrangements really help accommodate that reality where output is not constant throughout the day.

Seriously.

I don't regularly work from home, but I have solved several difficult problems while doing laundry, and I can specifically think of one time recently that was during a workday while I was folding towels. I know it's happened other times as well, I just can't specifically think if it was during the day while working from home.

I've also solved problems while showering, mowing the grass, eating dinner, and laying in bed trying to fall asleep.

Who knew -- developing software involves lots of thinking. You don't have to have your butt in a seat in front of the computer in the office to think. Sometimes doing something completely different is just what's necessary to break through -- whether this is getting up to get a drink, going for a walk, or doing sometimes completely non-computer-related like laundry.

Yeah. What I like about remote work:

- I can focus

- I can go on a walk w/ my dog, wife, kid(s) whenever I want

- I can sit and think without worrying that I don't look busy to some stupid manager...

Lots of reasons, and they're all perfectly acceptable. Good leaders will realize that the best work often happens when you're not directly working (e.g. in the shower, doing laundry, going for a walk). Being able to step aside and do these things throughout a workday is a productivity boost.

Agreed. I routinely fold laundry during my morning standup call. It's a zero-mental-effort task that gets me on my feet while I chat with my coworkers in a meaningful way. Since I'm at home, my wall-sized dry-erase board is right there. Anything I need to note gets written down, then I resume folding.

One of the things people often forget about in this discussion is the lost company time from being at the office. Yes, valuable conversations can happen in the hallway, but more often than not a lot of non-work chatter does too. I'm fine with that -- I don't want to work in a POW camp -- but to me it highlights how ill-considered the "laundry folders = bad workers" mentality is in many cases. I worked in a cube farm for 5 years, then from home for the past 4 years. I'm vastly more productive at home.

That's a pretty hilarious quote from the job posting... We don't care when you work, as long as it's in addition to the regimented 40 hours we prescribe.

Yeah, let's also point out that it's an internship posting that requires 1 year of experience publishing content and knowledge of multiple LMSs.

The job posting you're referring to is posted on the Articulate community site, but it's not an Articulate job. Another company posted it there. :)

Of course, one of the benefits of working from home is that you can do a load of laundry and perhaps background process on a complicated problem in the meantime. No question that it's a nice perk. The flexibility to craft a healthy work-life balance is wonderful.

I think the point in the article is that if that's the FOCUS of why you want to work from home, it COULD be a red flag. The people we've found really thrive in our remote environment are those that cite the fact that they are more productive when not working in an office.

I've been here at Articulate for 5 years and prior to that I worked at several butts-in-seats companies. I hated working at those places where my value was measured by the amount of time spent in the office or with co-workers. This is not that kind of company. Sure I have folded laundry and done other low brain power tasks while thinking through a tough problem before. Putting my hands on auto pilot helps me find creative solutions to problems. That works for me. May not work for everyone. What excites me about working here is the freedom and autonomy I have to get shit done and the opportunity to work with a stellar group of humans to build something great. I have never felt like my butt had to be in a seat while working here. Not once. My time is my own and I'm responsible for making things happen. That's it.

Agreed. Most people can adapt to their environments. I've worked at both and big companies tend to wear me down, but I can still work there.

The problem with small companies is usually they are chaos and often cult of personalities. It's not their fault, it's their nature. They have to be able to pivot their business on a dime. That's tough on developers though, particularly when the thing you've been working on get scrapped on a pivot.

What it boils down to is it's short sighted. He's professing like he's solved the interview process. I'll bet his success / failure rate is just like everyone else's.

More likely that people who are succesful at big companies don't leave as much, because there's a higher upside sticking where they are than joining a small startup that allows remote working. So the people they are hiring from big companies are usually the rubbish ones.

Btw, if you're really good you can work remotely even in the largest companies. Just work your way up to your own P&L, hire a global team and away you go. Probably will have to check in a few times a year in person, but that's no big deal.

Why should it be compassionate?

>Basically, they are damaged goods who aren't expected to thrive in a better environment?

He's probably generalizing for the sake of writing, but you can get some really lazy positions that really can rot your skills if you don't drive yourself. We're talking about companies that barely need more than for-loops and if-statements and some CRUD.

If you try to go from that to a fast-paced startup then I agree you're chances of thriving are going to be much lower. You have to absorb all of the startup's knowledge in addition to not having enough technical skills "in cache".

> This doesn't sound very compassionate to engineers leaving big, dysfunctional companies (which by the way preach the exact same ethos of personal responsibility). Basically, they are damaged goods who aren't expected to thrive in a better environment?

Compassion aside, it also isn't the least bit accurate. If our process sucked that bad in large companies, then I shouldn't have the numbers to show for it. Somehow, though, we manage to be really profitable despite being lazy idiots.

I've posted this elsewhere on HN, but if you find an engineer or manager with a history of accomplishment at large companies, you're lucky to have them. Not only can they get shit done, but they can get shit done even with the distractions and roadblocks from big company politics. Those folks would probably be very effective in a remote position given their ability to filter noise. But yeah, if someone sucked in a big company, they might suck in a startup, too.

Too late to edit but I realize now points 2 & 3 are from a non Articulate job posting posted on the Articulate site. My apologies!

"Have you ever used a microwave? Great. Grab your apron and get going. The Big Mac rush starts around 11:30."

I think companies are less willing to do job training now.

Thats called the phone screen now :D

The new thing to do is put employees on a contract agreement for 30 days such that even IF you complete the ridiculous interview gauntlet, you are still a "tentative" employee and have to prove yourself. I did this for a YC company this spring and it was awful.

> Has anyone proposed an alternate method that has been put into practice, and actually works?

Not that I've read this year, but I think we're finally past peak FizzBuzz.