No one is working remotely – We are working in captivity | Hacker News Reader

No one is working remotely – We are working in captivity

jeremiahlee.com

20 pointsjeremiahlee14 comments

I turn my work machine off at the end of my workday, in the only room in my house where computers are. Notifications on my phone for work apps also silence at 4pm. I’m always baffled that people feel like it’s a problem to have home and work space in the same place. If your job bugs you off hours, and you can’t enable boundaries, it hardly matters that your work is in a different building than your home.

Yep. If the only thing enforcing healthy work boundaries is physical location, there are other, deeper issues at play.

Since the pandemic I spent months in 4 different countries and 10 different cities. I enjoyed beaches, parks and many different apartments and cool hotel rooms. I spent a month at the family cottage. I visited my parents and grandmother for the longest time since I moved out nearly a decade ago.

I am not in captivity. Nobody is. Working remote is what you make it. You can confine yourself to your small flat - but you don't have to.

Exactly. I was in progress to do the same and then the bloody pandemic hit.

Why is it relevant? The only hurdle I had to overcome was having recent PCR test on hand when passing borders - otherwise it gave me freedom, I used to be bound to the capital city because we "absolutely must go to the office or we can't work at all" (now they're thinking about selling the office space, haha); it also increased my daily rate by 20% as the demand for software engineers went significantly up.

Now it is more relaxed but in the beginning the travel was very restricted. What is the point of traveling when everything is closed and you have to stay in quarantine for 2 weeks? Besides traveling increases the risk of getting infected.

There are a number of situations people are in where options are far more limited, and your ‘not in captivity’ options are more like living in a tent and hiding your kids from truancy officers.

I don't understand how switching from working at office to working at home changes that situation.

> I spent months in 4 different countries and 10 different cities. I enjoyed beaches, parks and many different apartments and cool hotel rooms. I spent a month at the family cottage

Sounds nice, and possibly expensive. Outdoor escapes are definitely recommended whenever possible, and don't have to cost much. Personally I would not be enthusiastic about flouting covid travel restrictions and precautions though.

Nearly free, actually - except the hotels; the whole thing was cheaper than living in the capital city.

> Personally I would not be enthusiastic about flouting covid travel restrictions and precautions.

I'm not aware of breaking any law, rule or recommendation. Also, I was in perfect quarantine outside of traveling - the whole year - I really don't want to catch it. Most of my travels were me alone (or with girlfirend) in my car.

> I was in perfect quarantine outside of traveling

It's the traveling part that was (and perhaps still is) worrisome to me during the pandemic, and also as more contagious and resistant variants were spreading all over the country and world. I still wonder about being exposed to antibody-resistant strains at travel hubs and in transit.

> Most of my travels were me alone (or with girlfirend) in my car.

Probably one of the few safe ways to travel while avoiding corona airways/railways/cruises/ferries/bus lines/etc..

How can I spread something if I don't meet anyone?

Not at all i moved to the country side i have a huge garden, my kids and wife around, i dont have to deal with traffic or spending thousands in the city on food and drinks etc. couldnt be happier :)

I like working at home, but I don't like living at work.

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