I started advocating for remote work in 2013 because the only way I could concentrate at the office was to hide. I was working as a senior support specialist on a team of about 20 people and was responsible for handling escalations as well as building automation to help resolve common issues. Being in the office every day made it difficult to focus and make progress on my own work; I was spending much of my day helping others solve tickets before they became escalations. I often wore headphones to signal that I was busy with deep work, but over time, this strategy became ineffective. People who wanted to speak with me would linger near my desk until I noticed them. Helping my colleagues was valuable, but it came at the cost of getting my own work done. My only option was to trade the comfort of my desk for privacy.
Around the same time, I read an essay about open floor plans being bad for employees but good for employers, which deeply resonated with me. Unable to influence the design of the office, I instead opted for avoiding it altogether. I started by petitioning my boss to allow me to work one day a week from home, to which they agreed. The productivity gains were immediate, and my mind was made up on the benefits of remote work. Within three years, I’d transitioned to working fully remote after moving away from the city where my office was located. At the time, remote work was relatively uncommon at my company. We were about 700 people, and I was to be the third fully-remote employee. Ten years and three companies later, I’m still working fully remote from the comfort of my home.
With a decade of remote work behind me, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the experience.
What the freedom gave me
By far the largest benefit of working from home is the privacy that comes with a dedicated office. Being able to close the door and block all external distractions has improved my productivity more than anything else. While I still experience interruptions from time to time, like a delivery driver asking for a signature or my dog barking relentlessly at deer grazing in my yard, they are minimal in comparison to the interruptions I experienced at the office.
At a close second is my custom setup. Many companies offer a remote office stipend, which I’ve greatly benefited from over the years. I’ve used these stipends to build a setup that works well for me, with multiple displays, a high-quality microphone, headphones, camera, ergonomic chair, and a sit-stand desk (to name a few). I find it easier to settle into work when I’m comfortable, which is why I often work in track pants and cozy slippers. It’s also easier to multitask when I have multiple displays, allowing me to run multiple Claude sessions, review Linear tickets, and answer Slack messages without constantly searching for, or losing track of, the windows.
I also enjoy many secondary benefits of working from home, like being able to squeeze in a quick workout in the afternoons when I might be hitting a mental slump, or taking a break to watch baseball highlights or do a chess puzzle. Additionally, I’m able to set my own hours for deep work. If I’m feeling tired or hitting a mental block, I don’t feel guilty stepping away for a walk or even taking a quick power nap; I can come back in the evening when my kids are in bed and the house is quiet. Some of my best work gets done after 10:00 PM, and since it’s by choice, I don’t feel any resentment.
What it cost me
It would be disingenuous to not acknowledge the drawbacks of working from home. Not only am I physically isolated (most days, I only leave my house for ten minutes to walk my kids to school), but often I’m excluded from important conversations or decisions that happen in person at an office. I’ve had entire initiatives get deprioritized without being informed, because the decision happened during an in-office meeting I wasn’t invited to. While this is an extreme example, more commonly decisions are made (implicitly or explicitly) in person, and the results are never shared asynchronously. Backchanneling and poor communication are problems that exist everywhere, but it can be more challenging to address when you are remote.
It can also be more difficult to be visible at an organizational level. Getting face time with leadership was much easier when I worked in an office. In a remote environment, I need to actively participate in public discussions in Slack, and share findings more widely to get noticed. It can be tempting to build tighter circles of communication, interacting regularly with team members but letting wider stakeholder communications slip. I have to remind myself to share my work and decisions outside of my team. After ten years, it’s still something I struggle with.
It can also be difficult to separate personal time from work time. Having a dedicated office certainly helps; I even have a second desk for my personal computer, so on weekends, I don’t get tempted to check Slack when I’m working on a personal task. That said, I still feel the pull to respond to messages outside of normal working hours. It’s reminiscent of the early days of BlackBerrys, when, for the first time, email became available outside of the office, and there was an expectation to respond immediately, regardless of the time of day. The difference for me is choice. I enjoy the freedom of being able to work in the evening if I choose to do so, but I dislike the pull to work when it’s not my choice. Striking the right balance is something I’m still trying to achieve.
Would I do it again?
When I first asked to work from home, I wanted one uninterrupted day a week to get things done. Ten years later, I still value being able to close my office door, but I’ve learned that staying connected and knowing when to stop working take deliberate effort. I’d still make the same choice again. Remote work has given me the freedom to build my day around my own preferences, and I’m still learning how to make the most of that freedom.