I am a 8 year veteran of remote work aka work from home — here are my tips
I keep hearing about the new coronavirus everywhere. Stocks are plummeting. Infections are on the rise. It may even be declared a pandemic very soon. Things have gotten to a point where my favourite news app — The WSJ — has an entire section dedicated to this virus. One of my classmates in my b-school alumni group even posted a ‘keep yourself safe’ document.
So, yes, things are very serious.
Due to the nature of the virus, more and more people are being asked to avoid traveling as well as being present in large groups. That includes traveling to work and going to offices. Self Quarantine and working from home aka remote work is being encouraged.
I have been working from home for eight years. You can find out my credentials, here, here, here and here, if you wish to see my work from my home proof. If you are taking my word as it is, then skip those links. One might say, I am something of a veteran. Here are my tips to work from home, and do it well.
Tip # 1 — High Speed Broadband
Remote work means, everything happen through apps. Obviously, Email is king. Then you have chat systems like WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft Teams and even Facebook Messenger. Then you have your video conferencing apps — Zoom, Skype for Business and thousands of other apps that do it well.
The thing that is common to all of them is that they depend on high speed internet. The faster is your internet, the better will all these apps run.
Remember that the thing most people hate about online work is the frequent buffering, disconnections. Its also dangerous if you miss an important sentence or word because your internet was too slow to catch up with it.
Tip # 2 — Dedicated Room
You cannot do work in the hall man. You got people coming in all the time. Children, of course, will rule your hall. In most cases, you have a bedroom, which can be easily converted to an office room due to the built in privacy. If you have a study room, that is already ready for work from home.
At my place, my wife has her own study room, and I have another room setup for work. This setup works. We don’t drive each other mad, at least, not while working.
Tip # 3 — Extension Box and monitor for your laptop
These days, we use a lot of gadgets. You have at least two phones for sure. You got your laptop. You may also have to buy a monitor to plug into your laptop. You will need that extra space. That means, you have a ton of plugs that need to be plugged.
I have travelled all over the country and stayed in all sorts of houses. No one has more than two sockets in a single box on the wall.
So yes, get that extension box. I recommend Belkin. They are expensive but they are shock proof and built with excellent quality.
Also, buy headphones. Wireless is better, and it is even more better if you buy two wireless headphones. That way, when one runs out of battery, you can use the next one. My recommendation is Mi Sports Bluetooth Earphones Basic White. It’s cheap. Has a 2 to 4 hour battery on full charge and is well built.
Almost forgot. If this becomes a long term trend, please throw your 3 year old, 8 GB, non-SSD computer out of the window (and into the recycle bin). Upgrade to a new one please.
Tip # 4 — Educating family members
This part is the tricky. In India, and definitely in my household, working when at home is unheard of. My parents, my friends and almost anybody who I have met, always assume that I do nothing but chill out. Apparently, even today, they are convinced that I am on a 8 year vacation!
So, yes, sit and explain to your parents, wife, husband, kids, relatives and your house help, that you are in fact working. That means, they should give you that isolation you need to get work done.
Children? I don’t have any personal experience with. Not yet, anyway. They can be a hassle, I have heard. You are really on your own with this one.
Tip # 5 — Comfortable Chair
You may not have noticed it but even companies on a tight budget, buy chairs that are ergonomically designed. At your home, you may have chairs but they are usually part of your dinner set or casual chairs. These are okay to sit on when you are watching a movie or just relaxing.
They are not designed for work. So, go, buy that, office chair. My recommendation is this super cool and cheap amazon basics chair.
Note : I am not getting any commission for these links. Just putting them here for the sake of convenience.
Tip # 6 — Afternoon Nap and Afternoon Delight
Ah! Yes. You are at home. You can take naps between meetings. No one will know.
Also, I am married now. If you are too, then, you can sneak in an afternoon delight as well.
Tip # 7 — Comfortable Clothing
You are at home. Wear comfortable clothes, especially below the waist. No one will know.
Tip # 8 — Socialising and Entertainment
This is by far the biggest problem that I have faced with my ‘work from home/remote work’ lifestyle. I don’t get to meet my team, ever! Almost every project I have worked in the last eight years, the team is distributed all over the world, across time zones. Usually, I am the only one who is in a different time zone.
So, I don’t get to make friends. There is no gossip to share. It’s very lonely. It can also get boring.
Fortunately, I have friends who live near my house. I spend more time with my family, especially my wife, who is only one room away from me. If you have kids, spend time with kids. They would like that. Pets? They would love it too, if you spend more time with them.
In addition to that, I watch a ton of movies. I also play a lot of Xbox and PS4. Your entertainment preferences will be different, but never underestimate the power of keeping yourself entertained.
Final Note
Work from home is not everyone. If it is for everyone, then, how can you explain millions and millions of people driving everyday to their office?
However, there are times — like now — when you have to work remotely. Hopefully, the above tips helped.
