My first month working in a full-time Remote Job

Iccha Sethi
3 min readNov 8, 2018

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I would not describe myself as extrovert, but I would not use the word introvert either. I like going into an office, having the same set of familiar faces I have developed a rapport with over the months and asking them how their weekend was, and how their kids are doing in school. But as I was looking for my next job, I was presented with the opportunity to work at this amazing company called InvisionApp which is a 100% remote company. I loved the product, and I was inspired by both the culture and the technical stack they were building. But the question was could I do remote?

As computer systems are getting more distributed over time, so are teams and companies. Several companies have realized that in order to find the right kind of talent and scale, they need to accept people from all parts of the world who have the right set of skills, without expecting them to uproot their lives and move to city X. I am strongly convinced that remote is the future of work. And if I could figure out how to make remote work for myself, I could be at the forefront of the future of work. So I accepted the job at Invision and embarked on this remote journey. It has been a month working remotely, and I love it!

Pleasant surprises

  • The conversations I thought I would miss with my coworkers still happen, just through a different medium — chat or video. Sometimes, joining a meeting a couple of minutes early has given me the chance to have those conversations with people. With time, I believe the rapport shall come too.
  • I love my lunch breaks. I love Indian food and working from home gives me the flexibility to pop stuff into a pressure cooker real quick and go back to work and when it is time turn it off, and during my lunch breaks I have fresh homemade Indian food to eat.

Things I have learnt

  • You have to be purposeful with your communication. You are not going to run into people into the hallway. I have been learning to schedule intro chats with folks. Similarly when I need to ask someone a question, I am learning to also use it as opportunity to learn more about a team or an individual.
  • There are days I am amazingly productive at home, and there are days I need to be outside the house to feel productive. Once a week, I have been trying to work from a co-working space to help with a healthy blend of the two.

Things my family has learnt

  • During my interview process at Invision, Daniel, one of my interviewers mentioned to me that when you are on a video call, you are inviting the other person into your life and into your house. I have discovered how true this is over the past month. My husband and I share an office in the house, with both our desks set up there. Initially, if I was on a video call, he would feel the need to move out of our office, in spite of me insisting he didn’t need to :) In fact, one time he forgot his laptop in the office and waited to come in until after my meeting was over. Over time, he has learnt that it’s ok to work in the same room at the same time.

I would love to hear about some of the things you’ve discovered working remotely!

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Iccha Sethi
Iccha Sethi

Written by Iccha Sethi

Interests include technology, building team culture, books and food. Engineering Leader.

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