Being a Remote Worker Sucks - Long Live the Remote Worker. I've been a 1. 00% remote worker at Microsoft for just about 5 years now. My last two jobs were both 7 year long gigs, so this isn't the longest I've worked somewhere, but clocking in at a half- decade, it's the longest I've worked remotely. Given that I haven't yet been fired, it's fair to say that I'm a pretty good remote worker. I've been writing about Being a Remote Worker on the blog here for a long time. Being remote is wonderful and it sucks.

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This week former Google Employee #2. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer declared that all remote workers need to head into the office (and in some cases, move house) before June. If I got this memo while working Remote at Yahoo I'd quit that moment. I would probably quit with some flair as well. Talk about completely demotivating. I see this ban on Remote Work at Yahoo as one (or all) of these three things: A veiled attempt to trim the workforce through effectively forced attrition by giving a Sophie's Choice to remote workers that management perceives as possibly not optimally contributing. It's easy to avoid calling it a layoff when you've just changed the remote work policy, right?

A complete and total misstep and misunderstanding of how remote workers see themselves and how they provide value. Pretty clear evidence that Yahoo really has no decent way to measure of productivity and output of a worker. Ultimately, though, this comes down to trust, and trust can be found or lost on every page of a company's policies. You were hired as a professional; are you trusted to be a professional?

Working remotely requires your company to trust you can do the work not only without them seeing you, but also without constant physical interaction with your teammates. I saw this tweet yesterday and I agree. Remote working isn't awesome. There are great aspects, but parts just sucks. There's plenty of people talking about how great remote working is but not enough folks discussing how to overcome its many challenges..

I propose that most remote workers work at least as hard, if not more so, than their local counterparts. This is fueled in no small part by guilt and fear. We DO feel guilty working at home. How To Install Sudeki On Windows 8 there. We assume you all think we're just hanging out without pants on.

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We assume you think we're just at the mall tweeting. We fear that you think we aren't putting in a solid 4.

Because of this, we tend to work late, we work after the kids are down, and we work weekends. We may take an afternoon off to see a kid's play, but then the guilt will send us right back in to make up the time. In my anecdotal experience, remote workers are more likely to feel they are .

It's there, they just don't talk about it. Being Unseen Sucks - Out of Sight, Out of Mind. A few months back we had a standup meeting and a boss couldn't get the web cam to work (It's been 5 years but even now they usually spend about 1. All this while 2. I was muted, and was like ?

It's me.. Scott.. I'd like to get you up to date on what I'm working on.. Every week you'll hit a site that doesn't work unless you're inside. You'll be constantly prompted for passwords, you'll be told certain scripts or installers don't work as a remote worker. I have to drive into the office at least quarterly JUST for the purpose of dealing with issues like this. People Ask . I've got HD webcams, Lync, Skype, GChat, hell I got Chat Roulette, on every machine I own. You don't think to call me for 3 months, but when you see me, you're all like .

We can do a call, a chat, or best yet, a hi- def video call. Trust me, I'm at your disposal if you'll only take a step forward. Ways to make Remote Working work. First, it DOES depend on the job.

We have folks like Brian Harry who lives on a farm in the Carolinas, but he's also got a large team over there. They aren't on campus, but there are folks he works with closely. We have folks like Steve Sanderson who works in London for a team in Redmond, but his job is very focused and . That's one of the reasons I moved jobs and gave up my team. I feel better as an individual contributor with a clear focus. Before I started on the ASP. NET Product Team, I used to run a team of folks when I worked in MSDN.

Every one of us was remote. In fact, we were in all four corners of the US - Oregon, San Diego, New England, Florida. Our jobs were discrete, directed and clear. We were laser- focused and each worked well remotely. Here's some things that have worked for me and others. Status, Status, Status. Remote workers need to make it easy for folks to answer the question .

We'd follow up on Friday with what happened to those three things - what worked and what didn't. Do be seen I used to come up every month, but since I travel to conferences and customers a lot (plus budget issues) I go to Microsoft about once a quarter. When I'm there it's a flurry of meetings as . It's comforting to the locals when the remote shows up. Try to get to the office when you can.

We made a . We just need to circle it in Orange and Blue. Team Building. When you ARE in a group, take any opportunity to . I try to hang out with the team whenever I'm in town, and just check in with them, their families, and other non- work stuff. Find a Place to Be Productive. Often just being a home can drive you nuts. I try to get out a few times a week. I've worked from the mall, from Starbucks, from Mc.

Donald's (free wi- fi, sue me) and from a park bench. I find that just having people walking around makes me feel more productive. Their movement and energy keeps me focused. Try different places, find your place, but don't be afraid to mix it up. Get Feedback. During 1: 1s with my boss I always come with lists and lists of what I'm working on and why it's useful. There's always this Spidey Sense that . Ask for feedback.

That means ASK. Are you happy with what you're seeing with Y? If one doesn't work for some reason, don't waste time, just move to the next one. If someone starts to associate you, the remote worker, as a symbol for technical difficulties it will slowly warp their perception of you. Make it easy. I have a small shared office space with a camera I can turn on remotely. This means a boss can walk in and . That makes it easier for a boss to work.

Bosses need to manage, not mess around with cameras. Be Available. A caveat to this one: Be Available During Work Hours. Don't overcompensate and be the person who is online at 5am or answers emails on Sunday.

Just make sure that from 9 to 5 you are 1. SOME way that your boss knows about. How do you make remote working work? Create Your Own Flag Activity For High School.

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This TV Backlighting System Fucked Me Up. This is opulence. Suddenly, there is extra light blasting from behind my TV screen, making a day- glow title sequence positively atomic. The Dream. Screen, a backlighting system that’s designed to make your TV viewing more immersive, is a luxury that I absolutely don’t need.

In theory, the supplementary lights change color based on the pixels on the TV screen for an “immersive theater experience.” In practice, it’s an overstimulating, distracting, nauseating novelty, and I can’t get enough of this shit. What is it? A group of LEDs on the back of a television that make viewing more immersive. Like. Those lights are very pretty.

No Like. It can be really distracting and there are a lot of wires. I’m a fan of the Phillips Hue wireless LED lights, and find the ability to change the color of my room with my phone delightful. Dream. Screen, loosely based on the original Philips Hue- adjacent Ambilux television, works in the same vein, so I was keen on it. I do a lot of stupid things to entertain myself, like acquiring a 5. Samsung television with a gimmicky curved display.

Dream. Screen seemed like an upgrade. I was naive. I didn’t realize how much I could loathe and love one product. Depending on what kind of TV you have, the kit costs between $1. HD or 4. K, and the size of your screen).

The setup is a small feat in and of itself. There are chunky LED light strips to tape to the back of a TV, differently spaced depending on the size of your tv (there’s a guide).

There’s a smartphone app that works with your wi- fi to download and set up. Then you need to plug your video source into the video input of the round HDMI splitter, and plug the output into your TV.

There are also two optional “sidekick” lights for extra glow ($6. This thing takes up three fucking outlets. Get ready for a wire rat king. You do get the “bigger, brighter” TV the product’s website promises, but the lights don’t exactly extend the screen space; they sometimes echo, and sometimes compliment the colors of pixels around the very edges of your screen, sending rays of color from behind your television across your walls in time with whatever is on. In the case of a dramatic explosion, this is all very sensible, as a good part of your wall will look onfire.

It really shines with material intended to be trippy—like whatever the hell that was in episode eight of Twin Peaks: The Return (above), or that psychedelic 2. A Space Odyssey sequence.

The more you give it—pink and blue neons, deep reds—the more you get. But it can be confounding in undramatic sequences, with bright blurry bits of clothes and other immovable objects echoing off screen, like dislocated fuzzy chunks. Daylight and black- and- white sequences result in a bright bluish- white screen halo.

Letterboxing also presents an obvious, chasmic problem—gaps. I want to emphasize the visual loudness of this thing. Even at the lowest brightness, without the two sidekicks, the Dream.

Screen is really bright. I like to watch movies in complete darkness and concentrate on the screen. With the Dream. Screen, the entire room is illuminated, including the dirty laundry in the far corner that I’m trying to ignore. Say you’re the type of person with serious respect for cinematography.

The screen bleeding out of the frame in blurry puddles every which way might not be what the cinematographer intended. Despite and because of its flaws, this truly is an accessory of visual excess. There’s also the product’s weird “health benefits” claim that it “reduces digital eye strain.” The claim cites a single 2. TV not hurt your eyes so much. But the study also says that these results are “modest” and sometimes even the opposite. Speaking from personal experience, staring into a significantly brighter TV area is the opposite—my eyes ache after a while.

So I wouldn’t take this study very seriously. Where Dream. Screen really shines is gaming. I sit closer to the TV while I game and my focus is more sharply drawn to specific sections of the screen. This position allows the peripheral edges of the game space to blend with the Dream. Screen light extensions and I’m significantly more immersed, just as Dream.

Screen wanted. When I’m not watching the entire screen, the patchiness of Dream. Screen’s illumination isn’t a big deal. It’s also more dynamic because more is happening faster, so it’s swishing around me. That’s neat. For most everything else, it’s immersive, but kind of like watching TV wasted is immersive. You’re going to get pulled into the light. You’ll want to squint.

Your eyes might skid. You might ask yourself, do I really need to do this? Am I enjoying it? Why am I doing this? Excess and novelty are perfectly good reasons to try something. Getting overwhelmed and bored is a great reason to stop.

Until then, the trick is getting used to something completely unnecessary. Awhile back, I saw Wonder Woman in 4. DX, which is extra 3.

D, with moving theater seats and “effects.” For two hours in the theater the seat jostled me back and forth and gently spit water into my hair. It was completely unnecessary. But now I wonder, how am I supposed to watch another movie again without steamy, bumpy smell- o- vision? I wasn’t even sure I liked 4. DX, but I’m going back, obviously. Maybe I want to be thrown around. Maybe I’ll always want a “bigger, brighter” TV.

Maybe I want to be perpetually overstimulated by entertainment technology. Maybe I want bright lights strapped to the back of my TV, for extra explosions. Nothing in life is perfect.

A lot of the things aren’t even good. I think this thing is bad, but also good. No one really needs it, but it’s awfully easy to get used to. When I don’t use the lights, I miss them. Sometimes I’ll even put them on the ambient setting when I’m doing something else. Like “rainbow.” Or “fireplace.” Twinkling in the background.

Completely fucking with my head. READMEIt takes up to three outlets.

It’s really bright and dramatic. Best for really bright and dramatic sequences in movies and games.

Great for gaming and explosions, not so much for movies you respect. How much you’ll like it really depends on your definition of “immersive.”Easy to hate, hard to leave.