Hello, I'm flat.

Since June of this year, we have been working remotely twice a week.

Today I will write about it.

A creature called an engineer

I am a software engineer.

Due to my way of life as an engineer, I inevitably have a lot of work to do and a lot to study.

It is also very important to make effective use of your time outside of work to study technology, English, and read books to invest in your future self.

Why? ?

What makes engineers (especially software developers) different from other professions is that they are not stable. That's what it means.

In my opinion, it is important not to dare to aim for stability. This is because everything is not stable, such as the environment, role, and market in which you are located. Technology is evolving day by day. I must always keep shedding my skin. There is no such thing as stability anywhere.

So you just have to give up and keep changing.

Birth of a child

The long-awaited child was born in May of this year.

I didn't feel like I would be a father at all before, but it blew away the moment my child was born.

When I heard the sound of the baby's birth, I was covered with a strange sense of elation that I had never felt before.

Every day, when I wake up in the morning, when I eat, when I come home from work, when I go to bed at night, I can't help but worry about my children.

Just seeing a child's smile can blow away your tiredness and worries at once.

I feel very happy.

Children and work

Even if I cut back on my sleep time, I always prioritized the time I spent on my own growth.

Because I thought it was to protect my family.

As I have already written, engineers are an unstable job. You never know when you will run out of work.

I feel very anxious when I feel like I'm not moving forward.

However, that was before the child was born.

I was very confused when my child was just born.

This is because the time I used to use is getting worse and worse.

And I thought, should I cut back on the time I spend with my children and prioritize my work? Should I prioritize my time? That's not right! The answer came out.

Making money is not everything. Money may not matter to children.

I started to think about the quality of life. It's not about me, it's about my family.

I came to this idea because my father's position was added to my role list.

However, we must avoid reducing the quality of our work.

Change the way you spend your time. And make it more dense.

In a limited time, they do their best to raise children, work, study, and play.

What has changed since remote work

I was able to focus on my work

If you have colleagues who work with you nearby, you can feel free to talk to them at any time.

If you are approached, I will listen if it is not an urgent job. However, in the case of remote, it is not so easy as long as you can't see your face.

Engineers have time to concentrate on their work.

If you get interrupted in the middle of coding work, your mind will be reset.

The logic I was assembling in my head will fall apart.

Remote work has made it easier to secure time for yourself, so you can concentrate on 30 minutes or 1 hour and finish your work at once.

More time to concentrate is a great addition to productivity.

Getting enough sleep

Sleep time is very important for engineers.

Because it is a profession that uses the full use of the brain.

Creativity is very important.

Therefore, if you cut down on sleep time and work, you may not be able to come up with fresh ideas and it may become a vicious cycle.

This is very important.

Remote work has reduced commuting time and allowed you to get more sleep than before.

Sleeping is also an important job.

I became very conscious of the time I had available.

When you have children, it is inevitable that it will be difficult to control your time.

Since I started working remotely, my commuting time has decreased, and I have been able to secure more time for myself than before.

This time is 30 minutes, 1 hour, but it is a very valuable time.

It depends on the day, but the time for children to go to bed is usually around 11 o'clock at night.

She is a very good child, so she sleeps until about 7 in the morning.

I used to study at night and clean up the remaining work, but I can't do that because I'm tired from childcare.

Then go to bed without thinking about it anymore! There is nothing more than that.

So, I wake up early in the morning and study, albeit in a limited time. There is also a lot to study.

English, technology, project management, etc.

I started to set a time and concentrate.

I decide that 5:006:00 in the morning is English, and 6:007:00 is about technology, and I try not to do anything else at that time.

Since no one is watching, I try to output the opposite

It's often thought that if you work remotely, you will skip it. I hear a voice.

But humans, strange things, the opposite happens.

I care a lot about people's eyes.

What do other people think of me? ? And so on.

And remote work spurs that. Because it is out of sight.

That's why I naturally start to appeal to myself by trying to perform more than usual.

Keeping in touch online

Since I wasn't nearby, I started to contact them frequently through messenger tools such as Slack.

I also do Skype. Slack is recommended.

Because you can follow the conversation history later.

However, I try to avoid DM communication as much as possible.

It is important that information is open.

Challenges of Remote Work

We have listed the good points of remote work so far, but there are also challenges.

• Difficult for managers to manage.
• Because it is not realistic, you cannot feel the temperature of the other members.
• Meetings are difficult.

These can be solved by the individual's own efforts and the cooperation of the members around them.

Of course, there are more things to think about changing the way you work.

It is normal to gather in one place called a company to work, and you need to be concerned about things that you didn't have to think about when working remotely.

However, this is not a matter of remote work, but a factor in the diversification of work styles and environments.

If there are differences between Japanese and foreigners, able-bodied people or disabled people, people who work in companies or outside, people who work while raising children and nursing care, or not, etc., we must always think about it, and I think an organization that can accept such differences is a strong organization.

Where do you work remotely?

I work remotely two days a week at a co-working space called Forest in Ikebukuro.

My nearest station is about 4 stations from Ikebukuro, and this is the closest coworking space.

The atmosphere of the place is very homely. The staff are also very kind.

It seems that the number of users is increasing, and recently a conference room has been added to another floor.

▼Ikebukuro Forest

https://co-forest.com/

Finally

If you have never done remote work yet, I think it would be a good idea to try using Saturdays and Sundays to get started.

If you feel that the environment is a problem, why not change it first?

You may be able to see new things.