This talk was presented at Software GR in December 2014. It covers lessons learned as an engineer on how to successfully be a remote engineer. Also covered are expectations from teams, management and the business in order to make remote engineering a success.

1. GRSoftware – December 15, 2014
@avleen
Avleen Vig
Working in New York
Living in Michigan
Successful Remote
Engineering

2. Avleen Vig @avleen
40Million members
1Million active shops
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3. Avleen Vig @avleen
200Countries with Annual
Transactions
50+Code deploys per day
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4. Agenda
Who are you, and where did you come from?
A little background…
Let’s make some success!
Life as a remote engineer

5. Hi, I’m Av, and I work
from home.

6. Avleen Vig @avleen
Hi, I’m Av!
• Working remotely since 2009
• Staff Operations Engineer @ Etsy
• I like cats
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7. Avleen Vig @avleen
This is a cat
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9. Avleen Vig @avleen
Why am I speaking to you?
• We’re not in Kansas any more!
• Hiring in tech hubs is difficult and expensive.
• Talent exists everywhere.
• Remote engineering bring new challenges.
• Let’s make remote engineering the default choice!
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10. Remote engineering:
Working at home is easy,
amirite?

11. Avleen Vig @avleen
New challenges with remote engineering
Remote engineering isn’t a panacea, and brings interesting problems of its own:
• Communication and collaboration
• Hiring and accountability
• Social pressures
• Work environments
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12. Avleen Vig @avleen
Benefits of remote engineering
There are so many!
• National savings over $700bn per year
• Better for the environment
• Significantly larger work pool
• Employees with more varied backgrounds
12http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics

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14. Remote engineering:
Ya’but.. who hires remotes?

15. Avleen Vig @avleen
Companies with open
remote positions
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16. Avleen Vig @avleen
3.3mEmployees who primarily work
from home.
100Mostly at companies with
100 or more employees.
16http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics

17. Remote engineering:
Catch 22

18. 18http://kotaku.com/blizzard-explains-world-of-warcrafts-60-level-boosts-1530492302

19. Avleen Vig @avleen
Moving to remote engineering
There are two main avenues:
• Find a company willing to take a chance
• Convert your existing position to remote
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20. Engineering a
cultural success

21. Engineering a cultural success:
What you need to do

22. Avleen Vig @avleen
Your life as a remote engineer
• Communication
• Discipline
• Balance
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23. Avleen Vig @avleen
How important is communication?
Let’s play a game
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24. Avleen Vig @avleen
Communicate as remote, by default.
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26. Avleen Vig @avleen
1:1’s: Talk to your manager
at least 2-3 times a week.
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27. Avleen Vig @avleen
Discipline
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28. 28https://www.flickr.com/photos/orphanjones/1769903155

29. Avleen Vig @avleen
Schedule when you’re new
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10:00 Wake up
10:30 Lounge around in PJs
11:00 Breakfast
11:30 The Price Is Right!
12:00 Lunch
13:30 Write some code
14:00 Play with cat
14:30 Pile of laundry calls

30. Avleen Vig @avleen
Schedule like a pro
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09:00 Wake up
09:15 Shower
09:30 Breakfast
09:45 Emails
10:15 Plan the day
10:30 Meeting
11:00 Write some code
13:00 Lunch / play with cat
13:45 Meeting
14:30 Tickets
16:45 Wrap-up tasks
17:00 Done!

31. 31https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcdonnps/14923661448/in/set-72157645152039733

32. Avleen Vig @avleen
Don’t be a black-box
You’re a person not a robot!
• Collaborate with other team members
• Lead projects
• Don’t accept work silently
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33. Avleen Vig @avleen
Balance
Working and resting create a virtuous cycle when balanced correctly
• Set start / end time times for work
• Take vacation
• Get a hobby
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36. Avleen Vig @avleen
Travel (if you can)
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37. Engineering a cultural success:
The things no-one tells you

38. Avleen Vig @avleen
You are your own tech support
Time to brush up on your systems administration skills!
• How well can you debug a broken laptop?
• Take your own backups
• Keyboard broken? Amazon is your friend!
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39. Avleen Vig @avleen
Conflict resolution
• 25% of a manager’s time
• Many factors contribute to conflict impact
• Especially critical for remote engineers
39Lang, 2009, Journal of Education for Business

40. Engineering a cultural success:
What your manager needs to do

41. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managers are people too
…and they need to help foster a remote-friendly culture
• Regular 1:1’s, over-communicate
• Encourage “Remote by default”
• Do: Encourage. Don’t: Micro-manage
• Set availability expectations (eg, 11am-3pm)
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42. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managers influence the business
There are some things managers should do improve business practices
• Hire communicators and doers
• Find budget for travel and good equipment
• Pair people in different regions on projects
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43. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managers influence people
• Find out how your engineers are feeling
• Do they need help?
• You impact families more - support them
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44. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managing meetings
• Invest in a good A/V solution
• Advocate for remotes who aren’t present
• Moderate meetings - remotes need a voice!
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45. Avleen Vig @avleen
Don’t have just one remote engineer!
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46. Avleen Vig @avleen
Cabin fever is a real thing.
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47. Helpful tools

48. OpsWeekly: https://github.com/etsy/opsweekly
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49. OpsWeekly: https://github.com/etsy/opsweekly
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50. OpsWeekly: https://github.com/etsy/opsweekly
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51. Slack/IRC/IRCCloud
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52. Questions? (not about the photo!)
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53. @avleen