#WorkFromHomeDay

It’s #WorkFromHomeDay! Here's my story of transitioning from working in an office full-time to a full-time remote job.

The first time I realized you could work from home was 2001. My friend Tom worked from his shop doing sales and marketing consulting, and I thought it'd be amazing to be able to skip a daily commute. Then I moved to finish college, graduated and started looking for my first career gig. There were no remote job postings, so I decided to accept the need to drive to work every day.

Fast forward a few years, and I was working at my first tech company. The company was growing and had a big office. When I asked if I could work from home a couple of days per week they told me collaboration was too essential to our success and coming into the office wasn't negotiable.

I can see their side of it, video conferencing was still weird, and they'd invested a lot in creating an office. Again, I was driving 90 minutes a day back and forth between work and home. My commute was a huge drain. That was seven and a half hours I didn't get paid for and missed seeing my family.

A full workday, gone.

Every week.

I like where we live and don't want to move, so finding a remote job was the best way to stay here and take the next step in my career. Realizing a remote gig was the next step I wanted to take led me to my first remote gig at Wildbit. When I started, one of the things my boss encouraged me to do was find a dedicated spot for work.

That was five years ago, and today I'm happy to work at GitLab. Everyone on our team works remotely, and we live all over the globe. My dad taught me never to say never, so I can't say I'll never work in an office again. I feel confident saying my first choice will always be the freedom and flexibility remote work offers me.

P.S. If you're looking for a remote job, GitLab is hiring. I'm happy to share my experience if you'd like to learn more.