Remote Work: My first decade working from the far end of the earth

John Dalton

http://lca2018.linux.org.au/schedule/...

Even though the open source community is one in which online collaboration is the norm, I still tend to get a lot of questions from people when they first find out that I work completely remotely.
"How did you get a job like this?"
"What's it like to work from home?"
"Oh, I couldn't do that - you must be so disciplined!"
"What tools do you need to be succesful at remote work?"

It's been ten years now since I first took a leap into the unknown and started working remotely for a small company on the other side of the world. I've changed jobs since, and worked with people based all over the globe. This milestone seemed like a great chance to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, and to discuss the practice of remote work with coworkers and colleagues, past and present.

In this talk I'll discuss the challenges and opportunities that remote work brings, what it takes - both personally and organisationally - for remote work to be successful, and what it's like to go a decade without a coworker on the same continent. We'll talk about what kind of software and practices an organisation can use to enable remote work, and most importantly we'll talk about how crucial workplace culture is in allowing remote work to succeed.

This talk was given at Linux.conf.au 2018 (LCA2018) which was held on 22-26 January 2018 in Sydney Australia.

linux.conf.au is a conference about the Linux operating system, and all aspects of the thriving ecosystem of Free and Open Source Software that has grown up around it. Run since 1999, in a different Australian or New Zealand city each year, by a team of local volunteers, LCA invites more than 500 people to learn from the people who shape the future of Open Source. For more information on the conference see https://linux.conf.au/

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