Remote Connection

I've been working fully remotely for several years now and it's been a really welcome change in so many ways. There are so many benefits like not having to waste a considerable amount of time on a commute, being able to do things on my own schedule and many others.

There are some challenges with it though, and one of those important ones for me is not being able to connect and chat with someone face to face, for the most part! I am a little bit old school in that aspect, where I prefer face-to-face conversation with people that I work with if I can achieve it at some point in our business relationship. I certainly will never be able to meet some of the people I work with, but I do try to see if it's possible to do so!

I am going on vacation in a few weeks and one of the places that we are going to go is near one of the offices that my company maintains. There aren't a lot of physical locations that companies have these days, especially companies that have completely remote employees like mine does but it is interesting when we do have the location, because it is open for those that want to stop by for a visit!

I have a number of colleagues who live in the surrounding area to this office and I do work with some of them occasionally but one of my direct colleagues lives right down the street from the office so I plan on meeting up with him for lunch, or something else when I'm down near the office!

I've talked to him, let's call him John, for many years now. He helped train me on the ropes of the role when I first started so I've had a pretty good working relationship with him. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to actually see him in person though, and see what he is all about! I have talked with him and my colleagues quite extensively over the years, all of us on camera so we know what each other looks like but seeing someone on camera versus seeing them when they are sitting across the table or bar from you is a much different experience! I am looking forward to being in the physical space as him.

In my previous company, I lived relatively close to where I was working so if I wanted to, or needed to, I would go into the office and other areas that I worked in to chat and meet with people here and there. Before all of that though, I did work in the office full time so I've been lucky enough to have a transition period. I do quite enjoy being in a physical space as someone I am working with but the sad fact of the matter is that it's largely not convenient or affordable to do so. A lot of office buildings are located in pretty major metropolitan areas, and even if they aren't, they are in areas that are expensive and not easy to purchase a home nearby.

That's all and good for some but it leaves the ability to live really close to where you work unattainable for a decent amount of people, myself included. I know that I am going to enjoy meeting with and hanging out with my colleague John for a few hours at the end of the month, I am hoping to try and maximize the purpose of the meeting down there and connect with a few of the people I work with! I know that most of them work from home even though they live near the office, so I am going to start sending out messages to the people I know are in the area to see if we can get something set up to all hang out for a few hours! I certainly don't mind being that guy who forces everyone to come to a location to spend time in a physical space hahaha. It's going to become an increasingly rare event these days, I can tell!