Dana K. was hired through PowerToFly as a programmer at BuzzFeed last year. She lives in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. When not working remotely, Dana loves being outdoors with her family.
Do you have any strategies for staying efficient outside of an office? What tools do you use?
My team has an internal chat they use and some other issue tracking tools. Working in the house, your attention is on the time and you can become distracted. For me, I think it’s better to work in an office. I concentrate better and my attention is where it needs to be. I’m looking for another co-working space, because the ones where I used to work aren’t accessible anymore. I travel in my home country, and I have good internet connection through my phone network. So usually, my husband is walking with our child and doing things and I stay in the motel and work.
What are the biggest challenges about working remotely? How have you overcome them?
It would have been a good thing if I was more disciplined from the beginning. Now, I’ve learned to discipline myself in terms of my schedule and the space where I’m working. I’ve changed spaces … six or seven times. I don’t have many options for my schedule because I have a small child that is two years old. My husband also works, and we have a nanny who comes when she can. In the morning, I stay with my child and do other housework, and usually I work in the afternoon.
How has working in this job changed your day-to-day life?
It makes me feel much happier, which is the most important thing. I can do things that I had to fight for before, because I didn’t find the time. When I was working in an office, I didn’t have time to do the things I wanted. I can’t do all the things I want to now, but I can do more. I can ski and work in the same day, sometimes I can also paraglide. My husband is also very supportive, which helps me to do these things. I can stay with my baby a lot. While I was working in an office the schedule was from 9 to late in the evening. The whole day was lost. Apart from working and programming, I like going outside in the mountains, taking care of my child, and bringing him outside too.
