Remote work interview

Remote work is the future: it's a "must-have" option for tech companies, and Codegram knows it.

That's why today I'd like to share with you an interview with Txus, one of the Codegram co-founders, who's so dedicated to the remote lifestyle that he:

🏇 Manages a company from the other side of the planet

💻 Works remotely as a Backend developer

🌎 Has been living in different countries (Germany, UK, Taiwan) for almost a decade, and now Korea

Do you work from home or from a co-working space?

I usually start my day working from my favorite café, and later in the day, when meetings tend to start in the European morning, I move to my desk at home, where I have a nicer setup.

How do you schedule your day?

Mornings are for focused coding and writing — since everyone in Europe is still asleep, this time free of any interruption comes in very handy.

What kinds of distraction do you usually have?

At home, maybe the temptation of cooking delicious dishes — but more often than not that makes for a really nice break in-between tasks!

How do you stay motivated?

Being conscious of organizing your time is crucial —defining stretches of time where you're only supposed to work helps me stay motivated —If I don't, sometimes work spans the whole day and I can't feel productive.

Do you ever switch off from work at all?

I do, but it takes conscious effort. Planning ahead, like reserving time explicitly for other activities and social outings, is key to keeping a sane balance.

What tools couldn’t you live without?

When it comes to coding, my laptop is indispensable of course, and my iPad —I do all my planning, studying and reading in it. Also, my noise cancelling headphones, for meetings.

What would you do if you had an urgent question and your team was offline because of timezone differences?

This kind situation forces you to become more self-directed and more mindful of organizing your work. I always have a few tasks I can switch between in case I'm unexpectedly blocked in one of them.

How important is social interaction for you? Do you miss the social life at the office?

It's crucial! On one hand, I love my offline social life with friends who barely care what I do for work, but at the same time, I love hanging out in an office and having casual conversations with the team. Maybe some of these can be done remotely too! :)

Why do you prefer working remotely?

The first reason is that it gives me absolute freedom to live wherever I'd like, and to travel while working. The second one, which I didn't expect at the beginning, is that it gives you a lot of power to create focused time away from synchronous interruptions, which sometimes can be hard to deal with at an office. In line with the idea of deep work, I've found a really good balance of focused time and diffuse, more unstructured time, which I think makes me better at my job.

So now you know! If you're looking to expand your job into the remote culture, there are a lot of things you'll need to consider, but maybe after reading this testimonial you'll be more than convinced to become a remote worker :)