This post outlines my experience working remotely where I was in an opposite timezone to my employer. I did this for nearly 2 years whilst living in Brazil and working for Lab3 in Australia. This was challenging at times but the fact that I did this for 2 years shows that it worked well for me and hopefully my employer.

After the pandemic we decided to move to Brazil to be nearer to my wife’s family and give our 1.5 year old daughter a chance to spend time with all her aunties and uncles. This was the best decision we ever made!

I would like to take this opportunity to say thankyou to Lab3 for giving me the chance to continue working for them. 👍 https://www.lab3.com.au/ Thanks Lab3

The Details

So without further ado, I will describe my working life here and the PROS and CONS of it all.

You might think that moving to Brazil was a holiday and mostly I sat beside the pool and pretended to work but that was not true. I did sit beside the pool at times but I assure you I was working and why would anyone not take the opportunity to sit in a beautiful place whilst working!

My office

Here is a list of PROS and things I learned and enjoyed whilst remote working in an opposite timezone:

  • Able to Concentrate: Probably due to the fact that I was awake when my colleagues were asleep meant I could concentrate for long periods of time and produce better code and documentation complared to being in the same timezone or the same office.

  • Communicate Clearly: Due to the 14 hour time difference I realised that I needed to be a very good communicator mostly due to the fact that I was awake when my colleagues were sleeping. This involved:

    • Very detailed Teams messages outlining what I did for the day as well as anything I needed from my colleagues. I used Techsmith Snagit a lot to help with communication.
    • Very detailed Jira tickets.
    • Thorough Confluence documentation so my Team members can read about the details.
    • Thorough README files to accompany my code. As a side note, I start every project with a README file and document things as I go.

  • Total Transparency: During my time here and in my work life in general I believe in total transparency. I think this is important due to the fact that my team needed to put a lot of trust in me and believe I was doing what I said I would do. This meant:

    • If I had an issue or could not do some work then I immediately let the team know.
    • Clear and concise communication as mentioned above.
    • General honesty which I think transcends all areas of life.

  • Family: I could be available to spend quality time with my daughter and family:
    • As Hamish Blake says in his amazing podcast, How Other Dads Dad https://howotherdadsdad.com/: "We only get ten summers with our kids until they want to go and hang out with their friends instead of us." My daughter and I have spent many 100s of morning on the swings or reading books and colouring in that I, in a normal situation would not have been able to do. I could do my work hours after my time with her and this was perfect.

  • Backlog: I always needed to ensure I had a backlog of work. What I mean here is, I always needed about 3 Jira tickets that I could work on at any one time. This is because, at times, I got blocked and needed to have other work to continue with.

  • Another Culture: I could continue to do the same job that I loved but also experience life in another culture. I also learned to speak Portuguese which was an opportunity I never thought I would have.

Here is a list of CONS related to working remotely in an opposite timezone:

  • Meetings after hours: The only time of the day I could have a meeting with my colleagues in Australia was around 8pm in the evening. This was really not an issue but, at times, it was right in the middle of dinner or my daughter’s bath time.

  • Missing Details: At times I needed more information from colleagues and needed to wait until the evening to ask them for this information. This was frustrating for me and for them.

  • Not being available for my colleagues: Although they never said it, i’m sure, at times, it was frustrating for my colleagues because I wasn’t immediately available when they needed me.

Summary

In summary I would say that my time in Brazil working remotely was awesome. I feel very lucky to have be able to do this and it has reinforced my belief that being in an office 5 days a week does not make a better employee. Whilst there were pros and cons, I could:

  • Concentrate for longer
  • Produce quality work
  • Break up my day into work and non-work activities
  • Enjoy life in another country
  • Spend quality time with my family
  • Learn another language