I got promoted while working remotely
A story of pain, productivity, and progression during the pandemic
It has been a testing time for each one of us, in more ways than I can imagine. This piece is an attempt to reinstate belief in self and the work we do. I feel fortunate to have had a place to apply myself. In that, realizing the importance of having a direction and purpose over productivity and career progression.
In the February of 2020, it had just been 6 months of me working at fieldd, when the CEO pulled me aside and to my surprise offered me the position of Product Dev Manager. In addition to my software engineering duties, this would have meant handling a team of developers and designers in our quest for glory. Although I am not one for fancy titles, the challenge excited me. The product was gaining traction and the team rapidly growing to keep up.
Just when we thought the start-up gods were starting to notice us, an up-and-coming flu variant took the world by storm.
In just a month’s time [March 2020], we went from moving into an eight-person office at the co-working space to moving out to a 3 person desk in the common area.
This change came in tandem with our CEO’s decision to move from Australia to Canada. Not only was there no team to managed by me, but there also wasn’t going to be a manager for me to [physcially] report to.
As I drove away after dropping my boss off at the airport for his flight to the land of maple syrup 🍁, the sinking feeling gradually transformed into a series of epiphanies that would play themselves out in the months (years) to come.
March of 2020 hit different to all of us around the world, but mine had some habanero sauce 🌶 on the side. As the world moved from office desks to bed tables, my list of expenses also included an extra wall clock set to Vancouver time.
Mind you, the team was/is still growing, just not in the same room as I was. This brings me to the first aspect of the story, pain. One of the bigger thrills of building software products is collaboration. Unfortunately, that is driven by the need of the customer and not so much by that of the engineer, and partial remote teams across different timezones make that apparent very quickly.
And just like that, the conversations receded.
“Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” -John Wooden
Taking Mr. Wooden upon his advice, I hopped onto the hyper-productivity trend myself.
With lesser conversation, I could work on my speeches. I switched gears and shifted my focus from growing the team to growing the product. Every minute at the keyboard meant building and every minute away from it meant planning what to build next.
Not all days will be the same but look at it as an averages game. Showing up adds up.
Turns out, if you are willing to give your best effort things start to look up. That me in the middle 😬
Something to remember my management days by.
