From Berlin to Columbus

Originally posted on my blog at blog.domneuner.com

Oh hey, I started this blog a while ago and I told myself I wouldn't just let it fall to the wayside again so let's get some words down here. So let's talk about three more months at eFuse. I guess this is becoming a quarterly thing now?

The last time I wrote a post, it was at the six month mark. It'd had been a whirlwind time, stumbling through trying to figure out how to be a product manager. Now, it's been 9 months and I think I've finally found my feet.

Anyway, sod product, let's talk people. And spoiler alert, if you're expecting a well thought out post, you're in the wrong place. This is going to be incoherent babble and whatever pours of my brain.

?? Remotely interesting

If you didn't know, eFuse is based out of Columbus, OH. I'm a little further away in Berlin. Not the Berlin that is also in Ohio (which I discovered is a thing today whilst trying to find the distance between Berlin & Columbus). The OG one, the one that is 6975KM away from Columbus. That's kinda far, who knew?

That means I'm pretty remote and that's been a real journey in itself. I always said I'd never work remotely, I fucking love being around people. A cheeky pandemic soon made me get comfortable with remote work and with the opportunities that eFuse brought, I said fuck it and gave it a chance.

?? Remote can be great

One of the first questions I get asked about working for a US company from the EU is "doesn't the time difference suck?". It's a 6 hour time difference and so when peeps are starting their day, it's mid-afternoon for me. Honestly? It's one of my favourite parts of being remote.

Over the last nine months, I've been able to craft my own schedule and it's an absolute dream. Long gone are the 0600 wakeups to be at the office for 0800. Now I wakeup at 0900 and don't actually get out of bed until 1000 after an excessive amount of time spent scrolling through Tiktok & Twitter. I get into the office (aka a WeWork hot desk) at around 1200, grab some lunch (often it's Burgermeister aka the best burger in Berlin) and then dive into some deep work before peeps start to come online around 1430-1500. From 1500 until 2000-2100, I'm pretty much guaranteed to be in meetings. Most days I'll wrap it up here, some days end up going longer if needs must but it's all give & take.

That's one of my favourite parts about being six hours ahead and being able to craft my own schedule. I get a solid 2-3 hours of uninterrupted deep focus time before most peeps have even woken up. I don't have to block out my calendar to protect my time, it just comes naturally.

The best part is that none of this is mandated, it was my choice. When I first joined eFuse, a lot of folks repeatedly voiced concerns that I was joining meetings at a late hour and that it was totally okay for me to not be there. There was a lot of empathy and consideration towards protecting my own personal time outside of eFuse, even if it was at the potential detriment of getting things done. I fucking love that.

Nine months later and peeps have adjusted to the fact that this is how I enjoy working. That's not to say they take it for granted or rely on it. Still to do this day, I'll receive meeting invites with notes like this:

"Sorry, I realise it's late for you Dom but this is the only time that could work with the entire group in this timeframe. Feel free to decline and we'll figure out an alternative."

I'm sat here looking at being like "it's only at 1930, no sweat" but I appreciate the consideration nonetheless. We always talk about starting with empathy at eFuse and this goes to show, it doesn't have to be a grand gesture, it's also in the little things.

?? Remote can be the fucking worst

I mentioned at the beginning that I always said I'd never work remotely and one of the biggest reasons is that I love chatting absolute bollocks. Whilst I love the freedom being remote brings, it can be incredibly isolating & constrictive at times.

One of my biggest worries was forming relationships. I like knowing the people I work with and building a bond. I like talking about the cool tattoos peeps are getting and the absolute bangers we're all listening to. eFuse made this easier but it's still hard.

When you're surrounded by absolutely phenomenal people, it's easier to forge those relationships even across the Atlantic ocean. That's not to say it was simple. Very early on, I realised it takes deliberate effort to develop those relationships when there isn't that ad-hoc meet in a hallway vibe.

Reasons like that are why I started channels like #music in the eFuse Slack. Whilst I'm one of the more extreme examples, I'm not the only remote person at eFuse and so fostering a culture where we can actually open up more chill conversations alongside the elite work we're doing is incredibly important to me. We're all people at the end of the day, we're not just the work we do. On top of that, #tattoos is now a thing which only serves to fuel my desire to get more.

It takes a lot of conscious thought and deliberate effort to work remotely, that's what I've learned. That's one of the things I hate about it. I love the impromptu things, the ad-hoc conversations that pop up. It's the random beers at 3PM on a Friday afternoon because fuck it, the sun is shining and we've done good shit this week.

It's that ability to get involved with conversations that otherwise you wouldn't have been involved with because you weren't in the right slack thread or google meet invite. It's those physical whiteboarding sessions that a FigJam just can't quite replicate, even if it is a cracking tool.

No matter what you do, how many Slack channels you create and how deliberate you are, I've found it impossible to 100% replicate those situations whilst being remote. If you've found otherwise, please share! I'd love to learn from what others experiences.

?? eFuse is elite

As I said at the start, eFuse was one of the reasons I was willing to give being remote a try. The opportunity was one that was too good to pass up and so I took the plunge in to it. It's also one of the reasons that I've been able to make it work for me.

I'm not the only eFuser that is remote, we have a lot of folks spread all over the US and folks who take that flexibility to WFH even when they're in Columbus. So every quarter, we get everyone together for a quarterly gathering where we reflect on the quarter that just passed, look forward to the next one and also just spend some solid time in good company.

Granted, we're far from the only company that has a get together or an all-hands but eFuse is the first company I've been at where every single person present has brought unbelievable energy in such a short period of time. It did mean I inadvertently introduced several people to my absolute gremlin energy that I had only met in person for the first time that day.

Side note: if you ever need a self-esteem boost, just get the eFuse content team to snap a few pictures of you, it'll do absolute wonders.

Did I get lambasted for being my gremlin self? Chided and derided? Nah, we had a giggle mate. Whilst I was writing this, the below tweet popped up as I tweeted out some of the photos from our Q2 party because #memories and it's incredibly indicative of the people I found myself surrounded by. Was it professional? Fuck no. Is is professional to write about it on this blog that I'll cross-post to LinkedIn? Fucked if I know but I'm going to do it?anyway because it's my experiences and who I am.

Whilst I said sod product at the beginning and this definitely isn't a work endorsed post and just my own inane ramblings, we are looking for elite engineering & product folk amongst other roles! Check it out on Greenhouse.

We've grown a lot since Q2, as people and as a company and I'm excited to see everyone again. Here's to Q3, it's going to be an absolute banger mate. Have a parting gift, an impromptu photoshoot with Seth & Shawn that came just after the well put together photo that is the cover photo ??