Working Remotely

[charlieharper]

Just out of curiosity, how many tech companies in South Africa have liberalised enough to allow their employees to work remotely (Developers amongst others), without physically coming into the office?

Throughout my travels, especially South East Asia (Malaysia, Indo, Thailand, Singapore), I've met numerous guys who basically work/travel at the same time, calling themselves "Digital Nomads".

For example, I met this one Kiwi guy in Malaysia who told me how he quit his day job in Auckland as an accountant then got into programming, did online courses in Web-Development (I think he said Ruby on Rails) for 3 months and through a bit of networking, found a job in a remote position as a developer for a Sydney based company without the need to even be in the country.

How open are South African Tech companies to employing people like this and allow this kind of flexibility?

Would be really keen to know what you guys have experienced - although from what I gathered, I feel that South African companies (there's always exceptions) are often still a bit too conservative when it comes to working hours and formal education.

Thoughts?

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Most companies I've dealt with are still stuck with that "If the boss don't see you, you're not working" mindset. I'm litterally willing to give up a small percentage of my salary to work from home permanently and only go to the office for important meetings. Not having to deal with traffic and office politics would be worth more to me.

I'm actually in the process of upskilling myself so that within the next few months I can freelance from home on a permanent basis - might as well earn in dollars or pounds while the ZAR is where its at.

 

[akescpt]

the boss wants to see you work. buddy i can look busy for years and be doing f0kk0l. if you a professional with a mature approach to work it doesnt matter where you are doing. you know what you need to do and you get it done.

same like the dumb fsucking mentality that you must be nicely dressed like an undertaker to be professional. look how you look my laaitie, your output must be ***. your msp.

 

[akescpt]

Most companies I've dealt with are still stuck with that "If the boss don't see you, you're not working" mindset. I'm litterally willing to give up a small percentage of my salary to work from home permanently and only go to the office for important meetings. Not having to deal with traffic and office politics would be worth more to me.

I'm actually in the process of upskilling myself so that within the next few months I can freelance from home on a permanent basis - might as well earn in dollars or pounds while the ZAR is where its at.

this related to your signature?

 

[R4ziel]

Ive been in the Tech industry for about 10 years and most of the work I do is in the cloud anyway, Ive worked for numerous companies and not one has actually allowed me to work from home no matter the circumstance, because then how do they know im working.

I have plenty of contacts within the industry and that seems to be the norm. I could have been working from home years ago if companies allowed it. I always have access to any of my servers I maintain from anywhere

 

[deweyzeph]

I'm the CTO of a technology company with 12 employees. Every single employee of our company works remotely with about half of us in Cape Town and the other half in Joburg. We do not have even have an official office. Works pretty well. It becomes pretty obvious when someone is not delivering and doing what they're supposed to be doing.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Been working from home now since January, wouldn't want to return to an office especially if I had to spend hours travelling.

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

this related to your signature?

Not a f0k. I trade forex for fun only. Anybody who tells you they trade forex fulltime, has enough money to not have to trade at all.

 

[semaphore]

I do enjoy the odd time to work at home, but i also enjoy office banter and throwing ideas off someone. Cabin fever can set it pretty fast for me. But i've done it a few times. I adjusted the circumstance instead. I worked from home till 11am and then went to the office and left at 3pm and then worked the rest at home. Worked pretty well.

 

[scudsucker]

I'd not be employing anyone who's only done a 3 month Ruby course, remotely or otherwise. Definitely not employing such a junior remotely.

Working remotely even with really good developers is quite hard, you need extremely good communication skills all round, and a huge amount of self discipline... and senority.

Juniors need the helping hand of the older devs; that is not going to happen sufficiently if they work remotely.

That said, I know people who do work and travel; but they work together as a team, and travel together. It is quite different.

 

[Pakka]

I'm the CTO of a technology company with 12 employees. Every single employee of our company works remotely with about half of us in Cape Town and the other half in Joburg. We do not have even have an official office. Works pretty well. It becomes pretty obvious when someone is not delivering and doing what they're supposed to be doing.

Can I work for you?

 

[charlieharper]

not one has actually allowed me to work from home no matter the circumstance, because then how do they know im working.

It's silly that they measure hours instead of productivity...

 

[Sysem]

Can I work for you?

Me too?

 

[Waansin]

My first remote (work from home) job was back in August 2010. I've worked for a total of 4 companies in a remote capacity. Some were not prepared for a remote employee, while others are. My current job is very much aligned around the idea of remote workers.

We have a devs in Germany, Ireland, Kenya, and South Africa (Cape Town mainly). It works partly because the team members are good at their jobs and are ethical. But mainly it works because the business works with a remote first approach, even with the team members that go into the Cape Town office.

As for local companies that support remote workers. If they're built around offices and meetings, you can forget them ever hiring a remote worker. Even if they did, you're risking a lot working in an environment that may not be able to support you properly. I've experienced this first hand.

Finding remote employment. I can tell you what I did. I searched for an opportunity and worked hard to get myself into the right position to be able to sell my skills properly. I got lucky the first time around. I got lucky the next two times around. I probably got lucky this last time as well by being in the right place at the right time. A lot of the effort is knowing where to look and who to talk to.

And, if you're serious about working remotely and have the right qualities, we're currently looking for decent people to join our team. We have openings for:
1x junior ui design
1x ux specialist
1x mid php
1x senior php
1x senior mobile

DM me if you want more information

 

[Nips]

I'm the CTO of a technology company with 12 employees. Every single employee of our company works remotely with about half of us in Cape Town and the other half in Joburg. We do not have even have an official office. Works pretty well. It becomes pretty obvious when someone is not delivering and doing what they're supposed to be doing.

Manage people on what they deliver and not the time they spend at the office. How all companies should run, especially in tech (where often we are selling the technologies to enable this). Where do do I apply

 

[Cube3]

I'm the CTO of a technology company with 12 employees. Every single employee of our company works remotely with about half of us in Cape Town and the other half in Joburg. We do not have even have an official office. Works pretty well. It becomes pretty obvious when someone is not delivering and doing what they're supposed to be doing.

I'd love to work from home, the only concern is when it comes to that lovely load shedding time of the year. Most companies will have backup power / generator to keep things running..... oh and can I work for you too ?

 

[DominionZA]

Been working from home most of my IT career.
Currently I go to the office Mon to Wed, 08H00 to 14H00. Rest of the time at home.

Got battery/inverter for the days we have no power, and genny for when the batteries don't see me through a long power outage.
Also got backup Internet in case adsl goes down.

Say the same of my staff. Want to work from home, make sure you can no matter what. No excuses that power was down, Internet down, etc... All good then.

 

[biometrics]

Working from home all the time is not as great as you may think it is. I prefer a balance of some days at home and some days at the office. Currently I'm at home all the time and you get cooped up, you need human contact at times.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Working from home all the time is not as great as you may think it is. I prefer a balance of some days at home and some days at the office. Currently I'm at home all the time and you get cooped up, you need human contact at times.

I like the silence and being able to work in boxers. If I need company I'll go visit somebody

 

[biometrics]

I like the silence and being able to work in boxers. If I need company I'll go visit somebody

It's been two years for me, give it time.