Why we are remote and always will be
Throughout my professional life, work always meant showing up. It meant waking up early, getting ready (usually in a rush) and leaving the house to another dimension that was work. I was lucky that, most of the time, I was 30 minutes away but my co-founder Gustavo was not so lucky.
Before Colored Byte, Gustavo would take 1.5h to get to work and another 1.5h to come back from work and in a city that has 20M people like São Paulo this is not only common but it is the norm.
When we started Colored Byte, we were at the start of the 2020 covid pandemic and suddenly everyone had to stay at home. There was no choice and companies had to adapt quickly and what was scary soon became welcome by most people. Gustavo now has gained on average 15h weekly which is 60h per month. If you think about it he gained more than a week of free time every month. What would you do for an extra week of life every month?
It was because of our newly found free time that we were able to start Colored Byte and quit our full time jobs in only 3 months time. (Sounds crazy but we did grow very fast!)
A bit more than two years later I find myself in São Paulo again after almost 10 years of living in the United States and as I’m taking my girlfriend to her work I felt what it is like to lose that 1.5h of my day again. I felt what is like seeing the green light and still not being able to move the car. I’m frustrated, angry at other drivers and what was supposed to be a good day started at a level of stress I never even felt during business.
While I understand my privilege, I don’t understand why some companies still insist on making going to the office mandatory. After workers experienced what is having more time for their loved ones or themselves why would they come back and be ok with it?
It is true that real human interaction is important but I think it is reasonable to say that most people would prefer to get that fulfilled somewhere else but work. Why not connect with family, friends or go travel to meet new ones instead of going to the office every single day, spending hours in traffic and stress. Why live in expensive cities you don’t like just so you can work? As I compare the benefits against the cons, I truly believe remote work is amazing.
At Colored Byte we have team members from multiple countries and a rich company culture. We can hire awesome talent from more remote areas and give a chance to people that otherwise would need to relocate. There are awesome tools that allow us to cultivate a healthy work environment and create a culture of cooperation and respect. We are very proud of what we achieved with our team at Colored Byte and even if we are all remote, we are always together.
