I know some people can’t wait to get back to the office (and some have been at the office this whole time), but for me working from home was a total unlock for productivity, health, and general happiness. It was revelatory.
Professionally the quality and quantity of my work improved. I started speaking up in meetings and volunteering to take on projects. I tripled the skills on my resume. I won an award for the first time. My pre-pandemic career lacked energy. I was exhausted from the long commute, from trying to concentrate in the office hubbub, and from navigating in-person meetings. Then suddenly I was working from my condo full-time, and my energy went up. I was able to take on more than the minimum amount of work. I wasn’t as shy in meetings because they were remote. I could start early and work through lunch without feeling burned out.
And even though I was working harder, I had more personal time and better work-life balance. I’d run the dishwasher or the laundry during the day and be chore-free by quitting time. I’d finish errands at lunch or during the time I usually spent on the Blue Line (I gained three hours a day without the commute).
And my health improved, too. Initially I missed walking to the train, but then I started walking during meetings and ended up getting more steps in than I had before the pandemic. Instead of eating fast food, I cooked food at home. Both my wallet and I are in better shape.
I can wear leggings and t-shirts and skip the hair and makeup routine (I was surprised by how much I love this). The cats are less needy since I’m home all the time. I wake up without an alarm … I could go on and on. I can’t say enough good things about working from home. It’s a win-win-win-win all around.
At Nordstrom we’ve been working from home since March of 2020 (and offices won’t reopen until it’s safe), but leadership feels that the company culture is best served by working from the office in person. So when the pandemic is over, most employees will return to the hybrid schedule we had before.
But now that I know what full-time remote is like, I don’t think I can go back. It’s like I was barely getting by before, and now I have a way to thrive, to live the way I need to, to work from ANYWHERE. How cool is that?!
So I decided to leave the Nordstrom nest. Nordstrom has been my entire software engineering career, from the internship in 2016 (the backpack above came with my intern welcome package, and the pins are from projects I’ve worked on during the pandemic) to my five-year anniversary on June 13, 2021 (the certificate above). I met a lot of dedicated, highly skilled, generally awesome people, and they taught my everything I know. So my last day was Friday, and I didn’t realize I’d feel so sad (I keep trying to check Slack and then remember that I don’t work there anymore).
But I’m excited, too. I talked to several companies during my job search, but none checked all the boxes like the software developer role at Wix (it even checks some boxes I didn’t know existed). The type of work they need done, their tech stack, and their remote work policy are exactly what I’m looking for. The team members that I’ve met are great, and the recruiter and HR rep are a pleasure to work with. Plus Wix has offices in ten countries, which is SO EXCITING (although I realize there are a lot of details to work out if I want to try working outside the United States).
So Friday evening I closed the lid of my Nordstrom laptop about an hour before my Wix laptop was delivered. Then Saturday I got Wix welcome swag! (Above.) So I’m all ready to start a new job tomorrow.
There’s another element to all this, and that is imposter syndrome. I graduated from a great computer science program and spent five years at a tech company, but what if I don’t actually know anything about computer science? I only got the job at Nordstrom because I was their intern, what if I can’t get through the interview process anywhere else? I know the doubt that comes with imposter syndrome doesn’t match reality, but it’s hard to remember that sometimes.
So I decided to have a “You’re employable!” beach picnic to celebrate finding a job and getting to work remotely forever. Pura Vita is a 100% plant-based Italian restaurant in West Hollywood that opened a Redondo Beach location (one block from the sand) on February 5. I ordered the house marinated olives, the mushroom-lentil meatballs in marinara, the caprese salad, and the zeppole (fried dough with powdered sugar) and Nutella dip, then set everything up on my beach blanket and spent the afternoon snacking. And trying to decide which country to work in next.