100 Days of Remote Year

creyes · ‎09-07-2016

Weekly roll out

It seems like just yesterday, I was in Virginia packing my belongings to start my year long journey as a digital nomad. Here I am in Lisbon, Portugal my fourth city working from a container called the Village Underground Lisboa. This might sound weird, but the container has been refurbished for co-working spaces which includes desks, chairs, printers, Wi-Fi and most importantly air conditioned rooms. It’s really HOT in Lisbon, AC is a rare commodity. For private calls, we are given the option to book a bus that has been transformed into a conference room. The concept is one of a kind and it works. This is only one of the three co-working spaces for this month. As I’ve mentioned in my previous blog post each city’s co-working space is completely different and unique to the city.

The first week of each month I spend my time finding my way around the city, specifically the co-working space(s), and my housing. The second week is spent establishing a routine that works best for my work and personal schedules. The third week, I am comfortable with the city, I feel like a local. For example, I know where to buy my groceries, how to get home without relying on google maps or city mappers, I can even say simple phrases in the local language. Ultimately, I start to call the city my home. Finally, the fourth week, is emotional and daunting. The routine I have created comes to an end. I have to start packing my belongings and mentally prepare myself for the next city, then whole process starts all over again. This constant change is bitter sweet, it keeps me on toes and teaches me how to embrace change.

Friendships

On this journey, I’ve been fortunate to have developed some great friendships with many individuals from all over the world who have so much passion and drive. Being surrounded by writers, IOS developers, marketing analysts, scientists, entrepreneurs and has broadened my horizons on life and work.

One of my good friends Andrew J Clark is an iOS developer that works for a podcast company. He’s also working on a couple of side project while on Remote Year, a social networking platform app and bi-weekly podcast “A Nerd Abroad.” He recently launched his beta for his social app named Asocial, anonymous social network where you can be you. He has pitched the idea for this app to our group for feedback and testing. Andrew actually mentioned his social media app to me the first few weeks in Prague, seeing his idea come into fruition has been really exciting!

Then, there’s Molly Falco another good friend, who was my roommate in Belgrade, Serbia. She is a bright and creative individual who has her own company “Chronicle” focused on branding and marketing strategy. I had the opportunity to hear her speak to a group of us at our monthly networking event about the importance of choosing a name for a company product. I learned so much from her presentation about how names can affect us psychologically and the science behind choosing a name.

Each of the professionals on Remote Year has their own traits, skills sets and passions that set them apart from the rest. I wake up every morning with an urge to start my day and accomplish my responsibilities and execute what I’ve set to do for Polycom’s Channel team. Being around such positive energy excites and inspires me to do my best work!

Meeting Co-workers

Another benefit of working remotely and being a digital nomad is the opportunity to meet co-workers around the world. Last month in London, I had the opportunity to visit Polycom’s offices (Slough and EEC in London), it was nice being in an office environment. I even had the pleasure to spend some quality time with my fellow colleague Helen Grimmett who is part of my extended World Wide Channel Operations team. I had worked and collaborated with her on Polycom® RealPresence Desktop™ video calls for a couple of years, seeing her in person was a whole different experience!

Thanks to our already established video conferencing relationship, we were able to connect instantly at a personal level. Thank you Helen and your daughter for being my tour guide during my time in London, it was lots of fun!

In the months to come, I will visit a few Polycom offices in South America including Mexico City and Buenos Aires. I can’t wait to meet more of my Polycom colleagues in person, who I have the pleasure to work with virtually these past three years at Polycom.