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Thriving As A Remote Data Scientist

My Experience of Working Remotely

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

The discussion of whether remote work is here to stay or is a feat that will wane away as the Covid pandemic eases is one for the future. Currently, millions of people are conducting business as usual, unusually, from the comfort of their own homes due to the current climate across the world. However, despite the ongoing debate, many businesses have pounced at the opportunity to recruit candidates from various locations across the globe, something I am witnessing more and more in the Data Science Field.

In a previous post, I mentioned that Freelancing was a great way to gain experience, earn good money, and be flexible doing Data Science. I myself have seized on that opportunity whilst I take time out to upskill and come back to the workforce as a more specialized, and as a consequence, I’ve been working for a start-up in San Francisco (USA)

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For those that don’t know, I’m based in London, UK meaning I am 8 hours ahead of my colleagues back at the headquarters in San Francisco. Knowing that much of the time I will not have any colleagues to speak to since they will be asleep during much of my working hours, I’ve had to think hard about what I can do to ensure I thrive in this environment by keeping my client happy, and also myself – here’s what I’ve managed to come up with…

Schedule Your Time And Stick To It

With the UK GMT time being 8 hours ahead of San Francisco PST (GMT-8), this means that as I am ending my day, my colleagues would just be beginning theirs it’s quite easy to fall into a trap. I am much more creative and free-flowing during the day so I’d rather use the morning time to focus on client work where I can put all of my efforts into focusing on the task I’ve been set to do rather than waiting for them to wake up before I start on their task.

However, the trap arises here as I would have left messages and notes for the team during my working hours that they would begin to reply to. The reason this can become a trap – and it’s not their fault at all – is because you can easily fall into having a 12+ hour workday by being responsive. The flexibility of remote work is definitely an appealing attraction since you can essentially work on your own terms. However, the way we manage our time is the vital difference between having a social life and work-life.

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By scheduling your working hours, you can set aside time to mentally detach from work which can help create a separation between work and home-life. If your circumstances are different (i.e. you are working for a company in the same timezone) this rule still applies. The same way we had set work hours at work is the same way we should set work hours for ourselves at home.

Communication

You’re probably thinking I told you to simply ignore your clients/colleagues/team-mates after your working hours are complete and if you’re thinking that then you are partially correct.

Of course, if you have a friendship outside of work with one of your colleagues then by all means have a conversation, but if you are being contacted regarding work outside of your working hours then you are not entitled to reply, given one criterion has been met… You’ve effectively communicated.

Note: This is not one shoe fits all advice since emergencies may arise where you are required. At that point what actions you should take is to your own discretion.

If you’ve let your team in on what task you will be doing and the hours you will be completing them in, not only have you made yourself accountable, but you’ve also built up trust with your team which is extremely important for any remote team to function effectively.

If you work in the same time zone or you work in different time zones but you know when their free time/lunch break is, then I’d even go as far as saying popping up with some general chat and talk about stuff that isn’t necessarily work-related as you would usually do if you were at work.

Have A Designated Work Area

This is probably the most independent of all the tips I’ve given today; The trick here is to make your work area resemble a true office space as much as possible. What you find when we were going into the office is that the moment we clock in at our desk we can instantly clock into "work mode" and that is simply a result of the environment being changed.

The right environment could be the distinction between the right attitude for work or the right attitude for Netflix with a Microsoft Teams chat open.

Data Science involved problem-solving and with tasks as such, it takes time for us to get into the "deep" state (or flow state) where we are fully immersed in our work. This ought to be considered when deciding on our designated work area since anything at home can serve as a distraction (which you don’t need).

The area should also be able to get a strong internet signal since there is nothing more frustrating than trying to catch up with your team and one person is constantly lagging, or interrupting – "Can you hear me?", "Sorry, you lagged, could you repeat that again for me please?".

Wrap Up

These tips are from my own personal experience of working remotely, there are definitely some people who have been doing this for more than 2/3 months (like myself) and I’d definitely love to hear what sort of tips you’d share for thriving as a remote Data Scientist – please do leave a response!

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Let’s continue the conversation on LinkedIn…

Kurtis Pykes – Data Scientist – Upwork | LinkedIn


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