When we hire I am worried about these things, in no particular order:<p>1) Can't communicate.<p>Particularly in written form. Should be easy to show/confirm, but still.<p>Why it matters? In an office I can walk over and communication will be much easier.
We do video calls instantly—but located together you can still compensate for a bigger gap.<p>What you can do: Make it a point to communicate well (precisely, concisely, verifying your assumptions).<p>2) Ego<p>Not open to feedback. Or assuming that other are evil, or stupid or both. Or not interest in changing.
It takes many forms, but at the heart it destroys communication and improvement.
Let's say I give feedback, calmly and fact-based, add some humor, really work hard and show it
that I mean no evil—and the other person gets all emotional and then jumps of the call
and doesn't react anymore. Or, a colleague writes a mail, which could be read as sarcastic (or not),
and someone else jumps at it.<p>Why it matters? When located together, there is no running away. (Technically there is, but then it's quite bad.)
You also bump into each other, which helps in casually addressing things.
When remote, communication is never happening by accident, only intentional.
Again, when co-located the wiggle room for immaturity is bigger.<p>What you can do: depends on your ego ;)<p>3) No drive / ownership / bias to action<p>Why it matters? No social pressure from office mates to keep you going during the day.
If you're going to surf FB half the day at home, you're quite free to do so.
You're also not going to get anything done.<p>What you can do: First, know yourself. If it's a problem, first make it a point to
find the /times/ when you're super productive and protect them against everyone and everything.
Second, prioritization, goal setting, read up.
Third, if you need social pressure, that's fine—but then it's your job to get it.
For example, make it a point to grab a work buddy for a few afternoons.<p>4) Can't get organized<p>Things get overwhelming, your own life, work todos. And _then_ there is a stressful day.
Some people then turn into headless chicken.<p>Why it matters? When remote it's both harder for me (as team lead) to notice a headless chicken—some
people are very good at maintaining an “all's alright” image—and even when I do
it's way harder to reassure someone.<p>You'll be aware how you fare on those topics after a while—that's why employers prefer experience.
To be sure, the above concerns can be addressed with talking, and that's simply harder remote—or more precisely
most people are not yet used to or skilled at communicating remotely. An eagerness to communicate,
particularly for problems will help you make a success out of your remote work.<p>Here's not a worry, but might be something to consider for you: For a professional first impression
and only _IF_ you're not used to doing video calls I'd recommend you becoming aware of how you are
perceived over video. Do a call with someone elsewhere and have them record it.<p>* Audio: Is your hamster wheel in the background being picked up—you never thought <i>that</i> would be a problem?
Is the street way louder than you thought, your microphone much less crisp than advertised?<p>* Video: Where is the camera? (Are people staring up your nose?)
What are your video habits? (Is your face constantly disappearing?)<p>Long blah blah—but I hope it helps you. Let me know in the remote case (pun intended) that you have any questions.
Good luck, have fun! :)<p>edit: formatting