Remote Work Debate, Career Lessons from Farmers, and Overcoming Obstacles

Remote Work Debate, Career Lessons from Farmers, and Overcoming Obstacles

👩🏽‍💻 There seems to be an endless war about working from home. Total flexibility vs. Hybrid vs. always in the office. No matter where you stand on the issue, it’s not going away.

While there are plenty of benefits of remote work, there are plenty of challenges too. A survey from Gallup found that the share of remote workers who said they felt a connection to the purpose of their organizations fell to 28 percent from 32 percent. 

That contrasts with data from the same survey, however, that showed that 38 percent of people who work remotely full or part-time are engaged, compared with 34 percent of in-office workers.

Certainly, working from home increases flexibility and reduces in-office distractions. Many CEOs argue that it also hampers some of the collaboration between coworkers needed to excel. New employees certainly benefit from meeting people in person as they integrate into their teams.

So the debate rolls on. Do you think remote work is here to stay, especially in the engineering world? Or on its way out?

📈 In today’s newsletter:

Career tips

👩🏼‍🌾 What Farmers Can Teach Engineers About Career Growth

I feel privileged to live in a gorgeous region of the world called the Palouse. This area is surrounded by rolling wheat and other crop fields that are quite stunning. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing the farmers harvest the crops with their massive machines. It’s very fun to watch.

Every year, the area goes through a cycle of prepping fields, planting, growing, and harvesting. 

🪷 But this cycle doesn’t only happen for farmers. The law of the harvest, or the notion that “we reap what we sow,” applies to all of us. What we put into the ground, into our lives, and into our relationships is what we can expect to get out. 

If farmers don't take care of their crops and get them in on time, they won't have an opportunity to harvest in the Fall.

🌾 The same is true of us and the areas we want to grow in our lives and engineering careers. You reap what you sow. You only get the outcome of your actions.

You can't expect to harvest a great career, salary, home, or relationship unless you spend the time to plant, nourish, and cultivate your relationships, networks, skills, and vision for your life. You can’t grow engineering skills without putting the time and effort it takes to build them.

🪴 New career opportunities, raises, or promotions are something you might want to reap one day. Take action now, rather than later. Start planting, start sowing, and start identifying what to put in your life and engineering career so that you can reap later in your life the things that you would really appreciate and value.

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    "Before the reward, there must be labor. You plant before you harvest. You sow in tears before you reap joy."

    Ralph Ransom 

    book recommendation

    The Obstacle Is the Way

    🔖 Many of Ryan Holiday’s recent books are on principles of Stoicism, an ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience (something we could all use).

    Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. This book is based on a quote from Marcus Aurelius who said this nearly 2000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” 

    ⛹🏽‍♀️ The author weaves in examples of some of the most successful people in history — from John D Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S Grant to Steve Jobs — and how they have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their acceptance of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck.

    If you’re feeling frustrated, demoralized, or stuck in a rut, this book can help you turn your problems into your biggest advantages. And along the way, it will inspire you with dozens of true stories of the greats from every age and era.

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    Written by 

    Jeff Perry

    Engineering Career Coach

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