I have spent the majority of my career working in person. Until the pandemic when we went home for "just a couple weeks till this, all blows over." That was 2 years ago, and I've realized that I vastly prefer it to the office; here's why.

Distractions

A few jobs ago, I commented that on days I worked from home, I got more done. At the time, we were a small dev team working in a garage. It was incredible and definitely a collaborative environment. Open offices and unsurprisingly garages tend to cause more distractions. I haven't worked for a company that provided anything but open office space. I would grab a meeting room to get some work done or throw on noise-canceling headphones.

I still face distractions at home; they're my own choosing. I can close Slack, turn on Do Not Disturb, or even get up and work from another location. This is where setting up your environment can be a benefit. Still, not everyone can have an entirely separate space.

Time

The amount of time, and money, I have saved since going remote is wild to me. I was commuting 1-2 hours a day, depending on the office's location, over the past 6 years. Sure, I could live closer to work, but we couldn't afford to. So we lived 10-16 miles from the office. Not spending 2 hours a day driving has allowed me to be more productive. I don't listen to nearly as many podcasts or audiobooks as I did. Still, I'll gladly take back 10 hours a week to actually cook, clean, and spend time with my family over those any day.

Opportunity

I'm not limited to roles in my immediate geographic area or have to physically relocate. This is good because wages and positions are lower for people without degrees here. The local opportunities themselves are primarily in domains and stacks I have no interest in. Having the ability to work anywhere that will hire remotely also allows me to interact and work with people I likely never would have met.