Remote work is in our DNA, part 1

A Voices of Parsec post

Parsec is built on community–on the principle of connecting people to each other and the resources they need to create cool stuff. And yet, on blog posts like these, you don’t exactly know who’s talking to you. Today, we’d like to pull back the curtain a little bit and get personal.

I’m Steph, and this is Voices of Parsec, a blog series that comes directly from the hearts and minds of the people who make Parsec and SyncSketch. Today we’re talking about remote work, which as you know is our bread and butter.

But it’s more than just the thing our products enable. It’s the reality of our everyday lives. We’re a fully distributed team that spans the globe, working apart to build great things together. We intimately understand the advantage of working from anywhere, and experience the pitfalls on a daily basis. These unique experiences shape how we help you do your best work.

Kirsty Wilson, Senior Content Producer @ SyncSketch, on attaining work/life balance without sacrificing her career’s forward momentum

I started my career in my 20’s working as a runner at a fast-paced VFX studio in London, UK. I worked furiously to build my career and make it up the ranks to the goal of VFX Producer. I was determined, and work was my life. I was young, driven, and thrived by being immersed 100% at the studio five, sometimes six days a week, collaborating and learning from everyone around me. I was all in.

Cut to my late 20’s and I found myself in California. Ready to start a family and still wanting to stay in the game. I knew from a young age that it would be important to me to be a working parent. I am ambitious but I also wanted a life outside work, having moved intentionally from the work hard, play hard London scene. I wanted to cut the wasted commute hours and instead spend that time with my new family.

For me, hybrid work was a complete game-changer. I cut my commute by 50%, saving me 8 hours a week. As a new mom, on my WFH days I could see my baby more, breastfeed her on work breaks, and pick up my 3-year-old from preschool myself at the end of the day.

By 2021 I was so in love with my WFH lifestyle, I was ready to go fully remote. I joined Syncsketch mid-pandemic and it’s been nothing short of a dream. Now I get to add even more hours back to my day. I avoid the hellish Bay Area commute. I live two blocks from my kids’ school so if pickup happens to fall between meetings, I get to pick them up. Nothing beats a quick desk break where I get to hold hands with my kid as they chatter about their morning, who they played with at recess, and offload their worries. All this and I’m back at my desk within 15 mins.

My day is peppered with little encounters. I can sit outside with birdsong while I log into Zoom to talk with a coworker in Vancouver or SLC. My husband can make me a latte and say a quick “hey”, and I get to spend more time with the people that I love versus the strangers on the commute. I feel lucky everyday to be part of a global team that welcomes remote working for all. As a Brit living abroad, I feel more welcome to be part of a truly global team with coworkers from all avenues of life, being enabled to do their best work from anywhere.

Yolande Yip, Senior Product Marketing Manager @Parsec, on reaching her daily quota of social interaction while working fully remote

I don’t actually need to be friends with my co-workers. Hold up, let me rephrase that—

I love my Create Anywhere team, and it’s a pleasure to collaborate with such awesome, smart, caring people who really have become friends. But I have never relied on office interactions for social fulfillment. My entire eight-year marketing career has been fully remote, and I’ve never minded. What can I say? Maybe it’s the intense introvert in me, or maybe it’s because I can’t miss after-work happy hours that never occurred.

What I can do is cherish the moments I’ve prioritized—my cousin’s wedding in New Zealand, meeting my best friend’s newborn in Kansas City, flying at the drop of a hat to support my partner through unspeakable tragedy—all possible with both the flexibility to truly work anywhere and the privilege to always have had colleagues who’ve trusted me no matter what time zone I was in.

When I moved to San Francisco, I drove sobbing, devastated to leave my home state and terrified the rich friendships I had built would erode, and while my fears weren’t baseless, the truth is maintaining any relationship—proximal or not—is hard, but making it back to the annual Friendsgiving party goes a long way. I’m so grateful I can.

Avery Vernon-Moore, Product Marketing Manager @ Parsec, with a very handy Slack tip

Parsec is my first remote work experience, and it was quite the adjustment compared to working in an office all day, but I’ve grown to love it and the freedom I have. Now I can visit my family more frequently, and live a more balanced life at home without the commute to or from work in Los Angeles – the traffic here sucks. My stress levels have gone down and don’t have to think about all the little tasks I need to get done when I return home from work – now I can have the laundry running while I’m in a meeting!

One thing that helped me adjust to a fully remote team was getting to know coworkers more personally through the “just-for-fun” Slack channels and spending time connecting outside of work. Getting to know everyone on the Parsec team has been integral to my positive experience so far. Even though we’re fully remote, I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to several states (and another country!) with our team, and the team local to LA always prioritizes getting together for dinner when we can. I’m grateful to be on the Parsec team and to be able to work from anywhere!