Here at The Wayward Road, we have been talking about the importance of remote work for years. It’s something we’re obsessed with, and believe to be not only the future of work, but that it should be the present reality as well.

We believe that the times of having to move to a different city just to be able to commute everyday to a physical office should be long gone by now. Times are changing, although not at the pace we would like see them to change.

That’s why we love to find people like Amir Salihefendic (@amix3k). Amir is the CEO of Doist, a remote-first company who is behind productivity apps like Todoist and Twist. We especially love finding people who talk about the importance of remote work while embracing it. They specify their remote-first working culture in the homepage of their website:

remote work

Amir recently wrote what I think is one of the best twitter threads about remote work I have ever read. This 13-tweet-thread is way better than most of the articles about the importance of remote work that you will read anywhere else.

I personally found it so clever, well-analyzed and perfectly explained, that I thought it deserved an entire article.

Let’s dive right into it:

Amir starts off by comparing remote work with some of the most important work paradigm shifts humanity has faced in history, such as the development of agriculture and industrialization.

These four tweets add a bit of background to the history of work. Humans have basically shifted from nomads, to living in small cities, to living in bigger cities, to living in insanely-large cities. It’s even gotten to the point that living in the same city you work in doesn’t even save you from having to travel into work. In some of the largest cities in the world, having a 2 hour commute to work is not unusual.

This basically means that during the entire history of humanity, location was key if you wanted to get a job. The main reason why small towns all over the world are disappearing is because younger generations are moving to bigger cities, where job opportunities are more accessible.

Now, for the first time in history, humans don’t have to depend on location to get a good job. Think about it for a second. For the first time in the history of humanity, living thousands of kilometers away from a potential employer is no longer a valid reason to have your application rejected.

This is a paradigm shift that could even potentially reduce migration movements in the medium/long term future. Many people will no longer need to move to a different country just so they can get a job. 

The reason why I grew up in the city I did is because my dad found a job there. Both of my parents have always lived hundreds of kilometers away from family and friends, just because they found a good job in a different city.

Now I am not saying that you should get a remote job just so you can live in your hometown for the rest of your life. Quite the opposite, actually. But I believe that your job should not be the defining factor of such a crucial part of your life (and your family’s).

While I was living in Chile, I met tons of foreigners that were not happy with their life outside of work. They were living in a city they didn’t like, wishing they could go back to their home country one day. Literally the only thing keeping them in a city they didn’t like, missing family and friends, was their job.

This is one of the things I mentioned in my article about how I got my last remote job. When you are looking for remote jobs, you can reach out to companies who are located literally anywhere in the world. There are no geographical boundaries.

And the same goes for employers: You don’t need to be in New York, Paris, London, Madrid, Berlin, etc. to find the best talent for your company. You don’t need to hire those people that can physically show up at your company’s office. You don’t need to pay commute expenses or parking spots as a “company perk”.

Yes, yes, yes and yes. I would also add “motivation and loyalty”, but that’s already implied in the tweet.

100%. I am still surprised by the high number of companies, even startups working in tech, that are afraid of remote working. They just don’t get it. I have talked to a lot of entrepreneurs that can’t seem to get their heads around the fact that you can have employees located all over the world, and still run a successful company.

I feel like this usually has to do with the co-founders’ personal and employment background before getting into tech, but that’s another topic for a different article.

I really hope so, and will personally do everything I can to make it happen.

Also, if you want to stay up to date on companies hiring for non-tech remote jobs, you should definitely consider joining our mailing list. Only 1 email per month and no spam, ever:



Posted in Remote workTagged , ,

Published by Raúl

I studied Business Administration at the University of Cádiz in Spain, then worked as an analyst in Poland and then moved to Latin America where I worked in sales for a startup. Now I do remote business development for a tech company based out of Singapore. I am very lucky (and thankful!) to have been able to visit 39 countries during these past 31 years and have no plans of taking roots. You can write to me at raul@thewaywardroad.com

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