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Daniel Alonzo
Daniel Alonzo

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The way to remote work. A digital hole in the new normality

I wanted to write about this research i have been doing and which i have been into for the last couple of months. If you are reading this, you were probably searching for information as well. As for me, I was curious about a number of things: how to work remotely, the steps to take in order to become a remote developer or digital nomad, and even looking for information about companies like Microverse or Talently; stuff like that. For this reason, when I began this research months ago, I intended to write everything I learned, knowing it could be of use for you.

I will try to recount my journey through the path into this world of remote work, which i am still going through and i am confident it can be of iterest to others. Also, these posts will help me improve my English writing skills, therefore corrections are welcome!

While writing this post, i jotted down the titles of four interesting post that i intend to work on later. For now, i will try to finish this one before dawn.

How did it all start?

It all started months ago on the month of May, at the beginning of the pandemic and the confinement forced by Covid-19, when i read a post on Xataka blog about a company which is dedicated to train software developers. The cool thing is that it does not charge you anything until you've been gotten a job. I remember reading it, finding it interesting enough to share on Facebook an then forgetting about it. It wasn't until months later on August of this dreaded 2020 when i asked myself: Is it possible to live this way?

Let me tell you something about me, I grew up in a small city in Mexico. Here there aren't big companies or great job opportunities, especially for software developers. For this reason, more than eight years ago I decided to move out to the city where i currently reside and work, a city with a strong industrial activity and greater job opportunities. However, i always had the desire to return to my hometown, or at least to be closer to the place where I grew up; I longed the tranquility of a small place, and to be closer to my loved ones. It was a persistent desire as persistent my thought that is impossible to achieve… until now.

Because to the quarantine that we are currently living, i now have the opportunity to work from home. Since, I have returned to my small town to spend the confinement (it has been now 8 months as I write this). As can you imagine, I am happy to be here, after being gone so long being gone for such a long time. The space here is wide, the air cleaner and I feel the warmth of my home... It was then that the desire to stick around reappeared, however not only for the duration of the confinement; yet permanently. Then, i started figuring it all out in my head: maybe if i quit my current job and started my own business... when it hi me; the company on Xataka blog: Microverse! That could be the key to making the impossible, possible!

My first approach to remote work: Microverse

My research began at that moment. Initially, it all seemed too good to be truth to me. It looked like one of those incredible adds that rarely keep their word until I started looking for opinions outside their official website and I found them. It turns out that Microverse promotes itself very well via Twitter, as you can find people tweeting about them, and even in forums like Reddit and websites like switchup.org where people give opinions about any topic. Likewise, as you can imagine, you can also find them on LinkedIn. Microverse actually exists, and according to these people, their system works too. Therefore I spent a couple of weeks adding people who had something to do with Microverse to my social networks; people who had or are studying there, even the CEO who was easy to contact via Twitter or email, I also contacted people from Mexico who studied there and asked them about their experience, if Microverse really exists, if they really deliver the services they do promise, I receive a couple of responses telling me that Microverse is real that it actually works! It was then when I immersed myself more every time on these topics by browsing online, connecting with people, and learning about this digital revolution that is already happening. I encountored people talking in terms I had never heard before such as "a global market for software developers", "digital nomads", "democratization of education", "hacking the way to remote work". Younger people and less experienced than I am, but with a different mentality. People who are working remotely already helped by people who already know the way ... I was fascinated!

To be continue

While Microverse was just the beginning - I intend to dedicate an entry dedicated to what I learned from this academy - there is more information and I plan to tell you all about it in the following posts.

See you soon!

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