HN Explorer

Ask HN: Communities for Remote Work?

6 points by asim ↗ HN
Hey all,

I've worked in a remote and distributed way for around 7 years, most of that solo, some in a team and a brief stint in an office pre-covid. One thing I've really noticed is a lack of community around that. I don't think HN was ever intended for it, I don't think sub-reddits and other places really fit the bill either and I don't believe any of the slacks or discords solve that problem.

I was just wondering if anyone came across any remote work specific communities that try to help with social aspects, loneliness, etc? Surely this should be a thing. I've not found anything and I'm starting to play around with the idea of building one. I don't want to go that route but I'm really struggling to find anything that fits.

8 comments

[ 0.28 ms ] story [ 30.9 ms ] thread
brudgers
Because there's no central commonality, it doesn't seem like remote work is the kind of thing a community will form around, except in cases where there are other commonalities like physical or interest proximity.

To put it another way, remote workers who live in the same town can get together over coffee, and remote workers who are into trombones can get together in r/music/trombones...but

online is limited.

If HN, Facebook, and Twitter don't solve the social dimension, a new platform probably won't either.

There's probably room for a platform with services for remote workers, however. And that's maybe the first step toward a social platform.

Good luck.

asim
Thanks for your comments. The funny thing is, the services are exactly what I wanted to focus on, just felt like you needed to start with community/communication e.g forum/message board first, then start to offer things like task management, reminders, etc.
brudgers
As a business concept, and maybe it isn’t, the money is in tooling for managing remote workers.

There are a million reminder apps to pick from already…anyone who wants one already has one and doesn’t want to switch. Anyone who doesn’t have one, doesn’t by choice.

asim
It feels like if it's about managing remote workers then time management is the big piece.
brudgers
Guessing is not as good as asking potential users what problems they need solved.

I mean that the problem of community doesn’t go away…though that might not be the most pressing problem for managers of remote workers…I am just guessing too.

I know my guesses are probably poor.

asim
I'm looking at personal pain first which is really that remote work means losing out on the social aspects of work. I think all the other tools can be built but are undifferentiated. Community for remote work isn't a thing. Or if it is its always tied to a Job board which isn't really helpful for people who already have jobs.
Irongirl1
Awhile back there was a community started by a guy named Kai Davis called freelance.camp:https://freelance.camp.

It still exists and is going strong and is probably exactly what you are looking for...check 'em out.

HTH