In our “Where we work” series, we ask Kin team members to share their home office and experience with remote work.
I’m Andrew Edwards, Back-end Engineer at Kin. I live and work remotely from Oregon, USA.
Andrew and his wife, Valerie.
Describe your office space— what makes it a place you are comfortable working in?
I’ve dedicated my office to be a shared working/hobby space for some of the things I like to do. I think its fun to have all of my beekeeping gear and brewing equipment nearby as a reminder of all the cool things I get to do because I have an awesome job.
He’s a bee-keeper, a home-brewer, a goat farmer, and mushroom cultivator!
What can’t you work without in your office space? What are your must haves?
At least one of the dogs has to be in the office with me, they’re great to have hanging around for meetings and just good company overall. I also love having my guitar around for times when I’ve hit a wall and need to jam for a bit to break my train of thought. I’ve also got a series of notepads that have all of the processes I learned as I started here, and every time I’ve got a new process to remember, it gets added to one of them so I can refer to it later.
Also key is a comfy chair. It’s definitely worth investing into, since you’ll be there most days of the week. My desk also converts into a standing desk when I feel like switching it up.
What’s on your “office space” wish list?
Finishing decorating, and putting up some of the stuff I bought just for my office. I’ve got some posters and things to hang on the wall that I’ve been sitting on for some time. There’s a running joke on calls where teammates can see the packages of shelves I’ve yet to install, but I got one installed finally!
Andrew’s co-worker, his axe, and those boxes he’ll get to unpacking… eventually.
Do you have tech that you think helps you do your job better? What is it and why?
The dual external monitor setup is key for me. It allows me to have different screens dedicated to communication and email, one for my IDE, and one for any browser research I need to do. It might mean I’m a little less flexible about where I work physically, but its kind of grounding and definitely feels like I have all the tools I need.
Andrew’s sitting/standing desk and tools of his trade.
Any work from home tips to share?
Definitely take breaks where you can get them– even to do things like chores around the house. Ten minutes of doing some dishes makes me feel better knowing that won’t be waiting at the end of the day, it also gets a small win out of the way if I feel stuck.
Reach out if you’re stalling on things, and either get another person’s perspective or just talk through where your thinking is. It doesn’t even have to be a co-worker, I’ll talk to my wife frequently to bounce thoughts and ideas off of her. It helps to know you aren’t alone in your job.
What do you like best about where you live? Did you choose to go there because you could work from home?
I moved to Oregon when I got my job here at Kin, and I love living here and working here. I knew I wanted to live in the northwest before getting my remote job, and the job was really the last piece of the puzzle to make it happen. I’m really big on gardening, and that’s just so easy in a climate like we have up here. I think the culture around homesteading up here makes it a lot easier to get involved. Having a remote opportunity also made me less reliant on being in a larger city, so I could spread out in the country a little bit.