Forem: Irma Mesa

What is remote work? What you should know about it in 2019.

Irma Mesa — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 13:14:13 +0000

You may know of remote work in a few different ways, let’s cover them:

Telecommute or telecommuting
1. In the 1990s, this was the term used and brought to the media by way of pop culture. During this time mottos around telecommuting started to emerge as well, for example, “Work is something you do, not something you travel to.”
Digital nomad
1. Someone who works from their computer and re-locates every so often to travel, explore and run their business from literally anywhere in the world.
Work from home (WFH)
1. Still popularly used today as an alternative describing that you’re taking a WFH day or that you have a WFH job.
Remote work
1. The all-encompassing and latest trending term to describe not working from a physical office.

Let’s say all you’ve ever seen are people working from traditional office environments, warehouses, taxi cabs, etc. and this is all you’ve ever experienced as an active member of the workforce. Going from that to then learning about working from home can be extremely jarring. There’s a big misconception that to do great work you have to be physically close to your boss, your co-workers and, even your customers. But as we become more and more distributed through social media and the access of the online resources and tools the more it starts to make sense why and how working remotely is the new norm.

Working remote, working from home is pretty much the same as working from an office. All that changes is now there is a laptop in front of you, you’re working from your home desk, and you talk and meet with your co-workers via virtual tools. As long as you have a decent WiFi connection, headphones and a comfy chair you are set. Oh! And you probably want to make sure you’re a stellar communicator.

63% of US companies now have remote workers, according to a 2018 Upwork Study

Taking up a remote job means that there’s no commute to your companies office, instead it’s a commute from your bed to your desk. Which is 10x better. It also offers freedom for professionals to work at their most productive hours and from any setting they please that allows them to execute their work successfully.

I don’t want anyone to think that remote work is slacking off, that it’s for introverts or people that can’t be socially present, that it’s easy or that anyone can do it. All of these are false. Working remote in my opinion is sometimes harder than working in an office. In an office you’re privileged with water cooler talks, company happy hours, walking to grab coffee with your co-worker, small talk riding the elevator to your office, the in person communication is a given. With remote work, we’re isolated. We have to put in the extra effort and be proactive when it comes to communication and building relationships. Remote work isn’t for everyone.

At the end of the day working from an office or working from home, we’re still getting work done and we’re still delivering outcomes while also keeping our mental health, engagement and, productivity in a healthy state.

If you read this far (thank you), here’s how I can help you work towards forming or maintaining a fully remote team. I can also help in finding you a remote job.

Follow me on Twitter or follow my website to learn more about remote work, tech, psychology and coding.

Irma

3 Ways Rock Climbing Has Taught Me To Be A Better Product Manager

Irma Mesa — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 22:51:36 +0000

Rock climbing, it's taught me a thing or two. There's way more than I listed here as learnings but these are the top three ways I've been able to become a better Product Manager through learnings from rock climbing.

Trust

In rock climbing, there are many instances where you're faced with a choice. A choice to trust or not to trust. Of course, the choice you make has its own consequences but 1 gets you a little further than the other. Ultimately, choosing to trust allows you to experience new climbing routes, newfound strength, and new growth.

Let's take a quick step back. When I first started visiting a rock climbing gym I was pretty immediate to trust the facility and safety. I had a few friends who had been members of the gym for a few months so I immediately thought, "Well if they trust it, I've got nothing to worry about". I went in trusting the employees, the safety of the harnesses, the strength of the ropes, and the cushiness of the mats that would catch me if I fell.

If I had gone in not trusting the gym and what it had to offer I would've been scared every step of the way.

In working as a Product Manager, it's similar. People backstab or take advantage of you here and there and our overall trust in humanity begins to diminish. We, in turn, close ourselves off, stop meeting people or forming new work relationships out of fear of offering trust and it getting chewed on and spit out. I've learned that starting with trust is crucial because it means that you're opening up a brand new door. And what does that lead to? It leads to growth, opportunity, and relationships.

Funny side story: I usually climb with my partner and there have been a good 5 or more times where she's lost control of the belay system and the rope has slipped and I've fallen from different heights. You'd think I stop trusting her belaying, but no. Things go wrong all the time in the product development lifecycle so trust your team to do their best work and don't lose hope or give up if a release is a disaster.

Go for it

I consider myself somewhat of a risk-taker in certain situations. Maybe you are too. But when it came to rock climbing, I definitely struggled. I'm not the best with heights and thinking about being held up by a rope on a wall wasn't super reassuring. Even knowing that if I fell there were baby soft mats to catch me, I was still hesitant. Finally, I gave in. My partner was really growing to like it and I like spending time with my partner plus needed a fitness activity to work into my schedule so ended up signing up.

Taking this initiative to step out of my comfort zone by trying climbing was a biggie for me. It killed my fingers. I couldn't get far since my upper body strength wasn't there but I still went for it. I still went and fell time and time over again. And you know what it taught me? It taught resilience. It meant that I was stepping outside my comfort zone and experiencing that uncomfortable feeling you get when trying something hard, something new.

Switching to Product Management for a moment, we go through the same exact thing. Seth Godin says it very well, "We're cogs in the machine". He says that we are taught to be followers instead of trailblazers. We stay in our comfort zone because it's easy and everything outside of that is foreign, hard, too risky or simply too out of the ordinary.

That project you want to work on or that Sales Lead on your team that you're dying to have a chat with just take the leap. Because if you don't do it now, you might never get the chance to again. Seize the day. Go for it. Embrace the uncomfortable.

Strategic planning

I wanted to call this one strategize and problem-solving but, oh well. If you've ever watched an experienced climber you'll see them doing a funny movement with their hands right before they start the route. They're essentially reading the route they're about to climb.

Before you start climbing, the idea is that you should be visualizing the holds your hands will grab and the holds your feet will use to propel you upward. Literally, visualizing each move. It's taken many many months to get used to this to actually, to take a step back.

For me, it meant staring at the wall and at the holds and imagine myself climbing it. It felt weird at first. But wow, it's made a huge difference. Mindlessly climbing really never got my anywhere but when you intentionally climb and plan your route it makes an incredible difference.

In Product Management, be intentional about what you take on and what you say, "Yes" too. Also, be even more mindful of where you're using the word "No". Whether it's a small "yes" or a big "no", think about the risks, wins, overall affects for you, your team and your customers before going all in. A little planning and collaboration go a long way.

My name is Irma Mesa. I'm a Product Manager in the ed-tech space and I love love love talking to and meeting new people. I've learned a ton through my years being in tech, at times being the only woman on a team, working remote and having incredible mentors. Now, I'm paying it forward.

I run remote consulting for companies and teams of all sizes, check it out here.

I'm also doing a few other projects in the LatinX space, so keep tabs on me through Twitter.

And most recently inspired by Ali Spittel I've started running office hours, check it out here.

Talk soon. Thanks for reading!

Irma

1 podcast episode delivered weekly right to your inbox!

Irma Mesa — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:26:45 +0000

Hi!

I launched a site called onePodcast that will send out 1 thrilling and insightful podcast episode, once per week! It gets a little crazy finding new podcasts sometimes, by signing up to the newsletter you'll get a new episode delivered weekly right to your inbox.

onePodcast will allow folks to discover podcasts on a weekly basis from small to large creators. We encourage listeners to support podcast creators by leaving reviews for them on iTunes, if they enjoy our newsletter feature and the episodes content.

Feel free to check onePodcast out and subscribe to be part of the podcast mailing list!

p.s. we keep your email private and you're free to unsubscribe at anytime if the newsletter does not bring you value.

Nevertheless, Irma Mesa Coded

Irma Mesa — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 13:03:54 +0000

I want to brag about...

In November 2017 I applied for the Grow With Google Scholarship. Didn’t hear back and honestly thought I hadn’t gotten it! I started to accept that and just kept studying on my own. I joined a Chingu Cohort, which if you haven’t heard or been a part of their cohorts - HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Kept studying JS which has been my friend and foe for about the past year. I kept telling myself that I needed a more structured environment to actually learn but I think that was me making an excuse. It’s hard. It’s hard to learn a new coding language by yourself. But I have a great advantage, my girlfriend is a software engineer and she’s my go to for any JS questions!

January came around and I looked at my inbox as I usually do and BAM! I saw an email from Udacity! At first I had to re-read because I thought I was going crazy and maybe they sent it to the wrong person by mistake. But no - I was one of the receipients for the Grow With Google Front-End Udacity course.

This is definitely brag worthy in my opinion. I’ve been able to re-learn HTML, CSS and JS and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. The Slack community they set up for all receipients is filled with hungry and super helpful human beings. Every question I’ve asked has been answered and the cool thing is that a lot of times your peers in this course won’t give you answers but they’ll point you in the right direction. How awesome is that. You gotta THINK.

I’m about done with the course. The deadline is April 11th! Another brag is that just this week I became the student leader for the #women-techmakers channel in the Slack. I’m crossing my fingers that I receive the Nanodegree next and just keep on learning!

If you are interested in learning more about the scholarship or just want to talk about getting more women in tech, reach out! @irmatable on Twitter!