Q&A with Rachel: Stepping into the light after years on the night shift

Meet Rachel

• Currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic

• Originally from Durham, UK

• Partnership Manager (experts and integrations)

• I started at The Remote Company in March 2020

You studied fine art at university, which is a world away from your current role, what led you to The Remote Company?

Fine art was always my passion, and indeed I studied print-making at university and adored it. The problem is, it's not so easy to find work in the arts, and I quickly branched out and tried various paths to launch a career.

I realized I really wanted to travel and see more of the world, so I studied for my CELTA and became an English teacher.

I moved to Spain and worked as a teacher for two years, before receiving a job offer for a customer support role in Barcelona. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, and I eventually became the team leader.

I stayed there for 1.5 years before the commute became a real drag (two hours there and back). I knew that I needed more flexibility, and wasn't traveling as much as thought I would be when I left the UK.

So my search for a remote job began.

After my first interview with Remis (Support team lead and all-round superstar), I knew I desperately wanted to be part of this amazing company, so I was over the moon when I was offered a role here.

Before you became a Partnerships Manager, you were a member of the customer support night shift—which meant some crazy hours for you. What was that like?

It was crazy! Throughout my time in support I would start my shift at midnight and finish at 8 AM. It wasn't a difficult transition as I was working more or less the same hours in my previous job in Barcelona, minus the long commute, so I was actually delighted!

I had an amazing team beside me (figuratively speaking) and gained an insane amount of product knowledge in the process. 

What was the best and worst part of starting work in the middle of the night?

The best part of working through the night is the peace and quiet!

No distractions, and no noise in the background. It was perfect for concentrating on those tricky support issues that really need all of your attention in that moment.

The worst part, was having to sleep during the day—when your neighbours are up and doing construction on their apartment above you. 😬

You sought out the Partnerships team and expressed your interest in joining them. What drew you to this department?

My favorite part of working in support was connecting with people. Then, during one of our company staycations, the partnerships team gave a presentation that really caught my attention.

I realized their whole department is centered around making connections. Plus, I could see that they had space for an extra team member (at the time, only Jess and Martyna were on the team).

So I sent a cheeky Slack message to them both, asking if I could spend my creative day with them to learn more about their work. It was an insightful day that made me even more eager to join their team. The rest is history! 

After over a year on the night shift, was it hard to transition out of your nocturnal routine?

When I moved into the Partnerships team I had been working during the night for about three years in total—so I was very ready to transition to a day-life!

It wasn’t so easy to adjust at first, for the first week my body was confused and I was falling asleep on the sofa at 7 PM. 😂 

Do you have any advice for people who want to try something new, but are worried they don’t have enough experience?

Don’t let fear drive you!

You probably have more experience than you think. Just consider the work you’ve done before and look at the (perhaps not-so-obvious) skills that you developed in that role.

More often than not, if you look at your previous experience from a different perspective, you'll find skills that might be super valuable to your prospective employer.