I first thought about working remote jobs while stuck in traffic on a random Monday morning. Watching everyone around me stress about getting to work didn’t exactly sell the 9-to-5 life. For a while, working remotely felt like the most sensible choice for me. Why wouldn’t it? No commute, no fixed hours, no pressure of the corporate ladder, and, perhaps best of all, no grey office building. I had a very specific image in mind: working on my laptop from a balcony somewhere in Southern Europe, with the sun out, and a pastry on the side. Looking back, the work I would actually be doing felt almost secondary to where and how I’d be doing it.
More so, seeing people online structure remote jobs around traveling schedules gave me all the encouragement I needed; it clearly worked for them, and deservedly so. It was easy to picture that as my life after university. And honestly, on paper, working remotely is almost perfect.
You wake up, open your laptop, and you’re already working. The day moves completely on your terms. You can step out for some fresh air and pick things up again when you’re actually focused. Especially as a student, that flexibility sounded ideal to me. And, seeing that even Forbes reports suggest people tend to be happier working remotely, it only added to the appeal.
Hence, for the longest while, I couldn’t see any cons. In fact, only very recently did my perspective start to shift.
What I Hadn’t Really Thought About
Fittingly, it was another random Monday when I’d been studying alone for far too long, and something about it didn’t sit quite right. It was a passing thought, but I realized how much of my day is shaped by simply working and interacting with other people: running out for a matcha with my friends between lectures, seeing the same people in tutorials every week, showing up to weekly society meetings, and debriefing with my flatmates at the end of the day. I hadn’t realized how much I depended on that structure.
It also made me think differently about what remote work might actually look like day-to-day. The same freedom that makes it so appealing can also make everything feel a bit unsettled. There’s no real start to your day, but there’s also no clear end. Your space doesn’t change, so your mind doesn’t either. Everything is at risk of just blending. I also realized how quiet it might get. I could travel and meet new people, of course, but not seeing the same people every day suddenly stopped feeling as comforting to me.
Why Remote Jobs Still Appeal
That said, it’s not like the whole thing is overrated. There’s a reason people want remote jobs. You’re not tied to one place, and you potentially have more time for yourself. For some people, it genuinely works, even feels fun and adventurous in its own way. I think what changed for me was realizing that my reasons for wanting that weren’t quite enough. Wanting to avoid traffic or have a nicer setting isn’t really the same as knowing it would suit me in reality. It made me see it as less of an ideal setup and more as something you have to make work, with commitment, and not letting everything shrink to your screen.
Maybe that’s why hybrid work is catching on, providing structure without losing flexibility. With that in mind, I’m still somewhat drawn to remote work. I might even end up doing it at some point. Just not in the way I first imagined.
So are remote jobs fun? Maybe. It just depends on what actually works for you.