A data engineer's first year remote: think it, go do it.

Hi everyone, I'm Yang Fujia. I'm a big data engineer. I started working remotely through Brix in November 2022, and it's been over a year now.

Did you have any prior remote work experience?

No remote experience before this. But I'd been aware of remote work for a while. I used to read articles on 36Kr about remote work data and digital nomads. I'd see nomads living and working in Yunnan and feel genuinely envious, and I'd imagine my future life looking something like that. So I'd been keeping an eye on the space.

My previous jobs were at TCL and Anker Innovations. At TCL, the business had international elements, so I was often collecting data from global markets. Anker is a cross-border e-commerce company mainly selling to North America. Most of my colleagues had decent English, though my own English was average. Even though I didn't use English much day to day, being in that environment made me subconsciously want to improve. So when I started looking for remote work, I specifically hoped for a role in a foreign company that would keep pushing my English forward.

How do you make English meetings flow more smoothly?

In my current role, I have a weekly Zoom call with my boss. At first I tried using Zoom's transcription feature, but it required a paid subscription. So I started using the built-in transcription feature on Windows to record our meetings, then review them afterward to catch anything I'd misunderstood or missed.

I've kept that habit ever since. At first I felt my English was far behind my boss's or my more fluent colleagues'. But I found that when I genuinely want to do something, being brave enough to try is what leads to improvement. Looking back, I already had a language environment. What I needed to do was note things down and keep correcting myself.

Beyond using small tools to improve meeting fluency, I also use an app called HelloTalk on my phone. There are lots of foreigners on it who open voice rooms, and I can join and practice English conversation with them. My spoken English has improved a lot that way.

How did you land a remote job?

Looking back, remote opportunities were generally pretty rare. My own philosophy is simple: even if the odds are low, the opportunity exists. You just have to keep trying, keep making contact, and eventually you'll find it.

Based on that, I wrote a web scraper to crawl various tech communities and job platforms like BOSS Zhipin. Whenever it found a remote role or something relevant to my skills, it would automatically send me an email. The moment I got a notification, I'd check immediately to see if it fit, and if it did, I'd reach out.

This particular role wasn't a perfect match on paper when I first saw it. The listing emphasized an ops direction, which gave me pause. But after discussing it in the interview, we confirmed the role was actually more in the development direction I preferred. So even though opportunities seemed scarce, by constantly searching, filtering, and trying, I found a role I was genuinely happy with through Brix.

One more thing about the scraper: beyond the job search, I also wanted to see what the market was saying about my skills, to understand where I stood. Knowing your own position clearly is its own source of motivation.

Weren't you worried about remote work?

The main risk I see with remote work is instability. When you're in an office, you can sense how the company is doing, whether it's growing or declining, what your boss's energy is like, and how they respond to you face to face. With remote, you're far away. Work is largely task-driven, so reading the company or reading your boss isn't as clear. That's where my sense of job security feels less certain.

Even if it's less stable, if it gives you the life you want, sometimes you should accept the trade-off and go do it.

But I weighed that against the life I wanted: time to road trip, to do things on my own terms. I decided I was willing to accept that trade-off. Even if it was less stable, I could handle it. I did the risk-benefit calculation in my head and decided it was acceptable. Fortunately, everything worked out. I got the life I wanted, and I've been stably employed in this remote role for a year.

How do you think remote work will develop in the future?

I think the future is bright. More and more people will go remote, that's certain. As for companies, my most direct data point this year is that my scraper has been sending me emails more frequently and in greater volume.

That said, remote work management practices are still less mature than traditional employment. But as more companies embrace remote work and allow their employees to work remotely, that growing community will push remote team management to improve. And once it does, for both companies and employees, I believe it'll be a win-win. That's when remote work will really explode.

After going remote, did you get the life you wanted?

Yes. And because of remote work, I had a stretch of time I'll never forget. Right after signing my remote offer, I moved from Shenzhen to Huizhou in Guangdong. I rented a place by a river. The simple idea was to get back to the basics of life, to really enjoy living without the constraints of a workplace and without commuting.

I stayed there for a few months. Then in February 2023, I bought my wife a car. She'd been saying she wanted to travel. My work schedule at the time was afternoons and evenings, so I kept my mornings free for her.

For a while I took her everywhere, first around our city, then further. She'd sketch and paint outdoors. Sometimes I'd go with her to beauty appointments or craft workshops. I actually got to know that city, and the person beside me, in a way I never had before.

In March we decided to buy an apartment there. Partly because we were planning to get married, and partly because I was tired of moving around. Finally I could choose a city I actually wanted to live in. Having a home felt right.

Once we settled in, we started a road trip: Guangdong to Zhanjiang to Hainan to Yunnan to Sichuan to Guizhou. A full month of driving everywhere. There were small moments along the way, happy ones and slightly scary ones.

Our road trip was what people call “just go.” My wife said one morning she wanted to do it. I said: let's leave today. And we packed up and drove off that afternoon. I still had to work and write code, so she drove while I coded in the passenger seat.

She'd only been driving for one month and had never been on a highway. She wondered if she'd need at least a year before she could handle highway driving. I said: no, today is the day. Looking back, we were both pretty brave.

Because I believe many things should be enjoyed in the present. A lot of the time, don't overthink it. Be bold, move forward, and it actually happens.

I'm not living that on-the-road life every day now. But looking back, that stretch of time is one of the most memorable of my life. And maybe that's exactly why it still fuels my work today. I hope everyone finds their own source of motivation.