I have fulltime remote job, and I want to boondock fulltime...

[Laura & Charles]

As a footnote, it didn't take long for me to figure out that managing others was not my cup of tea, nor did I find being a "boss" to be rewarding.

^^^THIS^^^
This is a common fault in every business model I’ve experienced or heard of. An employee excels at architecting IT solutions or building widgets. They’ve been rewarded with raises and/or bonuses to the top of their position’s range. So next, they’re rewarded by being made a manager of a team of IT folks or widget builders. And they suq at managing people and flounder at being a first level manager and hate their jobs.

Managing people is a unique specialty of its own. And a good manager often doesn’t have to understand what the people they’re managing do, and certainly not be good at doing it themselves.

This concept is understood at the highest levels. I’ve seen a senior president of a large heath insurance company leave for a job as CEO of a leading airline company.

 

[Tulecreeper]

^^^THIS^^^
This is a common fault in every business model I’ve experienced or heard of. An employee excels at architecting IT solutions or building widgets. They’ve been rewarded with raises and/or bonuses to the top of their position’s range. So next, they’re rewarded by being made a manager of a team of IT folks or widget builders. And they suq at managing people and flounder at being a first level manager and hate their jobs.

Managing people is a unique specialty of its own. And a good manager often doesn’t have to understand what the people they’re managing do, and certainly not be good at doing it themselves.

This concept is understood at the highest levels. I’ve seen a senior president of a large heath insurance company leave for a job as CEO of a leading airline company.

In the military, a person becomes quite proficient at managing large groups of people by the time they reach Senior Enlisted ranks. If they don't, they are moved into a back room somewhere and made to shuffle paperwork.

 

[Skookum]

Leadership is a rare skill and not one that can be learned; either someone's got it, or they don't really.

In remote work, lack of true leadership becomes apparent quickly, in the same way an individual contributor who can't contribute also becomes apparent quickly. It's a lot harder to rely on BS and extroversion in a remote environment; I see a lot of beckoning back to offices as the result of insecurity on behalf of those who can't lead.

 

[Kirk]

This is a common fault in every business model I’ve experienced or heard of

The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle is an observation that the tendency in most organizational hierarchies, such as that of a corporation, is for every employee to rise in the hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence and there they will stay. Thus, all jobs seek to be filled by someone incompetent to do them.

And a good manager often doesn’t have to understand what the people they’re managing do, and certainly not be good at doing it themselves.

The mark of a good manager is not what he can do but what he can get others to do for him. He hires people more talented or skilled than he is. Poor managers are afraid of subordinates who know more than themselves.

 

[Laura & Charles]

The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle is an observation that the tendency in most organizational hierarchies, such as that of a corporation, is for every employee to rise in the hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence and there they will stay. Thus, all jobs seek to be filled by someone incompetent to do them.

The mark of a good manager is not what he can do but what he can get others to do for him. He hires people more talented or skilled than he is. Poor managers are afraid of subordinates who know more than themselves.

Best manager I’ve had is the one I still report to. Been with her for about 25 years at 3 different companies. If she has an employee in her department not doing well, she tries to figure out what she’s doing wrong, not the employee. More than once I’ve seen that scenario and she moved them to a different position in her department and they thrived.
She says, “You report to me, but I work for you.” and she means it. She’s really good at figuring out what someone is good at and making a job fit them.
I’m looking to retire soon. It’s been a great run… It’ll be sad to end it.

 

[Tulecreeper]

The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle is an observation that the tendency in most organizational hierarchies, such as that of a corporation, is for every employee to rise in the hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence and there they will stay. Thus, all jobs seek to be filled by someone incompetent to do them.

The mark of a good manager is not what he can do but what he can get others to do for him. He hires people more talented or skilled than he is. Poor managers are afraid of subordinates who know more than themselves.

You see a lot of the Peter Principle in effect in government jobs.

There was a biologist assigned to the wildlife area where I worked who was a terrible biologist. He could do paperwork, but when it came time to actually get out and get muddy he sucked at it. One time he applied for a promotional position in a region a couple hours away, and lo and behold, they gave him the job. After a year there, he failed his probationary period so he ended up back at my wildlife area as the assigned biologist.

About a year later, the Senior Wildlife Management Biologist for my region retired. What did the department do? Well, the obvious thing of course. They promoted the guy into that position, which made him the Regional Supervising Wildlife Biologist - #2 down from the Regional Manager - and that put him in charge of all the wildlife areas in my region. That effectively made him my #1 supervisor, even though I wasn't a biologist. But because he was an idiot he and I had many a door-slamming contest over the next 5 or 6 years. I'm sure he breathed a sigh of relief when I retired.

 

[Chiefcretired]

One of our daughters does medical insurance billing, working from home since COVID hit. Her supervisor started to call people back to the office as the pandemic wound down, but quickly learned that the work from home workers were more productive than the office workers. Now almost the entire staff works from home, and the office has been downsized into a smaller facility. She's only a weekender/vacationer RV'er at this point, but she did do a successful RV test week last summer using only her unlimited cell service for Internet. She hopes to do more of that next summer.

any suggestions for hard wire rv parks? my wife has to have per her work…. the employer makes this mandatory… looking for positive park info recommendations…

 

[jymbee]

any suggestions for hard wire rv parks? my wife has to have per her work…. the employer makes this mandatory… looking for positive park info recommendations…

We rarely stay at private parks but a couple years back, at a park in South Texas with no other options, we stayed at a private park that had an Internet option available where you could set up an account with a local ISP provider for a wired connections.

Don't know how common this might be, but the point being there be others out there. (?)

 

[Onyrlef]

Best manager I’ve had is the one I still report to. Been with her for about 25 years at 3 different companies. If she has an employee in her department not doing well, she tries to figure out what she’s doing wrong, not the employee. More than once I’ve seen that scenario and she moved them to a different position in her department and they thrived.
She says, “You report to me, but I work for you.” and she means it. She’s really good at figuring out what someone is good at and making a job fit them.
I’m looking to retire soon. It’s been a great run… It’ll be sad to end it.

I was at our neighborhood Home Depot this morning. I asked for help in the Lawn and Garden aisle and in less than a minute the store manager walked up. I asked some questions about an item which he couldn't answer but he knew someone who could. Long story short he helped me get the large heavy item to checkout and then asked a kid to help me load it. I asked the young man how long he'd worked there to which he replied a couple of months. I then asked what he thought of his manager. He said we love him, he treats all of us with respect and we in turn try to do a good job for him. That's the difference in a good manager and a bad manager and why manager's matter.

 

[Onyrlef]

I was watching a business segment on CNN and a short commentary about the work from home vs. in the office controversy caught my attention. The speaker pointed out every other 4th grader in any of the nascent Asian economic juggernauts can write code, if you can do your job remotely 1500 miles away so can someone 6,000 mi. away and they'll do it for 50% less. Tick-tock.........

 

[NY_Dutch]

any suggestions for hard wire rv parks? my wife has to have per her work…. the employer makes this mandatory… looking for positive park info recommendations…

We primarily stick to state and national parks that only rarely offer any Internet at all. I'd suggest calling any parks you're interested in to see what's available.

 

[UTTransplant]

I was watching a business segment on CNN and a short commentary about the work from home vs. in the office controversy caught my attention. The speaker pointed out every other 4th grader in any of the nascent Asian economic juggernauts can write code, if you can do your job remotely 1500 miles away so can someone 6,000 mi. away and they'll do it for 50% less. Tick-tock.........

And any 4th grader might be able to cook scrambled eggs, but I doubt they can manage a four course gourmet dinner. There are coders and then there are professionals. Which one do you want writing software for your medical devices or your nuclear weapons? The comparison is ridiculous.

 

[Onyrlef]

And any 4th grader might be able to cook scrambled eggs, but I doubt they can manage a four course gourmet dinner. There are coders and then there are professionals. Which one do you want writing software for your medical devices or your nuclear weapons? The comparison is ridiculous.

I didn't say a 4th grader will take your job, I said in a country where 4th graders can write code, an allusion and hyperbole. The point being, if you can do that job from 1500 miles away there's no reason an Indian professional who is every bit as capable as you can't do it from 6,000 miles away. The world is flat, as Friedman wrote, if Boston and Mumbai are virtual suburbs of one another, the difference in a remote worker in America and a remote worker in India is only economic.

 

[LarsMac]

A solar + Battery system is probably the most reliable, and neighbor-friendly method for power. Having a Generator to charge the batteries when the Sun goes AWOL will be a good plan, too. As others have said, running the Genny at the wrong time is gonna annoy a lot of neighbors.

Communications: Having full time high speed internet access is still only a dream, but Starlink will provide fairly reliable internet, not 100%. You may have to move around to find a good view and connection. Starlink does not like shady places with lots of trees. But get the extra 150 ft cable, and it can help you find a good sunny spot near your rig. You should also get one of those 30 ft masts that can be attached to your rig, and run the SL up above a lot of the trees.
Having a Cellular back-up is also a good idea, though if you're already out in the boonies, that option may be limited. When I was working, there was a lot of paperwork that I could do when network was weak, and then upload/download everything when I had a good connection.

 

[Kirk]

As others have said, running the Genny at the wrong time is gonna annoy a lot of neighbors.

To me, boondocking by definition is far away and mostly alone. I guess it shows my age that I think of parking without hookups but in a group as dry camping. Why go to the boondocks where there are lots of neighbors? It does seem that terminology has changed but I suppose that is inevitable. This country boy (or senior citizen) just seems stuck in the old ways.

 

[LarsMac]

To me, boondocking by definition is far away and mostly alone. I guess it shows my age that I think of parking without hookups but in a group as dry camping. Why go to the boondocks where there are lots of neighbors? It does seem that terminology has changed but I suppose that is inevitable. This country boy (or senior citizen) just seems stuck in the old ways.

Actually, I wasn't necessarily referring to other campers when I wrote about neighbors.

 

[Kirk]

I wasn't necessarily referring to other campers when I wrote about neighbors

You sure don't want to upset the local skunk population!

 

[Cameronjm]

It's a whole different ball game compared to the traditional office setup, isn't it? Regarding your point about leadership, I couldn't agree more. It's not just about having the title; it's about being able to inspire and guide your team even when you're miles apart. Remote work really shines a light on those who can walk the talk versus those who just talk the talk, if you catch my drift.

 

[Kirk]

It might not be glamorous, but hey, every little bit counts, right?

We didn't work for pay but a couple of times while fulltime but we did a lot of volunteering where a site with utilities was provided. No pay but it sure was inexpensive living and we had some great experiences doing things that we had never done before.