Interview with Anton Shulke

Anton Shulke is the Head of Video Content at Semrush. He does video content, mainly live stream webinars. You can find him on his own site, Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin.

1. How did you started working remotely? How did you make the switch?

SEMrush wanted me to work for them, but my family didn’t want to relocate, well not to St Petersburg. Russia.
I suggested being remoter.
I think I was the first full-time remoter in the company of 400(at that time)

2. What do you think are the main advantages of remote work?

Advantages are obvious: not time/money spent on every day commuting. You also can (potentially) move to a new place to live (I haven’t done it …yet)
You almost as effective when you are traveling.

3. Do you think there are disadvantages or that you’re missing something by working remotely?

I work for a big company, around 800 employees, and I know about 30, and I met about 15:)
Luck of personal communication(with colleagues) is a big disadvantage for me. So many things you can fix by just popping into someone’s office or meeting at the coffee point, instead of scheduling calls or writing extensively in Slack.
Being one of the few remoters in a big generally non-remote company, put an extra pressure on me: I have to (in my head) go extra mile, as I am not in the office, and people might think I am asleep on my sofa(They probably don’t, but this is how I feel)
Another great disadvantage – it is so difficult to disconnect from work. I am doing crazy hours, basically working from the time I wake up till very very late.

4. From what cities or countries have you worked since you have become remote? What are your favorite ones?

I only work (so far) from Kyiv, Ukraine

5. From what type of places do you prefer to work? Home, coworking spaces, coffee shops or others? Do you have any specific place?

I actually work from home, where I live permanently

6. What places would you like to travel to while working remotely?

I want to go to Latin America, countries like Argentina, Chile and etc.

7. What advice would you give to overcome the main challenges of working remotely?

My current employer didn’t believe in remoters, but whatever the main policy of the company, anyone (company) could benefit from hiring remoters. Some people are not for the office work, or wouldn’t relocate to a particular country/city but they might be great. And they might be a great addition to the team.

8. What tools do you use and are your favorites to work remotely?

Google calendar, Google spreadsheet
Slack
Gmail
and probably any messenger you can think of:)

9. How do you manage your business and taxes as a remote working professional?

Go for a simplified option of a tax return.

10. What advice would you give to people looking to work remotely and companies making the remote switch?

If you are young and have no family – go for it!
If … go for it anyway.
Make sure you have the possibility to meet real people, like attending meetups, conferences or visiting your company offices.