Peter wrote an excellent answer that is hard to disagree with. However... :)
Speaking as (hopefully former) junior dev (do we get a certificate or tray of cookies that let us know when we leave that state ;) who has spent the majority of my coding life in a 100% remote environment (we're all remote, not just me) - I would say it absolutely can work and you can succeed - provided the company and team culture is setup to foster frequent communication and therefore, success.
How it works for us:
Slack:
We all use it - it's always on. Slack is the general equivalent of popping over the top of the cubicle and saying "hey, quick question?"
GoToMeeting / Zoom :
A common room is almost always running. Many devs just leave it open, with their webcams on and work, some are more isolationist and will gladly come in when asked, but like to filter out the chatter by staying away. Coding talk happens but also lots of socialization and joking. This is our water cooler and bullpen
Code Reviews and screen sharing:
This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to getting good feedback, asking questions, and enhancing skills. Submit a PR, get good feedback, share the screen to talk through it if necessary, make changes, rinse repeat.
TLDR: with the right company / team culture, remote can absolutely work. I talk to and enjoy my coworkers more in my 100% full time remote work than I ever did in the office context.
I'm a passionate learner and sharer. I always try to give back to the developer community. I create mobile and Web applications by day. Not Batman by night, in case you wondered :)
I think you hit on a key point here, team and company culture supporting the setup. All my team members except for one is remote and we use the tools you mentioned, they have been very effective for us. Especially Slack and Zoom.
I think a key element is video conferencing bridging the physical gap, sure we all probably look terrible on those long days, but in a way, it makes us all more human rather than just a name on a chat.
Amy builds Cloud Native Applications and has delivered talks at ServerlessConf and AWS Summit Chicago. Amy has survived acquisitions, layoffs, and balancing life with two young children.
I agree that if the company has a remote culture, a junior dev can absolutely succeed. I'm not a junior myself, but I have two juniors in remote projects where the team they're working with aren't co-located in their office.
I'm not on project with those reports, but I'm engaged enough with them to know when they're struggling and what they're struggling with. I advise them on how to get productive help as opposed to simply signaling that they're waffling or trying to brute force a solution.
There's very little of the 'shoulder tapping' culture that can't be emulated remotely if the effort's made to do so.
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Peter wrote an excellent answer that is hard to disagree with. However... :)
Speaking as (hopefully former) junior dev (do we get a certificate or tray of cookies that let us know when we leave that state ;) who has spent the majority of my coding life in a 100% remote environment (we're all remote, not just me) - I would say it absolutely can work and you can succeed - provided the company and team culture is setup to foster frequent communication and therefore, success.
How it works for us:
Slack:
We all use it - it's always on. Slack is the general equivalent of popping over the top of the cubicle and saying "hey, quick question?"
GoToMeeting / Zoom :
A common room is almost always running. Many devs just leave it open, with their webcams on and work, some are more isolationist and will gladly come in when asked, but like to filter out the chatter by staying away. Coding talk happens but also lots of socialization and joking. This is our water cooler and bullpen
Code Reviews and screen sharing:
This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to getting good feedback, asking questions, and enhancing skills. Submit a PR, get good feedback, share the screen to talk through it if necessary, make changes, rinse repeat.
TLDR: with the right company / team culture, remote can absolutely work. I talk to and enjoy my coworkers more in my 100% full time remote work than I ever did in the office context.
Nathan,
I think you hit on a key point here, team and company culture supporting the setup. All my team members except for one is remote and we use the tools you mentioned, they have been very effective for us. Especially Slack and Zoom.
I think a key element is video conferencing bridging the physical gap, sure we all probably look terrible on those long days, but in a way, it makes us all more human rather than just a name on a chat.
I agree that if the company has a remote culture, a junior dev can absolutely succeed. I'm not a junior myself, but I have two juniors in remote projects where the team they're working with aren't co-located in their office.
I'm not on project with those reports, but I'm engaged enough with them to know when they're struggling and what they're struggling with. I advise them on how to get productive help as opposed to simply signaling that they're waffling or trying to brute force a solution.
There's very little of the 'shoulder tapping' culture that can't be emulated remotely if the effort's made to do so.