Experiences starting remotely?

[disgruntledpelican]

I'd be interested in hearing about the experience other lawyers have had being onboarded remotely if you switched jobs since March 2020. Personally, it kind of scares me as I found it challenging at times to work virtually and collaborate with people who I had existing relationships with, but it's completely different when I haven't had a chance to establish a rapport or get a good lay of the land as to how different people are and their working styles. 

[Ish]

I rotated through groups as a first year associate at a large firm in the US. To be honest, it was very disassociating. Looking back on it, it wasn't actually that bad, but I certainly didn't like it while I was there. Totally depends on your personality and the culture of the group you are working with, though. I don't think it's awful enough to postpone making a move if it's something that you really want to do, but it is something to consider.

[Phaedrus]

I was onboarded and worked remotely with a criminal and family law firm early last year. I consider myself an extrovert and, therefore, need a decent amount of human interaction to stay engaged and feel satisfied. I found working remotely to be personally and professionally challenging. Professionally, rapport building was limited to brief phone calls and e-mails (which largely went through assistant(s)). The learning curve felt steeper than it would have been had I been able to ask innocent questions to the lawyers and Court staff, and sending an e-mail to ask questions drains your newbie capital quickly. 

Your experience will also vary depending on the level of technological sophistication your employer and staff have. After 1.5 years of the pandemic, most office employers have figured out how to accommodate working remotely and have systems in place to ensure folks are connected. Culturally, colleagues may have started using Skype, Teams, Slack etc. for quick dialogue. However, you're somewhat SOL if those you're directly accountable to are old school. As I said above, you simply aren't going to have the luxury of calling up the boss or colleagues to ask "quick" questions on anywhere near a frequent a basis. If you're picking up the phone, you had better be genuinely stuck and have exhausted all other avenues. 

That said, remote working was fantastic for focus and getting shit done. After dealing with e-mails and general admin, you should have a greater ability to dig into tasks for longer periods of time than if you were in the office (and subject to calls, pop-ins, other distractions).