Enxoo Digital Nomads, part 1

Polish version

Digital Nomads are remote employees who travel the world and work from different locations - all they need is a computer and Internet access. For Digital Nomads work is not an attachment to one place, it is not a limitation and does not require making professional changes due to relocation. It gives you the opportunity to have a permanent job, while not giving up exploring the world and foreign cultures. Undoubtedly, it gives a kind of freedom, independence and, at the same time, stabilization.

Some of them travel within their own country, others fly around the world. They can choose various forms of transport as well as various forms of spending time: sunbathing, windsurfing, climbing, etc.

Among all industries, the greatest opportunities for remote work or life as a Digital Nomad are provided by the IT industry, which usually does not require office presence, although a lot also depends on the individual approach the employers have to this form of work. As you know, in Poland, remote work has generally met with resistance, but the pandemic times have significantly influenced  this approach.

Enxoo, being one of the leading IT companies in the field of Salesforce, has opted for an Agile perspective; therefore, it is open to constant changes and remains flexible. Although we are building a kind of community and have a fantastic culture based on relations between employees, mutual trust and enjoying spending time together, we decided not to limit our employees and follow their needs. Thanks to this, we can work remotely, without forcing anyone to be in the office, and at the same time taking care of regular local team building and daily contact during video calls. In Enxoo, most people work remotely, we have dispersed teams associating people from all over Poland and sometimes also from abroad. Some employees decided to pursue their travel passions.

I invite you to meet the exceptional Enxoo employees who have decided on this form of work. :) In each article from the Enxoo Digital Nomads series you will learn the story of one of our employees who decided to go on a journey and combined their professional life with  following their dreams. In addition, each interview will be enriched with a short conversation with the Leaders of these people.

Meet our Digital Nomads!

Aneta - Consultant, Scrum Master / 4 months in Croatia

Where did the idea of this journey and such form of work come from?

We had an idea to go to the States for a month in May 2020. In fact, we had everything ready, tickets bought, reservations made, but due to the pandemic situation, they canceled everything. This forced us to think about something closer that could be more dependent on us, for example, about a place where you can go by car. And so the idea of Croatia was born. I have to admit honestly that at the beginning I was ill disposed towards it, still having a vision of the United States in my head. In the end, Croatia surprised me very positively and I am sure that I will go there more than once.

We planned to go for the whole month of August last year. Two weeks of work, two weeks of vacation, but we liked it so much that we figured why not stay for longer. We went there unprepared. We had nothing there . We just packed up and went. We decided that we would look for everything on the spot. In addition, we were to start our stay immediately with 2 weeks of work, so as to add more stress. ;)

We went on Friday with the assumption that we would spend the weekend taking care of everything there. Life, however, likes to surprise and instead of taking 18 hours, the journey took over a day. Plans like to change. We were very tired, but we started looking for a place to stay and finally decided to have a 100m2 apartment on the second line from the sea.

Towards the end of our stay, I started to wonder why we should come back. We have the sun here, we have everything. We decided to stay longer - also in September. We watched the weather and in the third week of September it started to get worse, so the housekeeper said that if the weather is bad, we do not have to pay anything, which completely surprised us and emphasized the kindness of the locals. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad that we decided to return to Poland, which welcomed us with a definitely warm and beautiful autumn.

The next year, we wondered what direction to take now. We still had the United States in the back of our minds, but in Croatia we had already paved the way and it charmed us so much that we decided to come back for a longer time this time.

Has this form of work influenced your life and work in any way? Have you faced any challenges?

When it comes to work strictly, I had no problem organizing it so that I could work until 1 p.m., then a 4-hour break and work again until late evening. This is compatible if somebody can organize oneself well.

Each day was sunny, we came across beautiful weather and I definitely missed it after returning to Poland, where autumn is sometimes varied: sometimes beautiful and golden, but much more often rainy. But it is a different life. When we were leaving, we had such a strange feeling that we were not "returning" to Poland, but "leaving" Croatia. Everything changes, you live in different conditions, you wear flip-flops all the time - after returning we couldn't get used to socks: D

You have to experience it. I am very happy that you can work like this at Enxoo. For us it is super comfortable, we have what we like, we sunbathe, swim ... We live in an apartment three times larger than our current apartment in Poland, which gives us great comfort.

Didn't you miss Poland?

As time passed, the longing became more and more noticeable. We missed a large city that is vibrant with life and open up many possibilities for spending free time. We felt monotony  more and more. Our day was limited to work, beach, swimming and so on. We missed our life and trainings, we missed our family and friends. Perhaps some people will find it funny, but I especially missed strawberries, our Polish, sweet strawberries. Such seemingly simple things are important to us :)

Do you have any tips for people who would like to try to live and work this way?

Of the most important ones, I would mention:

• buying the card from the local operator on the spot, at the very beginning,
• backup internet, e.g. 30 Mb for 7 days or unlimited,
• when looking for accommodation, do speed tests to find out how efficient the internet is,
• to look for a place already at the destination - thanks to this, you can evaluate it visually,
• if we are going in a larger group, include independent rooms so as not to interfere with each other's work,
• make sure you have cash in both currencies. In Croatia, there is an unwritten rule that the accommodation is paid in euros and the rest in Croatian kuna.
• check the conditions of your bank when it comes to paying abroad in a foreign currency, check the exchange rate and, where possible, pay with a card if it is better than an exchange at an exchange office. And if it is possible, do not exchange money in the country you are in but before you leave, so in our case, while we were still in Poland, we exchanged most of the money.
• car insurance, preferably temporary. You pay once, for example, 300 PLN and it lasts until the next renewal, i.e. the whole year.
• personal insurance, we took temporary insurance from an accident, but only for 2 months, and we did not take them in the following months. We wondered if it made sense, since we don't have it in Poland, and here we only swim and have a monotonous life.

Did you feel Enxoo's support in this form of work?

I am, in a sense, the Leader of the support team. During my absence, new people joined the Team, which made it necessary to onboard a new person, not really having the opportunity to meet her live. This showed me that it is not necessary to be physically in the office. Everything can be agreed and if the job is done, we don't have to see each other live. On the other hand, it is also sad and  couldn’t wait for an opportunity to do some integration. The current situation has remodeled our relations, it was necessary to adjust. Lots of people started working remotely, and it definitely works. But I am also for seeing each other, going to the office from time to time, because we will forget how to build relationships. Fortunately, we manage to meet from time to time. :)

Do you think Enxoo could change, add something?

Probably not. I know that the entire organization of trips is on my side. It happened that I was on the beach, everyone knew about it, but there was an emergency and you had to react. We have an unpredictable team, situations can arise and sometimes you have to talk while being on the beach. On the other hand, it was nice to have a calm head, you go out and you know that everything is taken care of.

How has this influenced you and your development?

I always look at this in terms of problems and challenges because our work is mainly user problems, etc.

When we had no place to live and suddenly we managed to find something,  I thought that we managed, we do not let go, we’re carrying on.  I just think that it is impossible to plan out everything. At Enxoo, we work in Agile, you have a problem and you have to adapt, you have a new situation and you have to adapt. It is worth seeing how it can be done differently , and see that you can work in different conditions. Get to know different food, different approaches, and different cultures.

It gives people inspiration. It makes you think that you can do something and adapt to the situation.

I've had a few conversations about Covid and how it has affected our lives. I always try to get positive, how much this situation has shown, how many new things we can do, how we learned to work, how we learned to learn. It all changed. The beginning was difficult. I fought for my husband and me  to have a separate work room, to be able to leave the work behind after hours. I realize that for many people these were problems and tragedies, but I have such a job that I am always looking for the positives . I always emphasize those good things, how much good has happened around us.

There was an  option to pass certification exams remotely, which  was not possible before.

People catch the broader context. Imagination has widened. This time has taught us humility, it has shown that you should not always plan everything. I realized that it will not be as I dreamed it wouldbe, but it will be different, which does not mean worse.

The perspective changes, because when you think about going on vacation for 2 weeks, you think that it is not worth going when you have been somewhere for 4 months. Therefore, it will be difficult for me personally to go back to the times when a standard 2-week vacation is taken. :)

In Enxoo, in the support team, we set up clear rules. What must happen to be able to go somewhere and work this way. Work should be done in such a way that no one notices that something has changed.

We talked about it with Mikołaj after some time.

I wish everyone had such a team and the same atmosphere at work as we have at Enxoo!

Since we have already learned the story from Aneta's perspective, let's ask her Leader, Magda, about how they managed to establish such a work system!

Magda - Aneta's Clan Coach

Magda, we have already learned about Aneta's story and her perspective related to her departure and work from Croatia for 4 months. As her Leader, can you tell us something more, what did you feel about her plan, how did you see it and how did you solve it / planned it?

She asked me if I didn't mind. I found it a great idea and told her to go ahead!

Aneta has a slightly different character than Mikołaj, but it was obvious that she enjoyed it, she was incredibly smiling. This had no effect on her work. Aneta, even before she started working  from Croatia, made a big change in support, some incredible things happened in this team!

What do you think about this form of work by your subordinates?

I am very happy that Enxoo is very diverse, that everyone is different from us and that I support my subordinates in the implementation of their plans and dreams as much as possible. And if you manage to compose a tasty soup from all these ingredients, it is fantastic. The only drawback is the inability to meet on-site, but we are now remote and if someone is happier thanks to it, I'm in favor.

Sounds like a dream? :) That's what Enxoo is like - it's everyday life for us! Due to self-organizing teams and a fantastic culture, we put our trust in ourselves and we are able to get along in every matter and find a solution. Remember that you can join us too and become part of Enxoo. If you would like to learn more about our culture and everyday life, I encourage you to read our Culture Book available here:

Enxoo Culture Book

And currently ongoing recruitment:

Enxoo - current recruitment processes

Meanwhile, we see you in January with another article by Enxoo Digital Nomads!