I have worked for Autodesk a little over 11 years now and 4 years of that as a remote employee from Utah before that I was located in the Autodesk San Rafael California office. Autodesk is a very flexible employer as long as your are productive and the solution works within your manager, group, and job responsibilities. You can even have your pet dog at the offices in San Rafael. Why Utah you ask? While the Bay Area was definitely a cool place and beautiful it was not really within my price range, had a really bad traffic commute, and more importantly I have family and roots in Utah/Idaho. Besides who would not want to live in a place as photographically rich as Utah with the desert to the alpine mountains and of course Moab, Bryce Canyon, The Wave (my photos of The Wave) and Zion National Park.
I have come to the point where I needed to escape out of my home office that always felt like they were closing in on me. I found a good solution that might be a solution for many others working remote or independent with no local office. The new thing is called coworking. No more does a person have to camp at a table in a coffee house or sit in their home office forgetting to shower and going stir crazy. There are coworking locations springing up all over the world by independent people. I found one here in Salt Lake City Utah named BetaLoft. The BetaLoft is having their grand opening this Wednesday night and coworking space Wednesday is free.
Now I have a workspace in the trendy downtown neighborhood for a reasonable price and cool feel for local creative people and the Trax rail system is nearby. I am already feeling a better attitude and more energy working from this new space and now I must regularly take a shower and get dressed.
“Principles of Coworking
- Collaboration -Meeting a diverse group of people with a wide range of knowledge is good.
- Openness – Transparency and openness are important. We share ideas so all may benefit.
- Community- Creating good social connections for business and personal life benefits us all.
- Localism -Working downtown helps achieve our principals and contributes to local economy.
- Sustainability -Sharing resources is good for our local community and the planet.
- Accessibility -Coworking spaces need to be affordable for a diverse group of people.”
It is purely coincidentally cool that I manage many Autodesk software beta programs and this coworking space is named Beta-loft. If you are ever in Salt Lake give me a holler and we can grab a coffee or bite or if you need a cool working space come on down.
Cheers,
Shaan
Shaan, we hope that now even ones who work near Autodesk can enjoy a coworking in San Rafael down the road from Autodesk.
If you ever in the area we hope you will drop by.