The Best of Remote Work: 5 Months Working From Portugal

My name is Noémie, I’m French and a Talent Acquisition Manager at Strapi. I joined the company in February 2022, and in August 2022, I decided to work remotely from Portugal. In this article, I’ll explain my journey.

Presentation

Before diving into 2022, let’s take a step back.

I arrived in the US in November 2019. Like many of us, 2020 was supposed to be the best year of my life. And then Covid showed up. I was supposed to hit the road and discover the US. Instead, I spent one year at home.

I’ve always loved to travel, but when I returned from this experience, I was unsure if I wanted to find a new career opportunity in a foreign country. What’s the point of spending your day at home?

During my job hunt, though, I discovered that some companies were offering full remote opportunities. It resonated with geographical flexibility for me. That’s how I found Strapi.

What caught my attention during the recruitment process was that they were comfortable with employees working outside their country of residence. Of course, there was a clear need to comply with the legislation, but they intentionally explored how this could happen from an administrative point of view. That was mind-blowing to me. I thought, “it really looks like what they call the future of work.”

Why Portugal?

During my studies, I had the chance to spend one year in Spain as a volunteer at an NGO and four months in Argentina for an exchange semester. Thanks to those experiences, I’ve gained fluency in Spanish. Consequently, anytime I got exposed to Portuguese, I could tell those two languages had much in common. I was curious to explore the possibility of learning this new language by immersing myself in a Lusophone country. That’s how I picked Portugal.

How did Strapi Support me?

The process is so simple. It’s impressive how Strapi encourages and facilitates those kinds of experiences.

A few months before my departure, I shared my project with my manager, and we took the time to identify what could be the blockers.

• Time zone? It was only one hour from the Paris timezone (where most of my team was), so it was not a big deal.
• Finding coworking spaces? Strapi provides $500 USD per month for a coworking space and Lisbon is full of options.
• Administration? There was already an HR process at Strapi to support those kinds of projects.

Once we saw everything was okay, I moved forward with the HR process: a form to be filled out, and the company and I signed an appendix of my contract. That was it.

Life in Lisbon

View from my coworking in Lisbon

Strapi does not provide relocation or transportation fees, as it’s a personal choice. Consequently, I was responsible for organizing my trip, finding accommodation, and settling there.

Nothing quite changed with my colleagues. We still had our sync meeting every Monday afternoon; I still had my 1/1 with my manager on Thursday afternoon. It’s true that 9 am meetings would take place at 8 am for me due to the time zone difference, but honestly, there is no major thing to complain about.

During my stay in Lisbon as a Recruiter, I did interviews, filled out feedback forms, briefed managers, followed up with candidates and managers, joined coffee breaks with my colleagues, led a virtual cooking class with some Strapiers, hired three people, etc.

During those five months, I managed a process asynchronously with a manager in Asia and candidates in France and Italy. That was the first process completely done asynchronously at Strapi. That’s also in Lisbon that I have even been promoted from Recruiter to Talent Acquisition Manager. Hard to see what would have been different from my initial location rather than Lisbon.

Conclusion

Writing this article, I realize even more that during my stay in Lisbon, professionally speaking, nothing quite changed. Strapi manages to normalize working from different locations. For sure, it comes with trust and dedication.

From a personal perspective, a long-term project came to life. I had the opportunity to discover a new city, start learning a new language, meet new people, and learn more about myself.

It’s priceless to be given those opportunities. I’m full of gratefulness.

We are hiring!

If you would like to be part of a remote company, Strapi is hiring a Product Designer. Visit strapi.io/careers to learn more.