How to be promoted 6x in 4 years in a remote job

4 years ago, I started working remotely for a tech start-up part time as I was thinking about leaving Venezuela and moving to a more stable place. Against the odds, I was hired by an all remote company that promoted me 6 times and allowed me to work in 3 different functions. Today, I want to share my story with all the remote workers out there and hope it can inspire you to believe anything is possible!

How did you start your career?

I worked for 10 years at my university. It was a very typical local career where I went to the office every day. In parallel, I worked as an architect on mostly residential projects, which meant working from home doing design work. I also did postgraduate studies 100% online from 2008 to 2011 in Spain, which helped me with the transition to remote work later on.

What was the hardest part about becoming remote for the first time?

My classmate Aymara and I were inseparable in college. We were a memorable pair because she was 8 inches taller than me! In fall of 2016, we had ceviche at her home one night and she told me that she was working as a drafter remotely because by then the Venezuelan currency was unstable. I was intrigued and immediately created a profile on UpWork the same night. Aymara referred me for a part-time drafter role with ezhome — a US based gardening tech startup. While creating blueprints was extremely familiar and I already had a home office, I really struggled with the need for a high-quality internet connection. This limited my availability to work online to hours after dinner or even after people had gone to bed.

What tips would you have for someone starting in their remote career?

You must develop self discipline to separate work and home, otherwise it is too overwhelming. You should also invest in making your home office a really great place to work. Aside from those basics, I changed my mindset early on that this was a long-term career, not a freelance job. I showed consistency and responsiveness to the company even when I was part-time. This got the attention of my managers back in 2017 and gave me the opportunity to do special projects as well as be promoted into new roles.

What are all the roles you had in the last 4 years?

• Oct 2016: Part-time drafter
• May 2017: Full-time sales support to create quotes
• Sep 2017: Full-time project coordinator
• Dec 2018: Project manager
• Jul 2019: Senior project manager
• Nov 2019: PM team lead
• Jan 2021: PM team manager

It is unusual for people to be promoted in a remote role, what has made it possible for you?

Show dedication, good quality of work and responsiveness to stand out as an individual contributor. Still, there are a couple more important things to note:

• Take every opportunity you are given: Be open-minded to change and embrace any new opportunity given to you. Two years ago, I was terrified about speaking with customers in English. I had only lived in the US for <18 months and I felt I had a heavy accent and a limited vocabulary. Still, I found the courage to try with the support of my manager and team. Now, I am even handling very difficult customer escalations directly and coaching others.
• Don’t be afraid to delegate: While I was doing sales quotes, I had so much work at one point that I could not keep up with the turnaround time. I prepared instructions for other team members to share the workload. My husband asked me at the time “aren’t you afraid to lose your job by sharing all your work secrets with others?” The opposite effect occurred; delegating your current work frees you up to take new responsibilities and grow!
• Always keep learning: I was lucky to have joined a company that supports my learning. Ergeon is a very transparent company when it comes to metrics, planning and decision making. I am included in all the manager-level meetings, quarterly and weekly planning, 1–1s with founders, and team meetings. Ergeon also provides monthly manager training, weekly 1–1s, peer feedback and even general US business-news. I take advantage of all the information that is given and absorb as much as I can!

How do you see your career continuing to evolve?

Short term, I hope to adjust and grow professionally in my new role as a team manager as I have built my team from 0 to 10 team members in the last 2 years. I have also grown so much myself, learning about metrics, roadmaps, escalation management, performance management etc. I never imagined being part of such a fast growing company; it is so different from a university career! I have loved the ride to date even with all of its ups and downs and look forward to developing my career with Ergeon!