Today we have a guest editorial from Kendra Little as Steve is away on his sabbatical.

I’ve been a remote worker based in the Pacific Northwest in the United States since 2011. I used to think that working from home was the ideal setup for me: I love spending breaks and lunchtime with my dogs, using chat tools and video conferencing for productivity, and spending precisely 30 seconds on my commute each morning.

I joined the Advocate team at Redgate in 2018. Working remotely as part of the team has been great: the rest of the Advocates also work remotely, and we collaborate quite easily with online tools. We often meet up in person at Redgate events, industry conferences, and visits to Redgate offices around the globe.

A few months ago, my husband Jeremiah and I decided that it was time for a new adventure. At the time he was finishing up his master’s degree in computer science. We were starting to discuss the possibility that we might relocate for the right job for him—after all, I could work from most places which are near an airport. At the same time, we realized that I might enjoy living and (gasp!) working out of one of Redgate’s offices where I could connect with colleagues in person on a regular basis.

Fast-forward to today and quite a lot is in motion: our family is currently working through the visa process in hopes of relocating to Cambridge, UK very soon. Jeremiah successfully interviewed at Redgate and has landed a job working in the Product Development division (of course, depending on our visa being approved). Similarly, I interviewed to be an Advocate based in the UK office. I will get the opportunity to partner with our sales team in helping customers in the UK and across Europe, very likely getting to visit loads of places I’ve never been.

But oddly enough, the part of the new adventure which I’m most looking forward to is working in the office. Although working from home has been great for the past nine years—and I will likely still work from home one day of each week-- I am incredibly excited about heading into work at a software company on most weekday mornings. The Cambridge office is a dynamic place, and I’ll get the chance to know loads of people across the company better. I started my career off as a DBA by working at a gutsy, fun software development company where I loved going into the office. This move feels very much like it brings my career full circle in a wonderful way.

To all my friends and colleagues in the USA, I promise I won’t be far off! I’ll travel back over for events when it makes sense, and of course, continue to blog and tweet and make videos, I’ll just be online in a slightly different time zone. Here’s to new adventures!