Connor Thorsen had just moved to San Francisco to start his new full-time role at Salesforce when the pandemic called many employees back home. A former two-time summer intern with Salesforce Commerce Cloud in Massachusetts, Connor was hired as a software engineer on the Security UI team to build internal services and websites for the network security organization. Thanks to an amazing cohort of co-interns, a friendly team, and a great learning experience during his internships, he was confident that coming on full-time was the right move for him after graduating from the Rochester Institute of Technology.<\/p>\n
Now with Salesforce for over two years, Connor still hasn\u2019t been inside a Salesforce office since the pandemic began. Instead, he\u2019s been leaning into Salesforce\u2019s Success from Anywhere culture \u2014 including a stint spent hitting the open road on his motorcycle.<\/p>\n
Fully loaded bike on Day 1 of the trip.<\/em><\/p>\n From July through October of 2021, Connor drove, worked, and camped his way across the United States, starting from his home base in Philadelphia. He started his journey with two weeks of vacation, making his way to Colorado and taking advantage of the National Parks & Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass, which he was able to get reimbursed through the Salesforce Wellness Benefits<\/a> program. He visited the Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains, then started working remotely from an Airbnb in Colorado \u2014 specifically, from his back porch overlooking the Rocky Mountains. From there, Connor strategized how best to balance work with sightseeing and make sure he could fulfill his commitments to his team.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way our team works, we have a very flexible schedule where we\u2019re able to work asynchronously due our globally dispersed team and nature of our work,\u201d says Connor whose teammates live in India, Singapore, and both coasts of the United States. \u201cMy manager has always trusted me to get my work done, and after letting me work on the road previously to go skiing in New England, realized that I should be able to work from anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n While on his trip, regular communication was key to maintaining the trust of his manager and team members, so he made sure to join their daily standup in Slack (sometimes from the ski slope!) and plan his working hours so that he could overlap with his colleagues in India. His team members knew that they could reach out if they needed help, and he was vigilant about checking his messages to stay on top of his work.<\/p>\n In fact, while Connor made his way through the American West\u2014including stops at a tiny home in Utah, campsites in Arches and Zion National Parks, a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, and rain showers in Sedona, Arizona\u2014he always made sure to stop where he could have access to an internet connection and a place to work. He chose to put in most of his travel miles over the weekends while staying at each location for about a week, though there were some exceptions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe strangest place I ever joined a meeting was from the parking lot of a truck stop gas station,\u201d he remembers. \u201cThe location was odd, but I needed to connect with my team to talk through feedback on a candidate for a job opening.\u201d He prioritized joining the call, then made his way to his hotel. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t always glamorous because sometimes work needed to come first,\u201d he says, \u201cbut the sunsets, sunrises, and stars in the night sky made the balancing act worthwhile!\u201d<\/p>\n One of Connor\u2019s many work from home views, this one in Silverthorne, Colorado<\/em><\/p>\n Connor finally made it to San Francisco \u2014 a true coast-to-coast drive that had started on the East Coast over a month before \u2014 and was at last able to safely meet up with some coworkers face-to-face for the first time. Then he began heading home via a different route that allowed him to see Seattle, Montana, the Badlands, and finally Acadia National Park in Maine \u2014 his 22nd national park of the trip.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Connor was in a motorcycle crash only five hours from home, which was a downer of an ending to the trip of a lifetime. \u201cI was on my way back home from seeing the fall foliage in New England,\u201d he says, \u201dand I got into an accident on the interstate right outside of Boston. Funnily enough, the hospital I went too was right down the road from the Salesforce office where I did my previous internships, so there was some comfort being in a familiar place!\u201d<\/p>\n Still, he says he\u2019s already thinking about his next plans to travel, although it may be a few years before he tries a trip like this again.<\/p>\n Map of the United States with Connor\u2019s route traced across it.<\/em><\/p>\n Connor says 13,000 miles on a motorcycle gave him lots of time to think. He realized just how self-reliant he could be when he needed to navigate mechanical issues, get creative with where he would work each week, and practice \u201cepic time-management skills and scheduling gymnastics\u201d to make sure he could get from point A to point B while also getting his work done. If sounds like an experiment you\u2019d like to try, Connor offers a few tips from his experiences.<\/p>\n Have your vehicle inspected<\/strong> before you set off, and avoid Connor\u2019s experience of running into engine trouble after only three days on the road.Set standards for how you\u2019ll communicate with your team<\/strong>. Your team has to trust that you\u2019ll communicate well and still do your job, even though you\u2019re having the time of your life.Take some time off work<\/strong> if you can so you don\u2019t miss out on sightseeing experiences.<\/p>\n All that said \u2026 Success from Anywhere at Salesforce doesn\u2019t have to look like a multi-state road trip on two wheels, like it did for Connor. We use Flex Team Agreements<\/a> that empower our teams to determine how, when, and where they work based on their unique needs and projects. And flex behaviors \u2014 like setting boundaries so we can do focused work \u2014 help us be our most productive and balanced selves. Connor\u2019s flex was epic, but yours could be smaller, like working from a coffee shop one day a week for a change of scenery.<\/p>\n The pandemic has certainly changed the ways we work, sometimes for good. If you\u2019d like to explore what success from anywhere could look like for you, take a peek at our open positions<\/a>. You just might find your next adventure with Salesforce!<\/p>\n The post Connor Thorsen\u2019s Trip of a Lifetime<\/a> appeared first on salesforce-engineering.go-vip.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"