Member Q&A with... Anonymous
Every month we conduct a Q&A with a different member. For the photo accompanying the blog post, we ask for a snapshot that shows the interviewee in their natural habitat — that is, if you spend a lot of free time fishing, then we want to see a photo of you on a fishing boat. If you're an active member of the RV-life community, then we want to see a photo of you on a roadtrip.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
For this month's Q&A, the photo we're featuring is conspicuously not a photo featuring M, the member we interviewed. In fact, by request, M is totally shrouded in darkness for the purpose of concealing his identity.
The reason our member of the month is anonymous is because M's clients believe he works in an office tower in Washington DC or New York City. No one outside of M's company knows that he's a remote worker. We actually have a lot of members here at Createscape who also don't promote their office location.
Like many employers, M's company closed their downtown Austin office at the height of the pandemic. After working from home for a few weeks, M grew tired of not seeing other people (in person, that is) for a string of days at time. That's when he showed up on our doorstep.
M's office opened when most businesses opened, but M said he's staying put. Unlike at his company's office tower on Cesar Chavez, here, M can dress however he wants. Not only does he have the company of coworkers, he also gets quality time with our canine members, including Max, Tocan, and Oliver. So he has all the benefits of part-time pet ownership without the expense, the walks or vet appointments. If it was up to M — and for the immediate future it is — he would keep his coworking membership and eschew corporate office life for good.
That said, M was perfectly happy to be featured in our newsletter, he just doesn't want us to use his name or publish his photo. He says it's because he doesn't want clients who believe he's headquartered in a major metropolitan east coast city, stumbling on the interview. But we think he also enjoys being a man of mystery.
Createscape: Let’s start with the easiest “get to know you” question: What you do for work?
M: Hello! I’m a government contractor on federal and state civilian programs, largely concentrating in the area of broadband network planning and transportation infrastructure.
Before you joined Createscape, you were working in a tower right in the center of downtown Austin, correct? How many months or years did you spend commuting to that office?
I’ve been a member of Createscape for a couple of years now, since moving to Austin in June 2020. I’ve actually been a member of Createscape with multiple employers. I did most of my job interviews through video conference here at Createscape. The firm where I work now is a major employer with a couple hundred people in Texas and over 12,000 nationwide, and they have an entire floor of a prestigious office building downtown. Most people are just enjoying being remote so much that few would want to go back into a “normal” office setting. I have been fully remote, for multiple jobs, since June 2019
So just to get an idea of the architecture of your job, do you work on a team? Or are there a group of people you’re in constant contact with throughout the day?
I do a lot of project-based work, so that changes from project to project. There are probably five to 10 people that I’m in contact with every day. I have the Teams app on my phone and I start getting messages at 4:47 a.m. as older colleagues generally wake up at 5:45 a.m. Eastern time and start sending out messages. Most people I work with do not know that I am in Austin. I am only one hour off. So people just treat my day like I am in Eastern time, for better or for worse.
I also do a lot of business development, so you might see me with a coat and tie on top and, out of view of the camera, cut-off shorts and flip-flops.
I notice that you use the call rooms a lot. In addition to your clients, do you also talk to coworkers — people you would talk with in person if you were still working at your business offices?
One of the project teams I am leading is very informal so we hop on calls throughout the day. In the beginning of my time with my current firm, there were a lot more calls. Gradually, I had to dial that back to actually get work done. As I started bringing in more clients and finishing projects there was a realization or acknowledgment that I could not be on so many calls and they just assume now that if I don’t make the call I am working on something or on an airplane.
It’s almost your one-year anniversary at Createscape! You joined last August. Do you recall how you found us?
I searched for coworking spaces online and visited Createscape in person. I started coming here in [December 2020, before I joined as a member] to do my job interviews on camera with a more “professional” setting — and to make me feel like I was not just sitting in my living room. I enjoyed the setting and not being in my apartment all day. I rent an apartment nearby and while it’s not small, it is better to have all the spaces and rooms that Createscape provides. But at first, I was coming in off and on. I did the “pay as you go” option for a while, on a month-to-month basis.
Did you just move to Austin from NY a year ago? That said, I can’t believe it’s been 12 years since I moved here from NYC. It goes by so fast.
I’ve lived all over the country and abroad. I’ve lived in a rainforest in West Africa and in a major African city. I’ve traveled extensively for work and relocated many times. I do not miss New York as it would be so expensive to live there now. I can serve those same clients here in Austin as our firm has a major corporate address in Manhattan and I just use that whenever we interact with those clients.
My time in New York was also strange. I moved there because my girlfriend at that time got into investment banking. At the time, I was a recent graduate, but not yet employed. I found a marina where I could live on a boat in the Bronx for about $800 per month. It was a very odd time. I later moved to the Upper East Side when I was gainfully employed, but always felt poor because rent was so high and it took up most of my income.
What brought you to Austin?
My family has been in Texas for 20-plus years in the Houston area and I don’t like humidity. You can also swim in most of the lakes and rivers in Austin and the Hill Country without wondering if you’re near an alligator or water snake.
Where did you go to college?
I’m a Harvard grad.
Oh, cool. I don’t recall seeing that on your profile here or your social media accounts.
I’m anonymous online! No photo of me has appeared on the internet since 2009! The only exception to that are two official portraits that were taken when I served as a public official. I’m standing in front of a state flag.
In real life, I’ll tell people anything about my life and my work, but I won’t create digital artifacts anymore. Many of my friends are the same way, especially after the novelty of social media had worn off. I am active on LinkedIn, but my bio says I’m living and working in another city where most of my clients are (not Austin).
Does your company pay for your membership? Or do you pay for your membership with the money you would have spent on parking downtown and/or public transportation.
The latter! My company would have me pay $185 per month to park downtown. Compared to the value of coming to Createscape, it’s not worth it. I cover the cost of my membership here. Like I said earlier, my company actually has a huge office downtown, but no one goes in. It largely has not been used since March 2020. I’ve been told that nationwide, a lot of those office leases will be downsized when they come up for renewal.
Do you expect your employer will one day decide that everyone should return to the office? Or is the option to work remote permanent at your company?
As of today, no one has ever mentioned going back. There are a few things on the company intranet that say “remote first” or “permanent hybrid,” but no official policy has ever been stated. We have so many people in our various teams that are distributed across the lower 48 States that it would not add value for me to be in an office anyway. All of the people I work with are in Boise, New York, D.C., Denver, Silicon Valley, and other major cities across the country.
Now that we got your professional and social media life out of the way, tell me what amenities you take advantage of here at Createscape?
The dogs! I love that people bring their dogs in and you can interact with them until you or the dog gets bored. It has all of the benefits of dog ownership with none of the downsides. I like being so close to Native Grocery, as you can come here in the morning and basically walk to anything you need within the parking lot. [Ed note: There’s a lot to do here on Createscape’s campus!]
You agreed to do this interview, but you want to be anonymous. Tell me if this is right: You want to be anonymous because you don’t want your colleagues and clients finding out that you work in East Austin — not downtown— and you wear t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers to the office instead of more formal business-wear.
Yes. People know that I’m in Austin. My company has a major Austin office that is the official business address for hundreds of people. However, most of my clients just assume I’m in New York, D.C., or Denver. We’ve been remote so long now that no one announces where they are anymore on Zoom calls. Most people I work with do not know what I wear when I’m not on the Zoom or Teams calls. I don’t think anyone is sitting around in a business suit. I know that if I were to go into our Austin office that I couldn’t wear cut-off shorts and flip flops. I would have to wear khakis (or nice jeans on a Friday) and real shoes.
It’s also been the norm for years in many blue-chip consulting firms to be remote under the radar. I knew one guy at a leading consulting firm that lived in St. Louis for 10 to 15 years and all of his clients thought he was in D.C. because he had a D.C. cell phone number.
What do you tell Createscape members about your professional life?
I do like meeting people at Createscape and will tell anyone much more about my job in real life. I just choose not to create digital artifacts that search engines can crawl through and associate my name and work history.
It makes you seem…mysterious. That’s not a question.
Well, my corporate role is somewhat banal as I don’t work in defense or intelligence. I don’t have any secret or top secret clearance. But being employed by a major, 12,000-plus person company, I don’t have to promote any service or product.
I recently met someone else at my company who guards her privacy even more than I do. She has a Washington, D.C. mobile phone but she lives in a remote mountain town in Colorado. None of her colleagues or clients know that she does not live in D.C. She is reluctant to tell anyone and also avoids all social media.
Does it bother you when people ask you personal questions about your real-life identity?
In general, I think as people begin to take advantage of opportunities for housing-cost arbitrage (i.e. using video calls to serve clients in Austin, carry a 512 area code, and post a UT degree on your LinkedIn account while secretly living in Lubbock or Waco), asking someone where they actually live may become as impolite as asking someone how much their mortgage costs or how much their salary is.
As far as you know, do any of your coworkers work at coworking spaces?
No. I am definitely the weird one. Some people have asked me if I am “going to” work, why not just come into the office. It raises all the issues just described above. Consequently, I just blur the background in all my videos now and people assume that I am in a typical house or apartment. It’s just easier to not bring it up and have to explain what a coworking space is, and why I would pay to come here instead of the office which is “free” (but actually just as expensive when you consider parking). Most of my colleagues live and work in major cities outside of Texas and do not own cars. Their commute costs them a monthly subway pass, which they buy anyway just to get around.
On days when I have to actually produce work (i.e. write a 50-plus page report), I need to be in a t-shirt and flip-flops. I can’t write and do PowerPoints in a suit and tie.
How did you manage to get any work done before the pandemic?
I was a public official for about a decade and I had hundreds of people that could write reports and make PowerPoint documents for me. I just attended meetings all day wearing my suits and never actually had to sit down to produce anything longer than a one-paragraph email.
Do you have any awareness about whether people at your company are trickling back to the office or choosing to work from home (or a coworking space)? I just read this morning that even though a lot of Austinites are still working remotely, companies are forging ahead on signing multi-year leases downtown.
I don’t know. You have to ask the Kastle key fob people for real-time data. You could also get the vehicle counts on downtown city streets from the City or the transit ridership passenger counts to know about real-time occupancy and use of downtown spaces.
It’s important to remember that a lot of those leases are for “showcase” offices: companies backed by private equity or venture capital so they have money to burn. Increasingly, however, I am noticing a lot of firms competing with ours have offices in suburban places. So even in a hybrid/remote set-up, employees may be going into satellite facilities more proximate to their suburban homes.
Did you always know about coworking, even though you had a full-time corporate job? I’m always surprised when I meet people who don’t know what coworking is.
Most people I work with are only vaguely aware of the concept. They understand the value of WeWork and Regus for those who travel. Createscape is more of a community of regulars, though. That is something that they have little frame of reference for, outside of an office environment.
Do you ever meet with your coworkers in person, either for work meetings or for work events?
Yes, they have happy hours once or twice a month, but I rarely go due to other travel. When I’m in Austin and the timing works, I’ll attend them.
And now for some non-work questions: What do you do for fun?
I love the outdoors and that is the one drawback of the Texas lifestyle: the lack of public lands. If you’ve ever spent time in the west, you’d know there’s a lot more access to state and federal public lands, national parks, and national forests. Texas has Big Bend, but it is not a great summer place, and being five to seven hours from Austin, not that convenient. I don’t have a boat, but I will go to any lake or river where I can get in as a pedestrian.
Do you have a favorite restaurant or bar?
I actually haven’t had alcohol in over 12 years. I eat a lot of steak, usually. There are cheap places all over that I’ll hit up with friends that don’t mind slumming it. There are nicer places that I would go with people that want higher quality.
What about your favorite lunch place?
I’ll just go to Native Grocery, if I’m at Createscape.
Have you visited many sites in Texas since you moved here? Like the Alamo, Big Bend, the coast or Marfa?
I have not been inside the Alamo since I was 12 because I moved here during Covid, but I’ve been to Marfa and Big Bend a lot. The older I get, the more I appreciate the ability to sleep on my own mattress. I’ve been to Corpus Christi and South Padre, but unless you’re in a boat, the water is somewhat muddy compared to other places in the U.S.
What is your favorite thing about Austin so far?
During Covid, a lot of people moved here that had a ton of stimulus cash and that was cool because everyone was balling for like nine months. Then the landlords figured it out and raised the rent 25%, which was not great.
Work life balance is good. During Covid I was told by my last CEO that I would not be getting a bonus and then lost my job a few days later due to an economic layoff. I went by the old office about a month after that and the Travis County Sheriff had padlocked the door because they were more than 90 days in arrears on rent.
In between jobs I would just go to San Marcos and blow up an air mattress and sleep in the shade all day under an oak tree or just sit with my feet in the water. Wake up at noon, get a pizza…go to Waffle House at odd hours of the night and talk to the night crew (until the labor shortage made them start closing at 9pm). It was this crazy life for a few months while a lot of corporate firms were still not hiring.
Overall, this is a place that a lot of interesting and smart people are moving to. That can be good and bad. A lot of “Tesla bros” are moving here now, but maybe they’ll stop after bitcoin took a hit.
I haven’t been to see any live music yet, so that is something I still need to do.