u/Whither-Goest-Thou

I’m getting blasted in the ass with it, I’m tired and sad, and I need some form of catharsis. That’s all, dickwads.

Picturing Dee using it for whorish means, while Charlie thinks it’s actually alive.

Hey everybody! Like the title says, I need a pep talk, the last few days have been rough. 100% WFH and have avoided RTO at my company.

I need to hear from some other SEs who are seeing this happen around them and get some words of encouragement. I won't lie: I'm absolutely terrified and losing sleep.

I know most SEs are still fully remote, even as RTO fever, which makes sense for the job. Deep work, distributed customers, remote AEs, onsite travel. Info on me below:

Background on Me

I am the seniormost IC SE at my company (healthtech SaaS). 8 years at the company, started pre-series A. I've done it all: pre-sale, post-sale, channel, corp dev. I'm heavily relied on for our most complex deals: ELT needs something, they call me. I love my career and have spent many nights and weekends in support of our startup.

I feel trusted and respected. Pres Club multiple times. 100% WFH and classified as such in our HRIS. I go out of my way to be visible and high-availability.

I had an unconventional path where I went SDR --> SE. When I was an SDR pre-COVID I commuted the 1+ hour in office because if was the only job I could get. I'm one of the only legacy cases where the ELT remembers me being in-office making cold calls

Situation

My company (US, California) has announced full RTO as it brings HQ in-office and plans new ones. New US-based roles will be hired from said cities.

With the caveat that existing Remote employees will remain as such. There are MANY within the company, including our full SE team. My manager and I live over an hour from the office, our other teammates are across the country.

Even if I'm confirmed safe, having to go back to commuting with my current workload would break me. I know our ELT trusts me completely, so it's also confusing.

I also don't know what signal this sends to me. Am I even wanted here? Do I have a growth path?