Remotely Working, Comfortably Living

Bob Stockdale was working with Zappos in Las Vegas, Nevada. But he knew he wanted to come back to Buffalo, the area that raised him.

He went job hunting in Buffalo. He got an offer. He went into his boss’ office to put in his two-week notice. But his boss didn’t accept. Instead, he offered a different solution. Bob could move back home to Buffalo and continue his valuable work with Zappos remotely.

At the time, he became one of the only remote workers in the company. Since, Zappos has relaxed its policies and continued to hire remotely. They’ve even built a team around Bob in Buffalo with a total six people, their second largest U.S. contingent behind the HQ in Las Vegas.

Upon his return, Bob again found the things he was missing so much during his time in Vegas. He missed his family. The food. Surprisingly to some, he missed the weather, including skiing and a summer season that’s comfortable to spend outside. And in gaining those, he didn’t have to sacrifice the career he had built within such a recognizable tech and ecommerce company.

Today, he and the Buffalo team of six split their time between coworking spaces and working from home.

“I’m a fan of working from home. I really like it,” Bob said. “Being an engineer, it’s a great way to get heads down, uninterrupted work.”

Favorite Buffalo bar?

Our coworking space is right next door to Ulrich’s Tavern. Our team works on so many different things, so we have Tuesday knowledge sharing sessions there over a few beers.

What do you love about your job?

The projects I get to work on. I’ve done large scale data migration, rolled out a new ecommerce front end, and have since moved into more product management and increasing user generated content. Our Buffalo team does a ton of different and innovative work. It’s a talented group. ​ ​