The problem with in office work as an IC is that all day is spent helping other people and then you have to do your own IC work in the evenings.
The problem with remote work is the constant slack interruptions to help other people and you have to do your own IC work around that.
We have essentially a documentation, coordination, and communications problem that nobody has figured out how to solve in a remote first world. I'd be interested to hear people's solutions to this.
You have to communicate with people that you need a block of time without interruptions and that you only have a certain amount of the day to dedicate to things that aren't your own work. Your manager has to be on board and enforce this.
Otherwise you need to get another job.
To be fair I do get interruptions from Discord for my website that aren't related to other projects but I usually deliberately prioritize them because it's my business and no one else can provide support for it.
The problem with remote work is the constant slack interruptions to help other people and you have to do your own IC work around that.
We have essentially a documentation, coordination, and communications problem that nobody has figured out how to solve in a remote first world. I'd be interested to hear people's solutions to this.