Welcome to the Future of Work, Ottodot Style

What’s it like to work at Ottodot? Well, we have a really big space. We have hot desks, one thirteen-seater meeting space, a directors’ office, a pantry and a games area. Our office is also able to house a team of game designers and developers from 3 different continents. And occasionally work with freelancers who need to balance our projects with their school projects. Where is our office, you may ask? It’s on the internet!

When I meet my friends and describe our working style, I realised how unique the working experience at Ottodot is. It is uncommon to hear of a workplace that resides virtually, communicates with Freelancers over Discord, and leverages on the talents of young individuals who are still in school. So what’s it like in a day of working at Ottodot?

Every day when I walk into the office, I get to choose my outfit. When I meet my co-founder, I’m excited to see what new clothes she’s wearing!

When I walk up to my colleagues, the opacity of my webcam changes and so does the volume of the sound.

You can virtually “eavesdrop” on your colleagues, hope they aren’t gossiping about you. Some of you might worry: isn’t it scary that you turn on your webcam and your sound all day? What if you get caught doing something unglamorous? Well, what I love about this is that it turns off your camera and mic when you’re not on the application tab!

As a startup, we are expanding our team internationally. It’s unrealistic to expect that we can afford physical spaces in every country for our employees to work in. Yet we value the perks of working physically in teams. So how do we solve this problem? With tech of course! As a technology advocate, I strongly believe that the tools out there can solve most of our workspace problems. Need to brainstorm? Let’s use Miro. Need to have a private chat? Let’s use Zoom. Need a virtual office? Let’s use Gather.

I wrote this article because I recently realised that the experiences we have are rather different from what other Singaporeans experience. I hope this article gives you a glimpse into the unique working experiences we have, and expand the possibilities of how work could be in the future!