Pros
I worked as an editor (remote) with the company for about 16 months. During this time, I switched between full-time and part-time work; the company was quite helpful in allowing me to do so. Yet, regardless of one’s schedule, the hours fluctuate with the season (i.e., high season tends to line up with university midterms and finals). Overall, I am grateful for the flexibility offered (work from home) as well as the congenial “atmosphere,” albeit a digital one. There are senior editors who take great pains to help newer editors improve their craft, for which I am very appreciative. Moreover, the CSRs are quite friendly and work hard to improve editors’ experience (I imagine they work hard to help customers too, but I didn’t have any experience with that side of things). With respect to the daily schedule, this job requires a lot of patience, and it offers a lot of reward. I liken it to a puzzle, with a bit of psychology tossed in—you have to “inhabit” the mind of the author to capture the idea he or she wants to convey (this is especially difficult in cases of certain ESL or highly technical documents). Then, you move around the pieces to make something better. More often than not, this is highly fulfilling. Additionally, I learned an amazing amount not only in terms of how to polish documents but also in terms of fields outside my experience (nursing, economics, etc.); this was definitely one of my favorite aspects of the job.
Cons
Make sure to get a comfortable chair and some “blue-screen” glasses. I wish I’d have known that when I started.