I work from Catarman, in Northern Samar, on Philippine time (UTC+8, no daylight saving). Most of the people I build software with and for are in the United States or Australia. Those two markets look similar from a distance, but they make for very different working days.
The Same Job, Two Different Days
| Your colleagues in | Their 9:00–17:00 is, in the Philippines |
|---|---|
| New York | 21:00–05:00 (22:00–06:00 in their winter) |
| Los Angeles | 00:00–08:00 (01:00–09:00 in their winter) |
| Sydney, Melbourne | 07:00–15:00 (06:00–14:00 in their summer) |
| Brisbane | 07:00–15:00 |
| Perth | 09:00–17:00, the same time |
With Australia, a normal day overlaps almost completely. With the US, there's little or no overlap at all, so live conversations land in someone's evening or early morning.
Neither is a problem if you design your work around it. Pretending the gap isn't there is what causes trouble.
Working With the US: Async by Default
When live overlap is small, the written word does most of the work.
- Write hand-offs, not status updates. At the end of my day, the next person should be able to continue without waiting for me: what's done, what's next, what's blocked, and links to the PR or ticket.
- Make questions answerable in one go. Include the context, what was tried and the options, so the answer can come back before I'm awake instead of turning into a 24-hour back-and-forth.
- Pick one or two fixed overlap slots a week for things that genuinely need a call, and protect them on both sides, instead of being "always available".
- Record short walkthroughs for demos and design explanations. A five-minute video replaces a meeting nobody can attend.
Tip
Always write times with the time zone ("Thursday 21:00 PHT / 09:00 EDT"). Daylight saving changes in the US and Australia on different dates, and the Philippines doesn't change at all, so offsets shift twice a year.
Working With Australia: Use the Overlap
When the working day overlaps, use it for what live conversation does best:
- Pair and review in real time instead of waiting a day for comments.
- Join client calls in normal hours, which is better for everyone's energy and for the client relationship.
- Keep the async habits anyway. Written decisions and hand-offs still matter; they just don't have to carry everything.
Protecting Evenings
The real risk of working with US teams from Asia isn't the code; it's that the job slowly spreads across all 24 hours. A few boundaries help:
- Decide your late-night window and keep it small. One or two evenings a week for a call is sustainable; every night isn't.
- Turn notifications off outside working hours and tell people how to reach you for a real emergency.
- Make your hours visible in your calendar and status, so nobody has to guess.
Summary
The time difference isn't something to apologize for; it's a constraint to design around. With the US, invest in writing and clear hand-offs so work moves while you sleep. With Australia, use the shared day for live collaboration. And in both cases, protect your evenings, because a sustainable pace is what makes you reliable over years, not weeks.
