Calling all Remote workers

kiki162

I want to get pros and cons from all of you Remote workers out there in the IT field. What's good, what's bad, and everything else in between...tell me.

I've been told that you need to learn how to walk away from the PC/Tablet/Phone/E-Mail, however I know for some that's not possible. Some have said that they get your money's worth out of you because you tend to work a bit harder than being in the office.

Just want some insights...

Christian.

I worked for 2 years remote.

Pros:
- No commute/travel time to work.
- You can cook at home, and eat while watching TV.
- You can work on underwear
- You can shower in the middle of the day.
- You can spend more time with your family/pets.
- You don't get people going to where you are working asking you random stuff.
- I was able to travel/live in another country as I only needed an internet connection to work.
- A lot of freedom, that's the main thing.

Cons:
- It could be hard for some to re-adapt to a new "presencial' job that requires to be there at a certain time.
- You may fight less (for promotions or a salary increase) because you work at home and you like it.
- You could procrastinate and not look to move further in your career accepting your position/freedom.
- The company can abuse a little knowing employees like to be at home and not every will resign.
- If you are a sociable person, being in your home everyday may not work for you.
- You can become a little hermit due to lack of social interaction.
- People at your home may not understand you are working and can interrupt you often.

Hope that helps

ajs1976

If you work from home, make sure you have a good headset with a working mute button that you know how to use. When you are on a conference call with 30 people, they don't want to hear you washing the dishes, playing with the dog, or using the bathroom.

philz1982

If you work from home you have one of the greatest opportunities in the world. You effectively have eliminated on average 10 hours of travel time per week. If you were to take this 10 hours per week and focus it into personal development, growth, skill gap closure. You could surpass any of your peers by leaps and bounds within months.

snapdad

Working from home is definitely my goal for my next job change. Hopefully more and more companies start moving this direction.

d4nz1g

I worked from home (full time) for about 7 months.

That was not for me, could not adapt to the routine/dynamic.

markulous

I enjoy working from home, but I tend to utilize my down time much better at the office. Just so easy at home to turn on the TV or load up Steam and have a game going, whereas at work that just isn't possible and forces me to study more. Later on in my career I'd probably aim to work remotely, but as of now, give me a job with a short office commute.

tpatt100

I tried it and it was great at first but ended up not liking it, would prefer to have a job really close to home to reduce my commute.

I remember reading how people who work from home tend to be the first ones eliminated when it comes to lay offs because it's easier and has less negative impact upon coworkers. I experienced this myself a while back, the company started canning people that were remote to save money and some of us didn't realize it until much later.

If I had it my way I would like a couple of "work from home" days per week so I could establish a regular routine of office work and stay at home work. that way I could still establish interoffice relationships with coworkers face to face as well as have a break from my commute.

joelsfood

You definitely have to make sure you stay visible and visibly VALUABLE to your team, and it's not for everyone.

JoJoCal19

philz1982 wrote: »

If you work from home you have one of the greatest opportunities in the world. You effectively have eliminated on average 10 hours of travel time per week. If you were to take this 10 hours per week and focus it into personal development, growth, skill gap closure. You could surpass any of your peers by leaps and bounds within months.

THIS. I used the fact that I worked from home to wake up at the time I would normally have if I were commuting (1.5 hours early) and studied. I ended up knocking out my BSBA, CISSP, and ITIL F that way.

And as far as pros/cons, Christian nailed them.

I worked from home full-time for 5 years for one of the nations largest financial firms. I miss it and am hoping to go back to working remotely full-time.

thisdudehenry

I currently have a full time job lined up. Would it be possible for me to find remote work lets say from like 6-10 or something? Are there remote jobs that are project based? Like you have 6 months to finish this project and you just remote when you can and finish by a certain date?

Iristheangel

I'm just going to drop this here:
Why working at home is both awesome and horrible - The Oatmeal

onesaint

I WFH 2-3 days a week. I find all Christian. said a number of posts up to be true. The two major take aways are this;
when I work from home, I can concentrate more and code/work more.
When I'm in the office people tend to keep me in mind more.

The latter translates to more recognition, responsibility, better collaboration, etc. etc.

Thus requirements for my next role, wfh + intl. travel. Both are awesome.

--chris--

I can WFH as much as my work load allows (some weeks it would be 100%, some weeks its 0%).

After reading what others have said, maybe this is the best mix? Having the capability, but not being required to work from home? Being able to get out and see faces/shake hands but also being able to lock yourself away and hammer out a project is nice.

koz24

Iristheangel wrote: »

I'm just going to drop this here:
Why working at home is both awesome and horrible - The Oatmeal

LMAO at most of those. The football one is especially true.

UnixGuy

Never done it before, I think it would be really awesome.

N2IT

philz1982 wrote: »

If you work from home you have one of the greatest opportunities in the world. You effectively have eliminated on average 10 hours of travel time per week. If you were to take this 10 hours per week and focus it into personal development, growth, skill gap closure. You could surpass any of your peers by leaps and bounds within months.

^^^This

The extra 10 hours a week is a great thing. I always loved mowing my yard and trimming my grass in the am. Something so small, yet so big!

Decompression can be hard at first but you adapt, at least I did. The hardest part for me, was transitioning back to the office where I am at now.

***Just a follow up about being valuable. I don't perform operational work, I work almost exclusively project work or projects and deliverables are the only thing your teammates and managers care about. Visibility IMO is overrated from my view point, in fact I thought the lack of visibility was better. When you actual did meet up person to person it meant more and it usually went over well. Instead of grudging into the office and looking at the same people everyday. Puke

HTH

ImThe0ne

I liked being at able to eat food at my house and not need to go out to eat lunch everyday or worry about getting up early enough to fix today's lunch. I felt like I could definitely concentrate more and was more productive when I was home.

I hated the fact that when I was at home, I would typically work 2-3 hrs longer than I would have at the office, because it get's to a point where the distinguishing difference between "Home" and "Work" start to disappear. I also hated that when I was home for work, I would continue to look around me and see tons of other stuff that needed to be done and would feel compelled to do those things instead of work.

I will say, the perfect split is a few days in the office, a few days from home. Keeps everything from getting stale and let's you still be recognized for your work and keep the morale up with co-workers. That last one is especially important if you work on a "team" and aren't a solo coder or tech, etc.

anhtran35

Working from home has been awesome. As others have stated, there is no commute = no expenditure on gas or car maintenance. You don't get stuck in traffic going to work or coming back home due to rain/sleet/snow/accidents/etc...you just log in. You don't spend much money on dry cleaning or eating out. As long as you get your work done you can study for other certifications without others monitoring your duties. Only negative is you won't be socializing with your co workers. Which to me is a positive since they all like to gossip.

gespenstern

WFH for many years, recently changed to office because of new job and better pay.

Pros and cons are already listed above, there's not much to add. The only major thing that I would add is remote workers have lower chances of promotion. The thing is, visibility in the eyes of management is sometimes more important than real work got done.

Also I'd like to mention that majority of people, to my surprise, prefer to work in the office. I've been in situations when whole team was told to WFH whenever they like, and only small percentage of people used this opportunity. Majority decided to stay at the office and take some WFH days once a week or two weeks and that's it.

E Double U

Pros:
- Saving money on gas and car maintenance
- Never have to rush to work
- No haircuts, shaving, or dress code
- Taking care of personal things close to home (groceries, appointments, etc)
- Cleaning the house when work is slow
- Being able to stay home with the kids without using vacation or sick time
- Being home with my wife when she was pregnant
- Going for a jog and showering midday
- Letting my in-laws take the car when they are in town
- Playing music without headphones

Cons:
- Not having face time with my co-workers
- I work harder from home (I take more breaks in the office because people want to talk)

Zartanasaurus

Make sure you're accessible during work hours. Respond to emails, phone calls, etc. WFH is a great thing and I don't get any of the downsides. I don't care about interacting with my co-workers.

beads

Iristheangel wrote: »

I'm just going to drop this here:
Why working at home is both awesome and horrible - The Oatmeal

Unfair. I laughed so hard I had a tear. Only missed the fact that its also incredibly hard to get promoted. Out of sight is out of mind.

The Telsa poster (link) is pure gold as well.

-b/eads

tbhouston

Con:being told five years later you have to move 3,000 miles to the office or gtfo

Zartanasaurus

tbhouston wrote: »

Con:being told five years later you have to move 3,000 miles to the office or gtfo

I have no problem with the GTFO option.

joelsfood

Depends on where they'd want me to move.

markulous

joelsfood wrote: »

Depends on where they'd want me to move.

And if they're paying for it.