Remote positions?

jayc71

Anyone here work remotely? I've been in IT for over 13yrs now, and in the last 5yrs or so I've realized that 90% of what I do can be done from anywhere with an Internet connection. Unless I am in the datacenter touching hardware (maybe 10% of the time), I don't really need to be sitting at the office. In the few positions I've had that allowed for occasional remote days, I felt like I was more productive when at home...it's a comfort thing I believe.

I've interviewed for a couple new remote jobs lately... and I decided I'm only going to apply for remote jobs unless I really need something right away. Anyone here already working full-time remote? What are your thoughts? Positives and negatives??

Everyone

Yes, and there are a few threads about it already.


I applied for my current job because it said working from home was a possibility. The interview process took a little longer than usual because of it. I think it was after my 1st interview they actually took that part off the job listing, almost like it was added by mistake. I ended up having extra interviews going up 3 levels above the hiring manager, because they were unsure about hiring an external candidate to start off working from home.

My office is ~500 miles away from where I live. I'm supposed to travel to it once per quarter, but have only been back once in ~6 months since my orientation due to a freeze on travel the company put in place to save some $$$.

If you really want to do it, the biggest thing is to ASK. Right after I landed the interview for the job I have now, I also landed interviews with about a half dozen other companies that said I'd be able to work from home at least 75% of the time or more. None of them mentioned it in the job listing, I just started asking during the initial phone screening.

WafflesAndRootbeer

I wouldn't do it. They are now outsourcing remote management jobs left and right in the non-government markets to service providers who have people available 24/7 in their little management centers. Even India is getting in on it.

Todd Burrell

I say if you can do IT work and work from home then do it. I have been working in IT for 20+ years and I have been working from home pretty much fill time for the last 5 years. For most IT jobs there is little reason to work in an office for most work. One of the main issues blocking more remote work is the archaic attitudes of some management folks.

jibbajabba

Most of the time I could have done my job remotely (in theory) but company policy was against it

powerfool

I have always done a considerable amount of work remotely... but that was on top of being in the office 40+ hours a week. My current position allows me to work remotely occasionally. They have essentially told us that we are to be teleworkers by design, but we are not do it unless we have a good reason, and it will only be temporary. In practice, however, it can be done prudently with no issues... even though we have one tech that is 100% remote outside of some minimal travel. I do a few days a month remote. I would love to move to a 100% remote position when my wife starts working, that way I can move to somewhere more desirable and take month-long working vacations where we go to a nice location, I work during the day, and then we have evenings and weekends to do as we wish.

Vontech615

I work about 80-90% remotely with the occasional travel to our company's properties. I work for a property management company and our properties all have community computer centers so almost everything can be done remotely (e.g. Windows, small network support). When I travel its because I'm installing new equipment or replacing equipment. I enjoy remote work but can be a headache if the user looses internet or has network related issues.

techdudehere

I was recently working for a large insurer and believe me working remotely may not be a choice in the near future. Office space is expensive. When you can have thousands of people working at home, you can save a lot of money on everything from daycare to parking space. Once it gets really big like this though, metrics go in place. Right now working from home in IT is generally not a bad thing. Once the metrics are in place, you will wish you could simply go back to an office environment. It will also depend on what kind of work is being performed, the above would mostly apply to lower level IT work "ticket closing" type stuff. The non-IT employees going through this now rarely get by with an eight hour day (which is what their pay is based on). When their PC breaks and is being fixed, they are required to be clocked out and make that time up. If in the office, they would not be clocked out. There are some perks but overall big companies are looking to use this to their advantage, not to benefit their employees. It also provides an easy justification for letting people go, it's hard to argue that you are doing your job well if the job is being measured and people compared based on numbers.

Aldur

My current job as a Juniper courseware developer is 100% work from home, and I love it.

I have my projects that I am developing, a certain time frame to get them done, and so I can work as much, or as little, as I need to in a day. I have no official start time, so I get to sleep in every morning, and the overall atmosphere is pretty relaxed.

I've been doing this job for about 1 1/2 yrs and I can honestly say that I don't want to ever have a job that requires me to go into the office everyday.