Working from home (telecommute)?

I've been considering some different options that I have as far as my career goes and I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who has worked from home as their primary (only) location or is currently doing so.

Part of me thinks it'd be great because I've considered moving away from where I currently live but would like to move back in a few years. A job that I could telecommute would allow me that flexibility without taking on the risk trying to find another job when I would move back to where I'm at right now.

I've seen a few network engineer positions out there that are telecommute jobs but does anyone have personal experience with this? Is it depressing working at home not seeing your coworkers face-to-face?! That's my main question, hahaha.

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Comments

MickQ

I know of a German CCIE who works only from home. Basically he's available in an on-demand capacity to different IT and voice companies.

It can be handy when you have it, but the self motivation you need to work in your home environment can be tough. That's why so many have a separate room in the house as their office.

The main problem with not seeing your co-workers face to face is that your boss (and on up the chain) doesn't (don't) get to see you and think of you (subconciously) as much as in person.

Essendon

I reckon working from home 3-4 days a week would be a great idea. I have worked from home every now and again, you can get a lot more done when there's no one to pester you or people yapping a few desks away. If you are supposed to start work at 9am, you can wake up say 8.30, do all your morning ablutions, make yourself a nice cuppa and still have a few spare minutes to check TE before you start. Or if you have kids, you can save on child care costs(something that costs a fortune in Australia). Working from home is great.

Everyone works from home, I mean not Everyone, but a TE member who goes by the name Everyone. He loves it too. If he reads this thread, he'll have more input.

martaw

Ditto on the you have to be super motivated part. It could be easy to just do "one errand" and before you know it you have been gone a few hours. You just have to know your personality. Convenience is great but you definitely don't want anything that can damage your career.

I work from home. At my last company, I only worked from home one day a week and even then it was only after a few years my team got that privilege. I relished that day each week. I was able to focus more at home but I still had tons of contacts with my fellow employees. At my new company, I went straight to only telecommute. BIG difference... I now work for a much larger company and I mostly know NOBODY except my boss. Ok and maybe a couple other people I have no regular contact with. A new team is being formed so I am the first person on this new team other than my manager. This company has a telework culture. My last job did not though some people did telework and people who did not regularly telework looked down in some ways on those who did. I don't think that would be as much of the case with this company since it is so widespread.

I am a very social person and I am used to being able to chit chat during lulls. Now there is no chit chat... Just work. You have to be fine with being isolated except phone calls and emails... work related only typically. Work life balance is great though. Can get an extra load of clothes washed, take naps for lunch breaks, easier to make a personal phone call, etc. Again it is all about your personality and work style.

TechChica2012

I worked from home for 5 years and I absolutely loved it up until the last year when I began to feel like I had cabin fever. I got tired of work/living area being the same. However, now I wish I worked from home all over again.

bacardi_dwb

Working from home sounds like it would be a very laid back atmosphere. martaw, are you required to be available during certain hours of the day, or can you choose your own hours?

Devilry

I think working from home is great. In my current position, I work from home as I feel like it which consist of about 3 days a week on average. I actually happen into the circumstance by accident when I was on a medical leave but still working from home, they quickly realized I was way more productive so they said it could continue. Ironically, that productivity level has recently been noticed so much they are now trying to promote me to management; sadly that means I would no longer by working at home.

If you are a hard worker, its great. If you are not 100% focused, it will most likely be a very bad situation for you.

QHalo

I enjoy working from home because I have an IPSEC VPN back to work and its really easy to just jump in and start whenever I want. But there are things you miss not being at work. Interaction with co-workers and your boss is crucial. You'll miss those hallway conversations where people discuss things, sometimes important stuff, and that is a very bad downside. I don't know about other organizations but everywhere I've been those types of ad hoc/less formal conversations about problems or projects are something that happens several times a day. I also find it more difficult to talk with people. I enjoy face to face communication. That way I can ensure I have someone's complete attention. It also helps make sure that I can get a hold of them. Nothing's more frustrating than someone working from home that you can't reach by phone.

the_Grinch

I worked from home for a month while our office was being finished (help desk) and didn't enjoy it. There were definitely perks, could get up five minutes before work and be at my table. Sat in my pj's all day and didn't have to worry about it. But I am easily distracted, so that was a big time factor in it. Perhaps if I had a dedicated space that I never went into other then to work it would have been a bit better. It just felt like I didn't have that separation that I like. It seemed like I never really left work and of course my phone would still ring past my appointed time, which I didn't like.

SteveLord

I am slowly inching into this territory. I was actually going to ask if I could work from home tomorrow. Being a 3 day work week, so far I could have worked from home yesterday and today without missing anything. As of now all I have been doing is testing products, researching and emailing. Of course, like most I can remote in and take care of users if needed.

If I could work from home 2 days a week, that would save me $600/month in daycare.

undomiel

The job I'm currently at I've been at for over 3 years now. It started out working 30-40% remotely with the rest on site and gradually transitioned to more and more work being done remotely. I never had to work out of the office, I would only go in for some hands on work for prepping storage and clusters or a few meetings. At the beginning of this year I transitioned to about 95% remote and in June I moved from Phoenix, AZ to Bellevue, WA and have been working 100% remotely ever since. I've found it to be fantastic working remotely. It makes it a lot easier for me to budget my time. I don't have to worry about the commute into work. I'm more productive since I can work with a laser focus and not be interrupted by coworkers coming into the office to chat. From the few times I was in at the office I know that would have been a big problem as there are lots of chatty coworkers.

The downside is that there is no real separation between work and home. That means that I can very easily end up working all day and all night without a break since I can step from the kitchen to the computer and back easily. It is also much more difficult for my manager and coworkers to see how busy I am so my schedule doesn't get very much respect. I receive a lot of calls about projects to assist with, tickets to escalate, or just plain old advice on how to do something. So I get painted as the bad guy since I have to kick back a number of these due to already having a slew of projects that I'm working on. It also frustrates my wife a bit as she is a stay at home wife and my having to put work first during working hours is a bit difficult on her at times.

Overall I would say that working from home has more benefits than downside for me though. After all it is really easy to take a break to grab a bagel, or play video games for a few minutes to cool off before jumping back in to a project. It definitely makes it difficult for me to consider moving to another job since I consider 100% working from home to be one of the biggest perks of this job.

Teacher2013

It really depends on your personality. I've been working from home for 3 years and I still love it. I do miss having co-workers but don't miss the office meetings and day-to-day office interruptions. I can just focus on my work. So after a while you may want to get back to the office but it's a great experience to work from home

discount81

My current work place is pretty old fashioned, they don't like people working from home even though we have a VPN for this exact reason.

Me personally I am not very sociable with workmates (in this role at least) I socialize more at the gym and If I could work from home I'd be able to go to the gym more often which I'd like.
I definitely get much more done at home, I really dislike people just walking in my office to talk rubbish.
If someone needs me when I am at home they will email / call.

Also I HATE with dealing with rush hour, where I am living now is 2 hours a day wasted in travel.

morrowms

I love working from home. Having a disabled child pretty much set that into stone a few years ago. I have been able to be more productive in the projects that I am put on plus doing the day to day grind being available 11 hrs a day. Chat, phone, and video chat make it easy to keep in touch.

Mrock4

I work from home 100% when not traveling. It's pretty nice. On some days I get more done at home than I would at an office, for sure. One important note is to create boundaries- realize that once your normal work day ends, work is over. I've had to stop myself a few times from hopping on the laptop and working on stuff in the evening.

But all in all, I save a boatload on gasoline, and wear and tear on my vehicle. Plus, I have lunch with my family pretty much everyday (when not on the road).

Iristheangel

I think telecommuting can work well for some people but in my case... not so much. I have to admit that when I have such pleasant distractions such as Spartacus, Dexter, or the Walking Dead, work does not get done

MickQ

Ditto, and I prefer the social interactions. Then again, it helps when you're working with nice people

f0rgiv3n

Sheesh it sounds like we have both sides of the spectrum here hahaha. What I'm gathering is it all comes down to is personal preference and personality. The one thing for me that I think I realized is that I do need to be consistently interacting with my boss in order for me to be content with my job. Otherwise, I don't know if I'm meeting my employer's expectations.

I guess it seems that it all comes down to each individual. It sucks because how do you know if you would like 100% telecommuting without trying it first!? lol

networker050184

Find a job with the flexibility of working from home at times. Work from home options seem to be becoming more popular.

I work from home when I want to, but I find I get more stuff done in the office and enjoy the interacting and brainstorming with coworkers. I work from home when I don't have much going on and can afford to be distracted.

f0rgiv3n

Hmm yes, good point. I'll keep my options open and see how things go. thanks for all the responses!!

nosoup4u

I can telecommute from home once a week.

I agree with networker though, most times it's when I need to sit down and fill out reports or look at our metric tracking or maybe do an expense report or two.

Mrock4

I find it strange that most equate working from home with not interacting with co-workers- I speak to my co-workers quite often throughout the day. Then again, I also travel extensively, so I get a lot of face to face time there also. That being said, in my experience, many folks waste time in the office BS'ing and talking about anything but work- and therefore not working. I've been guilty of this before. While it is enjoyable from a personal standpoint, I'm undoubtedly less productive in an office setting.

That being said, I much rather have the company of my family than co-workers, so I really cannot see going back to an office routine anytime soon.

networker050184

The thing I like about being in the office is huddling up around the white board, drawing out and discussing problems. While you can use software for this type of thing and get on a conference call it's just not the same.

While I do enjoy the company of my family, I can't really bounce BGP ideas off the kids.

jmritenour

I work from home usually 2 or 3 days a week. I don't know that I'd want to do it 100% of the time, but it's nice to be able to focus on something without the typical office distractions. Of course at home, there are other distractions, but my wife is pretty good about letting me focus on work when I need to.

Mrock4

networker050184 wrote: »

While I do enjoy the company of my family, I can't really bounce BGP ideas off the kids.

Don't worry, they'll get the hang of BGP in a year or two

martaw

bacardi_dwb wrote: »

Working from home sounds like it would be a very laid back atmosphere. martaw, are you required to be available during certain hours of the day, or can you choose your own hours?

I think the assumption is that I am available during "business hours" however that is interpreted. I actually was never given a schedule. YES! Haha! Seems like emphasis is more on getting the job done. I usually start anytime between 7AM - 8:30AM, mostly before 8AM. Sometimes I break for about a couple hours to workout or go out to lunch then a nap. Most of the time I work through lunch to be done by 4PM with 8hrs+ for the day

stiltner

Its what I been doing for closing in on 12 months now.

I don't notice much difference, well I do, less car costs, less wear and tear on that.
Roughly the same wages, I now have insurance options, benefits, and 401k. I had none
of those at a job I drove to daily.

The differences I have noticed? I have more time with my kids, and its made a profound
difference on the quality of their lives. They can see daddy instead of having to work away
from the home 8-10 hours a day.

All in all, quite possibly one of the best decisions of my life. We're hiring too, if you're dedicated
and self motivated, its a great job

kurosaki00

since I live with gf and she studies
It means I have most of the day by myself
If I had kids it would probably be different

But I do enjoy working from home
I worked as a sysadmin for a company IN HQ for a "long time" but right now I work for the same company as a sysadmin/Contractor and I work from home
We had a lot of stuff that accumulated or we had to do off hours anyways because the day to day was so busy that It wouldnt let us deal with a lot of stuff
now I mainly deal with those stuff while the other sysadmins deal with the more day to day, face to face issues
I still do a lot of skype, emailing, calls with my coworkers in a daily basis.
You need self discipline but thats about it in my opinion
motivation wise, I think is great cuz in the in-between of tickets/work/projects/ or w/e you can grab a book and study for certs or watch an episode or something
but you must be able to drop all when work arrives or when you know you have to work