I have been a full-time remote software engineer for a large (> 15,000 employees) company since 2001, before they even had a formal telcommuting policy. I have

I have been a full-time remote software engineer for a large (> 15,000 employees) company since 2001, before they even had a formal telcommuting policy. I have seen a lot of things change over the years, much of it in favor of the remote employee. That said, there are still limitations that come from working from home. The distractions issue mentioned at the beginning of the article falls on the employee: you simply cannot do two things at once. When I first started out I would take a shower, get dressed, etc., then move into a room that I have dedicated to work. That physical "commute" served as a mental delineation between the home and the office, and served me well. Over the years I've been able to change gears more easily, but that break between home and work is still essential. The larger issue that I feel affects my career is the lack of "water cooler" connectedness that comes from being out of the office. I lose track of company/team strategies, decisions, projects, code names, and the like - all things that are usually handled by walking down the hallway. Mitigating these issues requires a change to the way the company operates. It needs to have managers that are aware of and accommodating remote employees in ways that would be automatic for an office of employees. When I travel to HQ for work, one of my primary jobs is reminding folks that there's a person attached to the voice on the other side of so many phone calls. After more than 15 years outside of the office, has my decision to work remotely impacted my career? Almost certainly. Have there been days when I've wondered if it was the right way to go? Sure. At the end of those musings, though, there are benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. I get to have lunch with my family daily, I have the shortest commute in Los Angeles, and I get to set my own hours (within reason.) Professionally, too, there a benefits. I can crawl into my programmer-cave more easily than someone who is part of an office environment. In some ways I am easier to contact than my colleagues, because I never leave my chair. To address another comment made elsewhere, I have been contacted by other companies, and been given offers that are very competitive to my current compensation. However, the ability to work remotely full-time has usually been the reason I turn them down. Maybe in another stage of life the answer may change, but for this season, I don't think I'd have it any other way.