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> At my most recent job, I did all of my best work at home. I would actively try to avoid the office for as long as possible. At home, I had two desks and compl

by js2 9y ago

> At my most recent job, I did all of my best work at home. I would actively try to avoid the office for as long as possible. At home, I had two desks and complete control over my environment. Distractions and breaks were choices. Indeed. I've worked from home since around 2007. It started when the Sunnyvale-based startup I worked for acquired a company in NC. I had wanted to relocate back to the east coast and they generously paid for the move. I purchased a home a few miles from our NC office, to which I commuted daily. But most of the folks I was actually working on projects with were still in CA, so I was effectively working remotely from our NC office. My NC coworkers were primarily an impediment to my productivity. Sociable though I am, when I'm at work, I want to be working, not engaging in non-work related chit chat. So I experimented with working from home one day a week. One day became two, then three. My NC co-workers didn't seem to care and my CA co-workers didn't know the difference. So I started working from home full time. That company was eventually acquired by HP who shut down the NC location within 2 years and forced everyone to either re-locate or lose their job (no remote workers). I jumped ship to another startup in CA for which I worked remotely till they were acquired by another CA company who at the time had a CEO who'd made news for banning remote work. Turns out that wasn't 100% true. So here I am a decade later still working remotely.

pmoriarty 9y ago
"So here I am a decade later still working remotely." Do you feel there's any discrepancy in how far you've progressed in your company in those ten years compared to your colleagues who work in the office? At some companies you're likely to be passed over for promotions if you work remotely.
- js2 9y ago
  At both the startup and my current employer my salary has increased and I've been promoted. I'm happy where I am professionally and my income supports my family. So I think I'm doing okay. I've been good about finding high impact projects that I can either handle mostly on my own or with a small team. I've also been fortunate to work for good companies, and had mostly good managers and coworkers. There are definitely some frustrations and downsides to working from home, but overall for me I prefer it and I believe I've contributed more value to the companies I've worked for than if I had been in the office every day. I just spent a week out in CA for my current employer, who has recently converted to a full open office plan and the environment seemed very chaotic to me. I certainly didn't get as much done than when I am at home (part of this is because I wasn't using my usual work-station). When I last worked full time in an office, we had half-height cubicles with 4 employees to a "pod" which worked okay for me at the time. But I was doing sysadmin/devops work then so I was used to constant interruptions. As a programmer now, I can't imagine getting anything done outside a quiet office. I can't even read a book anymore if I hear voices in the background. I wonder if the ability to do so has atrophied?
  - joaomacp 9y ago
    You can definitely get better at it. I've been working for the last year at an open office (before that I was in college), and it took me 2 or 3 months to be able to 'turn off' the conversations around me for long periods of time. Before that I would get distracted by nearby conversations and lose my focus. And as a side effect, my ability to read books on the subway without losing focus also improved gradually.
  - hackerfromthefu 9y ago
    Yes your ability to do so has probably atrophied. I've personally experience increased noise sensitivity after working remotely for years, but the good news is after an adjustment period of a few months working in an open office, the noise became tolerable again.
phil21 9y ago
I've worked remotely effectively my entire career - save perhaps 18 months of it. That isn't to say I haven't had an office or a desk at a cube though. I've done full time remote, full time office, and a mix of both. I am absolutely happiest when I have an office I can go to, as long as I don't have to. The more convenient the better. Working from home is great and I can do it, and for some of the work I do I absolutely must do it alone. However I also have more "social" work to do, and that I've found I tend to do better around other people - even if those people are not who I'm interacting with via phone/e-mail/whatever. Now I prefer an open office for the time I'm in the office as much of that work is specifically social and team building in nature and I want to be as available for interruptions as possible. I work with a small team that all works remotely, and we typically schedule a time to all be in the office together once every other week or so. I tend to split my time 50/50 or so office/remote depending on the project at hand and general busyness in life. As in all things in life, I've found balance is pretty key. If I spend 4 weeks working 100% remote I tend to go a little batty. Same if I'm stuck in the office 9-5 that same amount of time.

by js2 9y ago

pmoriarty 9y ago

"So here I am a decade later still working remotely." Do you feel there's any discrepancy in how far you've progressed in your company in those ten years compared to your colleagues who work in the office? At some companies you're likely to be passed over for promotions if you work remotely.

js2 9y ago
At both the startup and my current employer my salary has increased and I've been promoted. I'm happy where I am professionally and my income supports my family. So I think I'm doing okay. I've been good about finding high impact projects that I can either handle mostly on my own or with a small team. I've also been fortunate to work for good companies, and had mostly good managers and coworkers. There are definitely some frustrations and downsides to working from home, but overall for me I prefer it and I believe I've contributed more value to the companies I've worked for than if I had been in the office every day. I just spent a week out in CA for my current employer, who has recently converted to a full open office plan and the environment seemed very chaotic to me. I certainly didn't get as much done than when I am at home (part of this is because I wasn't using my usual work-station). When I last worked full time in an office, we had half-height cubicles with 4 employees to a "pod" which worked okay for me at the time. But I was doing sysadmin/devops work then so I was used to constant interruptions. As a programmer now, I can't imagine getting anything done outside a quiet office. I can't even read a book anymore if I hear voices in the background. I wonder if the ability to do so has atrophied?
- joaomacp 9y ago
  You can definitely get better at it. I've been working for the last year at an open office (before that I was in college), and it took me 2 or 3 months to be able to 'turn off' the conversations around me for long periods of time. Before that I would get distracted by nearby conversations and lose my focus. And as a side effect, my ability to read books on the subway without losing focus also improved gradually.
- hackerfromthefu 9y ago
  Yes your ability to do so has probably atrophied. I've personally experience increased noise sensitivity after working remotely for years, but the good news is after an adjustment period of a few months working in an open office, the noise became tolerable again.

phil21 9y ago

I've worked remotely effectively my entire career - save perhaps 18 months of it. That isn't to say I haven't had an office or a desk at a cube though. I've done full time remote, full time office, and a mix of both. I am absolutely happiest when I have an office I can go to, as long as I don't have to. The more convenient the better. Working from home is great and I can do it, and for some of the work I do I absolutely must do it alone. However I also have more "social" work to do, and that I've found I tend to do better around other people - even if those people are not who I'm interacting with via phone/e-mail/whatever. Now I prefer an open office for the time I'm in the office as much of that work is specifically social and team building in nature and I want to be as available for interruptions as possible. I work with a small team that all works remotely, and we typically schedule a time to all be in the office together once every other week or so. I tend to split my time 50/50 or so office/remote depending on the project at hand and general busyness in life. As in all things in life, I've found balance is pretty key. If I spend 4 weeks working 100% remote I tend to go a little batty. Same if I'm stuck in the office 9-5 that same amount of time.