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Working from Home: Why It Sucks

geeksinboston.com

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Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#71

Post by enra »

I usually work every Sunday on a sideproject with a team that lives in another city. Rest of the team(3people) gather together at same space and I just join them with Skype video.

I found using videochat very useful, since you can discuss about things and overhead other people discussing, get feedback in live, feel that you're working(since somebody might be watching you). You also need to take shower, dress up a little that you look somewhat sharp. It feels almost like going to work, except you don't need to commute.

(I have worked from home quite a lot as a freelancer and also had a job with regular telecommute, but never felt like I was actually "working".)

Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#72

Post by samlittlewood »

gravitycop wrote: post #20
ggruschow wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How different is it than people just using iMacs with iChat video?

A major factor in telepresence immersion is eye-contact. http://www.google.com/search?q=telepresence+eye+contact Perhaps someday a YC company will figure out how to inexpensively enable eye-contact over ordinary video chat (teleconferencing).

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/hack_lets_you_look_...

Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#73

Post by glow »

Depends what I'm working on. Often I enter the flow and become engrossed in what I'm doing and at that point, the surroundings become totally unimportant.

Then, of course, there's the other times when I play a flash-game 2 hours straight..

Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#75

Post by michaelneale »

bdfh42 wrote: post #3

Not my experience - I love working from home. Going to work is just a matter of crossing the yard to get to my office. Almost no meetings, no office politics - bliss. My only real complaint is that no-one ever reads past the first paragraph of any email. Sometimes emails have to be longer than that, so every now and again, I have to hop on a plane and go and explain to someone what all those second paragraphs said.

Same here - although I have paved path and some stairs as well as the yard. Its nice - don't miss any commute. And I go in to an office in the city about once a week - I find it hard to actually work in an office though - I am naturally to chatty and social.

Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#76

Post by michaelneale »

jawngee wrote: post #2

The other problem with working at home is that you are always at work. It's easy to keep it separated at first, but after a year, it becomes an indistinct blur. I don't know how many times I had people over, only to be thinking in the back of my mind that I should be working.

In some ways you have to accept the boundary is blurred, and try to enjoy that.

I have a separate physical office on the property, and at night I take a laptop into the house, but never work long enough that the battery runs out.

Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#77

Post by kragen »

shimon wrote: post #57
bdfh42 wrote: post #3

Not my experience - I love working from home. Going to work is just a matter of crossing the yard to get to my office. Almost no meetings, no office politics - bliss. My only real complaint is that no-one ever reads past the first paragraph of any email. Sometimes emails have to be longer than that, so every now and again, I have to hop on a plane and go and explain to someone what all those second paragraphs said.

Ironically, it seems you've not read past the headline of the article. I continue to work from home because I think that, for me, it's a net win. This article is intended to point out its downsides, not to suggest it's a bad idea overall for everyone. I'm looking forward to writing about the positive aspects of working from home in a few days.

I read the whole thing and I thought you were about to quit doing it too.

Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#78

Post by kragen »

Chocobean wrote: post #50
chez17 wrote: post #31

I hate articles like this. All the statements in the last couple paragraphs that start with "You start to fell..." or "You don't get..." should have the "You" replaced with an "I". I totally understand that someone why someone who works from home gets lonely, but that doesn't mean everybody who does gets lonely. It takes the right kind of person. This is my qualm with articles like this. People present their opinion…

agreed. I wonder why some people write that way. It's very difficult to write in second person successfully, because as soon as one presents information that is inconsistent with how the actual reader feels, the rest of the argument is nullified. Yes, it sounded silly when the writer tried to speak for me, in particular, when he knows nothing about me.

The pronoun "one" has mostly fallen out of use ("One starts to feel...") and the usual substitute in modern English is "you". It doesn't literally mean that the writer is talking about the reader.

Re: Working from Home: Why It Sucks

#80

Post by tdavis »

If you work from home and feel lonely, which is apparently this guy's entire argument against working from home, get a hobby.

I go to the gym every day right after I wake up. It's a great way to start the day and there are other human beings there, although I don't actually talk to them as I am not there to socialize.

I have a hard time rolling out of bed and working all day after a while, so it's helpful to have a way to "work into" the day.

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