I worked from home for two years and will soon be doing so again. I think sometimes the key to working home is occasional gross inefficiency. It's almost replenishing depleted mental reserves. If I started feeling causeless frustration, I'd take a day off and vegetate: watch bad tv, lay in the park without doing anything, go out with friends, go to a bar, etc. The next day I was usually reinspired...although sometimes it felt like I was inspired again because I felt like I spent a day wasting time.
How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
11–20 of 33 posts
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#12For me, the hardest part about working from home (been doing it since late 2006) is dealing with unproductive days. Some days, try as I might, I just can't seem to get anything done. I end up feeling guilty about this, far worse than I ever felt about wasted days while in an office. The fact that productive days will (hopefully!) outweigh the bad ones should be consolation—but in practice it's not much of one.
I don't think you should feel guilty. This is the nature of our work. There are days where you "feel" it and days where you don't. There are days when there is a lot to do and there are days when you're in a holding pattern to see what's happening with something. At least here in Pennsylvania, the state labor board actually recognizes this fact and has classified software development professionals as "salaried, exempt" status, meaning there is an expectation of huge variation in hours worked, sometimes plus, sometimes minus. Unfortunately, most employers just use it as an excuse to force employees to work constant plus with no overtime pay.
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#13It would be difficult, I think, to WFH if you lived alone. Except for doing charity work, my wife is usually at home, but does not interrupt me while I am working. Having friendly neighbors and friends who live near by is good also.
I used to work exclusively in my home office, but transitioned to also working in other rooms, and sometimes on our deck. I think that I take a productivity hit doing this, but it is fun to mix it up re: working environment.
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#14For me, the hardest part about working from home (been doing it since late 2006) is dealing with unproductive days. Some days, try as I might, I just can't seem to get anything done. I end up feeling guilty about this, far worse than I ever felt about wasted days while in an office. The fact that productive days will (hopefully!) outweigh the bad ones should be consolation—but in practice it's not much of one.
Unproductive days are the hardest thing for me to deal with as well. One thing I have done that helps me is to leave and go to a coffee shop the instant I start feeling unproductive. The 10 to 15 minute drive there usually helps me get back into the right mindset. The coffee aroma and an environment where others are working or appear to be doing something productive is also helpful.
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#15I've worked from home for four years now and can't imagine consistently getting anything done at an office.
And that is even with three young children in the house because they know that when I'm at work, I'm not available and concentrating. Our development team's communications revolve around high bandwidth when necessary, but otherwise leaving each other delicately alone. But that would be different at the office: there would be many lunches and things of that nature as well as coworkers we are not directly working together with who have (admittedly very interesting) things to distract us with.
Sometimes I do need to break out my "cone of silence" which is a mix of earplugs AND whitenoise on headphones.
At one point I rented a spare office in a coffeeshop a block from my house... that went OK, it definitely helped with the "separate work environment" psychology that I think is necessary. The biggest problem with that was being in a coffeeshop: temptation to spend money on espresso constantly. After about 6 months of that, I decided to come back home. YMMV.
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work at work 2days a week and from home 3 days, I too like this balance. It's great for focus when programming, and enough time for meetings. Takes a bit of discipline though. Working from home is great for having time to pick up the children from daycare without having to leave early too.
I think you've got the ideal setup there. 5 days a week in the office leads to too many distractions / meetings; but 5 days a week WFH leads to loneliness. I'm currently stuck only allowed to WFH when absolutely necessary. I'd love to sell this to my employer - was this a change that got implemented or was it that way from the start?
From the start because I could not afford to commute, but I am also a cofounder so I have a lot to say on the issue. I think that for just plain "time to crank out massive amounts of code" nothing beats working from home. I've coded most of the non-routine new stuff like new improved libraries and frameworks this way. For coding maintenance stuff: I think I can do that better at the office.
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#17Link died for me, HN crash the server?
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#18I worked from home for a couple of years and just recently gave it up to work in a co-working space.
It took me almost two years to realize it, but the isolation of working at home nearly drove me crazy. Depending on my roommate's or girlfriend's schedule, two or three days could pass without seeing another person. For me, that just wasn't healthy. I found myself going out for lunch just to be around people. Not a terrible solution, but the cost and calories add up quickly.
So far working a few days a week at a co-working space plus getting a gym membership has made a huge improvement in my general health and happiness. I'm back to commuting on public transportation, which I now actually enjoy. Leaving my house and getting on the train forces a context switch from home life to work life, making me more productive. My work days are also shorter since I find I'm more focused.
Co-working also doesn't suffer from the problem of coworkers interrupting me to ask questions. Sure, a guy at the next desk might talk too loud on the phone but no one is going to tap me on the shoulder to ask for help figuring out why the request params aren't making it to the controller on their ajax call.
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#19The only way I'm able to do this is because I live right in the middle of Manhattan, so I'm always able to go outside and see other people (even if it is just talking to the doorman), intersperse the day with meetings, occasionally rotate among nearby coffee shops, and plan nighttime activities. I can see how working at home might drive you crazy if you're in a less densely populated location with fewer people around.
Re: How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy
#20Link died for me, HN crash the server?
Get the Google cache