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Programmers are most likely to work from home

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Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#281

Post by douche »

always_good wrote: post #223
CydeWeys wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sound like a horrible person to work with. Software development is a collaborative process. I would never want to work with someone who treats all of their peers as competition and refuses to help them achieve the team's mutual goals, and were I your manager, I'd likely fire you.

To be fair, with their mindset, they are probably right to view everyone else as competition. They clearly feel the clock ticking down to their termination, and management is probably trying to replace them as we speak. A developer with no leadership or social skills is very replaceable. Unlike software development, those are the skills you can't develop alone in the bedroom.

People who can actually get work done and do the hard things are hard to come by, unfortunately. You can be quite an asshole if you deliver and there's no one else around competent enough to take over.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#282

Post by Taniwha »

timmaah wrote: post #208
pionar wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think working from home is superior (for tech/programming work). I disagree with you, specifically one point. >The office does offer some perks, but they are not related to work itself, they are all about socializing / banter / feeling of being part of a team. That "banter" or "socializing" is work related. I've found that working from home (been doing it 2 years now) has one very big disadvantage - unless the wh…

I'm the only one at our small company that works remotely. I miss so much of what is going on decision wise. Any talk of new clients, potential new business, larger future projects are all communicated to me once they are mostly already hashed out. This keeps me from playing a bigger part in the company and thus the work they throw my way is more on the grunt/boring side. I love working remotely though and I'm not wo…

I've mostly worked at home since my son was born (he's 26 now). I used to go in one day a week, I worked for startups for years and would start full time, drop off to 4->3->2 days a week. These days I never go in (I live 10,000km away at the moment, it's no longer a 1 hour drive in the Valley).

I think there's a few things you have to realise about working at home: - you get to avoid almost all office politics - you will eventually lose at office politics

Essentially you need to have a manager who will step up and root for you, and you guys need to talk so he/she knows where your head is at

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#283

Post by jon-wood »

timmaah wrote: post #208
pionar wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think working from home is superior (for tech/programming work). I disagree with you, specifically one point. >The office does offer some perks, but they are not related to work itself, they are all about socializing / banter / feeling of being part of a team. That "banter" or "socializing" is work related. I've found that working from home (been doing it 2 years now) has one very big disadvantage - unless the wh…

I'm the only one at our small company that works remotely. I miss so much of what is going on decision wise. Any talk of new clients, potential new business, larger future projects are all communicated to me once they are mostly already hashed out. This keeps me from playing a bigger part in the company and thus the work they throw my way is more on the grunt/boring side. I love working remotely though and I'm not wo…

That's a very real pain when only one or two people are remote. I spent the last five years in that environment and definitely missed out on a lot of relevant discussions.

I'm now leading a team which is about 50% remote, with the remaining people working from home a few days a week, and it makes a huge difference. Discussions naturally occur on Slack, often spinning out into a few people jumping into a Hangouts call. For people in the office we've got the meeting room set up for video conferencing which makes it practical to have mixed local/remote meetings without the half hour of trying to get things set up.

Overall I'm a big fan, and hopeful that we can make people working remote even smoother as time goes on.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#284

Post by bshimmin »

apathy wrote: post #158
grardb wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Healthy for who? The way you're using it, healthy is a weasel word. "Healthy" is not a weasel word, but one half of a common term that people use[0]. >If someone is paid to literally write code, it's perfectly healthy for them to want to only write code and not provide free labor in a different domain. It doesn't sound like humbleMouse is getting paid to literally write code. It sounds like they're getting paid to w…

> It doesn't sound like humbleMouse is getting paid to literally write code. It sounds like they're getting paid to write code and mentor junior developers. As a contractor? I have to say I find this doubtful. Without seeing the contract, neither of us can say for sure, but I'd be surprised if it specified mentoring.

I've been a contractor and led teams and mentored juniors on a number of occasions - I don't think it's very unusual at all. I don't know if it would be literally specified in a written contract in those terms, but it's very much what happens in reality.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#285

Post by matwood »

eddieh wrote: post #12

I like working from my office. I don't understand people that like working from home. Possible confounding variable: I live exactly two blocks from my office and don't have to commute. Perhaps, in actuality, people don't like to commute?

For me it's 100% the commute. I like my office, and have zero problems with open plans or noise (my office is quiet, but I don't mind noise). What I despise is driving. My commute is not very long (My office is in the city, and unfortunately living within walking distance is not really an option. Plus, if I ever change job the odds of being nearby the new job are not that high anyway.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#286

Post by jon-wood »

Arizhel wrote: post #190
return0 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think working from home is superior (for tech/programming work). In terms of work, it's the best way to not only avoid distractions, but also lay out your time in a way that is conducive to completing a project in the way you intended, and to let your ideas be fully implemented. This means projects finish sooner, much sooner than in a 9-5 environment. I believe that, when you know that you cannot escape the office…

Not everyone is good at having the discipline to get work done at home and to separate home and work while they're at home. Also, people with young children are naturally going to have a big problem. Lots of people who try it complain that their spouses and kids won't leave them alone at home, thinking that popping in isn't a big deal even though it interrupts their focus. And not everyone can afford a home that give…

Having kids doesn't have to be a big problem. The important thing is to have a space which is work, and make sure everyone knows that when you're in that space its like you're at the office.

I've got a three year old who is used to me working from home and doesn't cause any problems at all.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#287

Post by tnecniv »

aidenn0 wrote: post #141
skizm wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will name some the reasons I like to work from home and none involve a commute: - I'm in an open office situation. - Standing desk is awkward when everyone else is sitting. - If I make a loud noise eating or sneezing or something like 5 people stare at me trying to figure out what is going on. - I can't have twitch or a baseball game on in the background because nosey co-workers will walk by, see my screen, and com…

Yeah, all but one of your complaints would be solved by a door[1]. Are there actually programmers who prefer the open-office setting? It's not like I magically stop socializing if you put me in an office. The only thing worse than open-office for me is a setting where my back is to a space that people are walking through. I can't even have my back to an open doorway in an office (assuming the hallway outside is somew…

> Are there actually programmers who prefer the open-office setting? It's not like I magically stop socializing if you put me in an office.

Me. I like having the background activity and don't find it distracting. I've only done it in small group / company settings though.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#288

Post by dep_b »

beat wrote: post #280
dep_b wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me tell you from my experience as somebody that didn't see the inside of an office for so long I forgot what bad coffee tastes like that the "headphones means go away" rule is not respected by significant others at home. Actually just playing the music loud over speakers works much better. But YMMV depending on your music taste, mine is perceived as too intrusive by most.

I don't like wearing headphones for too long. But a nice hi-fi setup with vinyl while I'm working... that I love. And can't do it in the office.

Yeah that's absolutely the best. Some nice warm sounding big speakers on a low volume. Flipping the album once in a while. But alas, everything is still stuck in a crate in another country.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#289

Post by matwood »

BeetleB wrote: post #82

I work in a big company. It's easy to see all the useful things I would have missed out on if I worked remotely. Examples: - Networking: Serendipity plays a bigger role than anything else. And you get a lot less of it the fewer people you interact with. Simply bumping into people at the cafe is quite valuable. - Career coaching: Lots of classes, talks, invited speakers, etc. Some can be done remotely, but roughly hal…

> I work in a big company.

How big? Back when I worked in a big company, most of the people I dealt with were not in my office. Heck, many were not even in the same country. This was also before good, ubiquitous video chat, so most communication was over email or phone.

Re: Programmers are most likely to work from home

#290

Post by douche »

samfisher83 wrote: post #240

You spend 8 hours a day working. Why would you want to be isolated from other people? As a kid you go to school you are around people. Working from home seems like you are kind of isolated from people. Its not the same as over skype or slack.

Well, the obvious reason would be if you don't really like having to interact with people. It's exhausting for some of us.

The greatest work week of my life, everybody else in the company was in Florida for a trade show. There was also a series of blizzards that dumped about four feet of snow over the course of the week - and virtually the entire northeast was shut down. I have never in my life gotten so much done in a week, and I don't think I spoke two words to another human being that week. It was glorious. Wish it was always like that.

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