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Ways to Beat the Telecommuting Blues?
hungryfrog writes "After a few years in a typical office environment, I began working from home full-time as an independent contractor (web programmer) a couple months ago. My former employer is throwing me enough jobs that finding work is not an issue. Many people would consider this a dream work situation, but I'm starting to have my doubts. I like the relative freedom it gives me, but I'm finding myself rather starved for human interaction. Being in the same apartment to sleep, eat, AND work every day definitely leads to cabin fever. Have other people experienced this? What have you done to deal with the situation? Does dividing working/living spaces help (my apartment's small, anyway...)? I know of a few folks who have actually rented office space just to get out of the house. Is the cost worth it?"
Yeah, it sure sucks scraping the ice off your keyboard in the morning so you can get to work. Give me a break.
2b2b2b415448300d
How about leaving home when you aren't working?
You can go places, do things, see people (assuming you know people worth seeing).
I'd rather work at home and enjoy life elsewhere, than work in some office and then come "home" and not want to do anything at all.
That's just me.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
step 1: get laptop.
step 2: leave appartment
step 3: find interesting place
step 4: work
I worked from home for nearly 4 years. It took a while to get used to things, and I found I would go out for walks, the store, etc.. just to interact with people on occasion.
Or, you can do what Dilbert did, and hold staff meetings with your pets. At least his pets talk. Mine don't.
If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
Fire up Emacs and type M-x doctor
And you fancy yourself a geek sheeesh
I felt the same too. I started to try to work on free machines at the company, just to get a chat during coffe breaks.
Being in the same apartment to sleep, eat, AND work every day definitely leads to cabin fever.
:-)
Nothing beats living close to the beach. The five minute walk to it is what it takes me to relax. The rest of the time I spent there are just holidays.
Now if spring would start in nsw.au, I would be completly happy
bash$
get a girlfriend. When I work at home, my girlfriend is there with me and we have a blast. She's in nursing school so I get to spend most of the day with her.
--------
Free your mind.
I am in the exact same situation. I left my consulting job almost 2 years ago and my former employer has thrown work my way and I have picked up a lot on my own. Sometimes I get out, some weeks I don't. When I don't, I make it a point to go somewhere and talk to people. If that means going to the mall and talking to the chicks at stores or going to have a drink at the tavern, it has to be done. Cabin fever from this kinda living will lead to a lot of strange behaviour, so just go do something. Separating the areas does no good. I use my spare bedroom as an office. Just outside the door is where I will be when I am not working - it's not enough. The only solution is to get out. Good luck.
My neighbors get home from work and they are just happy to be home. I, on the other hand, can't wait for the end of my workday so I can leave the house. Find some stuff to do outside the house.
Not really helpful, but before I started working from home, someone told me this:
The best part of working from home is that you're always at home when you're at work. The worst part of working from home is that you're always at work when you're at home.
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be . . . an easy way to factor large prime numbers"
Bill Gates, 1995
You get the picture.
I make it a point to get out of the house. I hang out with my friends, I take walks, I ride my bike, etc. Sometimes it's something little, like getting a cup of coffee and walking over to look at the Hudson just to get half an hour out of the house. I also make it a point to hang out with my friends, and try to meet new people.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
I rented a small office for that exact reason when I started out. Rent was $300/month, but it was nice for the following:
- work was work, and I could leave and go home. It forced me to actually work when I was in the office.
- human interaction is needed for my personality. Moreover, the office was downtown, which was good for human networking.
- the occasional customer would actually want to come and "see the operation". It didn't matter that the office was small, just that it existed.
davejenkins.com |
Is a Laptop, a Wireless point and a coffee bar.
Hell, it doesn't even have to be your own wireless access point! In London there are spots where the frequency and IP ranges are noted on the walls of buildings for use.
An infinite number of monkeys will eventually come up with the complete works of
I've found that IRC makes it worse, not better - it just allows you to have even less real contact with people.
Work regular hours, and take a lunch break - always leave the house and take a full break, even if you're self employed so you don't really have working hours. It helps keep you sane. If you work longer, call it overtime and treat yourself for it.
foo mane padme hum
Try starting a hobby which will force you to leave the house a couple of times a week... maybe start going to the gym or take a class on some subject. Whatever leads you to spend time with a group of people outside of your house.
I myself have a couple of friends who all make sure each and every one ends up in the gym at least once a week. We have a random schedule, made up as the week evolves. Works for both the social aspects as well as the health benefits.
.: Max Romantschuk
It's easy that being at home erases the fine line between home and workplace. It becomes work and no play. Or at best all work and at some point, some fun. In my opionion, it's worth every penny just to get out. May it be in your rented office, at the coffeeshop with a laptop, whatever. Just get out. I would think there are people in the same situation who would gladly rent a bit larger and split it - that helps alot when it comes to the human bit - not being alone all the time.
I turn mad if i'm left alone in an office... so at my former job since technicians were often working out I was always taking my desktop comp with me in an office where there was light and people...
At first my boss found it annoying but after he saw that it was this circus or me chatting at the coffee machine all day long he gave up...
I'm in the same boat as a freelancer who works from home. Working away from the desk would be counterproductive, as I'm addicted to a two-monitor setup.
I started taking a French class about a year ago at a local college, and it's been a great experience. It requires working and studying with other people, and offers me a chance to dress nicely in the morning and go out among the living, instead of going to full frump mode at the crack of noon.
Plus, I get to learn a language, which is nicely removed from technical work and provides a chance to stretch other parts of me noggin.
It'll force you to go outside (with the dog) on a regular basis and get some exercise.
Animals make a great icebreaker for conversation.
~dlb
What I do is grab my Panasonic W2 and head over to Shiodome. It's getting a bit chilly to do so now, but during the warmer months I sit at the outdoor tables in front of Caretta (near the steam fountains) and work via my Air H" PHS. As an added bonus, the view is full of cute young office ladies and shoppers passing by my table, and when a particularly attractive one catches my eye, I beckon them over and ask for their phone number. I've only been refused a few times (out of hundreds of women), because there's just something cool about a good looking gaijin writing wxWindows code on an outdoor table.
;-)
I've gotten about as much fucking as I have gotten work done since I started doing this. I do NOT miss my day job.
If you find yourself starved for human companionship you should find it. Go have lunch with friends of yours that work somewhere near you. Find a starbucks with wireless access and work there from time to time. Go to your local library, but basically you should find a place where there are people around and work there. (BTW, a laptop is key for this).
If you can't find a place where there are people, then go back to the office from time to time. I usually went once a week or so, to schedule meetings and what not. The basic idea is that even though you're working from home you don't HAVE to be at HOME. Go somewhere and meet someone new. At the office you see the same faces over and over. In the real world there are so many people... too many people.... time to crawl back into my hole.
I've worked from home offices both in a small apartment by myself (some years ago), and (right now) in a large house with a family. To be honest, I've never had the 'cabin fever' syndrome - my issues are more to do with dealing with distractions. Having said that, the extra flexibility is great, I save myself around 90 minutes a day driving time, and I get to see my kids more.
For being housebound, I suppose some solutions might be:
I don't know if these sound a bit lame, but maybe they can help. :-)
There's various solutions to this - some people (as you pointed out) rent office space for the sole purpose of getting out of the house; some people have a rule that when they enter their home office nothing short of a fire should disturb them.
Then, there's a third option: buy yourself a Playstation2, order all your groceries via the Web, and pretend the outside world doesn't exist. It might not be healthy, but after the third month, you won't care.
Seriously, I bought myself a unicycle.
I've been working from home for four years, I need both sufficient exercise and sufficient socialization to keep myself balanced. When I'm balanced, I can work well.
I've found that contact juggling, unicycling, and regular old juggling are both exercise and easily lead to socialization.
If that's not your style, make a point of finding new socialization opportunities whenever possible.
Shae Erisson - ScannedInAvian.com
My census tract supposedly has the highest percentage of at-home workers in the country.
Not coincidentally, the numerous Starbucks in the area are all jammed with people using their laptops.
..and I'm finally back in an office. I never realized how much I enjoyed having to go in to the office until I didn't have to for 2 years.
However, working from home is pretty sweet, too. You just have to make a point of enjoying things a normal office worker can't. For example: Get up late/early. Don't bathe unless you or your spouse can't stand your stench. Take 2 hour breaks to go mess around - or run errands while everyone is working(really makes me feel better).
As far as human interaction, I didn't have much problem with that. I just went to the local coffee shop or hung out with my slacker friends when I could. My big issue was the lack of fellow tech folks to learn from/chat with. Maybe online forums can help with this. When I do it again, I will make it a point to go to user group meetings, volunteer someplace, or get involved with some other activity I normally wouldn't be into just for the interaction component.
Otherwise, your setup is sweet.
crap_on_you
I have a job which allows me to telecommute 85% of the time, if not more.
When I lived in an appartment (and was married) I used to go into the office two or three times a week, only stay home if there was a lot of Phone Work, because if I'm going to be on the phone for 8 hours I'd rather be able to walk around, get a drink, play with the cats, etc.
When I moved into a house (almost 2 years ago), I set up an office in the basement. I barely go into the 'real' office now. I think I've only been in 20 times this year, and that was mostly to drop off expense reports (they need originals, yes I could mail them but what the hell).
Also, because of 'reorganizations', my work schedule became way more busy and erratic - quite often I have two hours in the morning and two in after-hours, so I may as well just stay home.
I get my human interaction because I have a dog, and I take her on a nice 2+ hour run every day. We go to the same park every day (scorching heat or sub-freezing). You get to meet quite a few people that way who for the most part have some common interests. I've made some good friends.
So, here's my advice.
If you _can_ seperate worksapce and living space, do it.
Go out for lunch, or for coffee, or something. Take breaks.
You probably have a laptop. You can head down to a coffeeshop or a Barnes and Noble or something and do some work there, in a different environment. Change the scenery.
I like to have music going when I work (at home). Maybe that'll help you too.
Get some outside activities! Go hang out at B&N. Have movie nights with friends. Get a dog (:
Good Luck!
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
I've been working as a freelance web developer for about a year and a half. The first year was spent at home. The first couple months were great, but after a while I started going a bit stir crazy and it wasn't long until I was miserable. I was surprised to learn that I truly do need to be around other people once in a while. My worklife situation soon became intolerable, but I had no way out of it. I would sometimes go over a week without seeing ANYbody other than the food mart attendant across the street. I found myself going days without showering.
Eventually I realized I was slowing going mad, which I decided wasn't going to help my career. So I now share office space with a client. They're in a really cool part of town that's close enough for me to bike to. This lets me get out of the house as much as I want, plus I get some exercise, but I don't have to go to the office if something is better done at home. It's totally great. I feel so much better about work, not to mention myself.
You might get lucky if you have a good client with some extra office space. Whatever happens, try to get out of the house as much as possible. See other people often. Loneliness can really start to suck after a while.
"Molest me not with this pocket calculator stuff."
- Deep Thought
- Should I shower before bedtime or in the morning?
- Type and number of sheets on your bed
- Should I keep spare toilet paper next to the toilet_paper->current() one or live dangeroulsy?
- What do I use for my projects board? Do felt-tip markers have health issues/are graphite pencils safer?
Let's all open new discussion fronts - this could be really interesting.
Since I quit my job (for asst. reasons) and am now [struggling] to survive off my webstuff full-time, I've encountered the same problem. It's even worse for me, because I have unfinished artwork and such sitting around staring at me, and I try to get away from it to find myself still working after two hours of "just five minutes more, until I finish this..."
I've actually picked up the habit of just sitting around in coffee shops for an hour or two, talking with friends, to FORCE myself to relax. As long as I'm here, I find myself compelled to work on something. I've never been much of one for passive entertainment such as television or movies on TV, which makes it very difficult to pull myself away. And my "work" used to be what some people would call a hobby, even though I've never considered it one -- so it's not like I have other busybody outlets.
In my experience, dividing the areas doesn't really help. Just finding interesting things to do outside, preferably with other people that won't let you leave early to work more. Anywhere that fosters good conversation and involves food or drink usually works for me.
My Webcomic: Asylum on 5th Street
Just get in your car and drive 20 miles at 8:00 AM, this will stop the bitch'n.
- Buying a new computer
- Changing my room on a weekly basis
- Working outside (its the same as working inside in some aspects, and when its raining, you are working inside!)
- Working in bed (seems to work reasonably well at 1-4am)
What I found did work is to get more work. I would work 5 days, then work 2 days a week somewhere completely different, in my case the Sydney Opera House. Yes, I get burnt out sometimes, but its working nicely thanks to flexible hours. I simply call up and the next day I am there working. Its great to just get away from it all, although the train trip back home is painful as you anticipate all the customers support issues.
Probably won't work too well in your case though, I just have lots of energy.
A few things I am going to try: :)
- Go to the gym every morning before work
- Remove distractions from my work area (slashdot, aim, msn, etc.) I find they make boredom easier to cope with but obviously, you don't get much work done. - Get my mates to randomly interrupt me on the weekend and go out for drinks
- Get a girlfriend again
I've been working from home for the last 2 years, my previous employer went for the big office, fat internet pipe, etc. and ended up with big bills and broke (and also dead in his case, freakin' guy off'd himself!).
:)
:)
While there are times when yes it is nice to just get away from the home/office you do get used to working at your schedule. Then again usually your schedule ends up with you still working late at night, but if you enjoy your work then why not.
If you know others locally in the same type of work or just working from home then arrange lunch every couple of weeks, I do this with an old co-worker from the last job and it helps having someone to talk to who understands your work.
Being married helps a bit, spouses can help provide some of the needed human interaction, heck some can provide more than enough in one package!
When you do work do it in 3-4 hour "shifts", then take a hour or so to do your own thing. This is especially important if you tend to be on the computer 12 hours a day anyway.
Take some gaming time, either online or offline but it does help unwind if you have some types of games you enjoy. I have a wireless network linked with the neighbour and we race Nascar Racing 2003 on the weekends. Oh yeah, get to know your neighbours if possible, I am lucky as one of mine is a long time friend into computers and stuff.
You can also socialize with business people at Chamber of Commerce events and other functions that might be available in your area.
Really, after working for others for years I am much happier on my own, working from home also helps keep costs to a minimum and your internet connection is a tax write-off!
I kept sane when telecommuting by living in a hamlet (9 houses, a farm and a hunt); we all knew each other and helped each other out. The social centre was the pub in the next village across; no complaint about that from me. I've lived in humungous cities and tiniest villages; I've found more human interaction in the smallest community than any empty hearted city.
if you want "No More Hiroshimas" then I say "You First. No More Pearl Harbors."
Could be /much/ worse. I spent 2 and a half years living where I worked (a boarding school). Plus it was in the middle of nowhere so the only place in reaosnable visiting distance was the pub. We all turned into alcoholics. It was very depressing having the same environment 24/7, the only benefit was friends also living on campus, so it wasn't all lonely.
It's a nice and healthy way to meet new people.
I worked for a small company for a while that had a similar vibe. There were a couple of other people around elsewhere, but I'd be solo a for long periods of time. And I do mean solo...no net connection either. It got to be rather depressing and I eventually left for a bigger operation.
;)
On to your situation...since you probably have flexible scheduling, maybe regularly have lunch with friends/colleagues? Or you could be that person who's always in the coffee shop with a computer
Locally you can rent yourself a nice 10x30 office for around $175-250 a month. Seperating work and home does wonders for keeping one's mind sane. For the same reason you shouldn't associate watching TV with the bedroom if you want to always have sound sleep you shouldn't associate work with home. I'm not saying that there aren't people out there that can't do it, I'm saying a LOT of us can't do it. Plus it has the advantage that if you ARE an independent contractor having an office means you have a place to meet clients/etc if you ever decide to branch out or have to find other work.
Find out about my new childrens book: SS Death Camp Criminal Batallion Go To Monte Carlo For The Massacre
what i've learned telecommuting for as long as i have is that you need the human interaction. no matter what you may do to make it easier, it will never substitute for human interaction.
if you must, then yes, dividing your home and designating a particular space as a work area does help. i setup fold-up screens to divide my room in half for this purpose. it makes you feel like you're at work when you're in this space, and once you step out of it, you can forget about work and live your personal life. without this distinction, you'll feel worn out, constantly feeling as if you're at work.
however, if you spend a lot of time on the computer after hours, and you only have a desktop that you also use for work, it will defeat the purpose of dividing the room because you are no longer designating it was strictly a work place, i.e. you'll be in that space also playing on the computer, and you'll feel like you're always at work. if this is the case, consider getting a laptop so you can move it between spaces.
even with the separation of spaces, staying at home all day WILL wear you out. aside from the human interaction, being stuck in one place for too long will feel like a prison! you wouldn't believe how good i feel when i have to take my car into the shop, the few hours i get out of the house to do that is so incredibly refreshing! so do try to get out during your breaks, perhaps take a walk or have lunch outside.
now going back, human interaction... you need it. you really do. without it, you really are living in a box. if you don't have a companion or friends to hang out with during the week days, consider finding some activities that will give you the interaction you need, e.g. night classes, a local sport team, etc...
I like the relative freedom it gives me, but I'm finding myself rather starved for human interaction.
So working at home gives you certain freedoms... WHAT freedoms? To sit around and watch TV? Surf the web? Stare at a wall? If you sit around home all day you are sure to go nuts. Why bother being at home? I recomend you find a coffee shop or library and work for awhile... or maybe drink coffee or read a book? Get outside and ride a bike or go snowshoeing (whichever weather permits). There are 24 hours in a day... try not to work for more than 8-10 of them, and make the most out of the other 14.
~Z
Have a laptop and wireless, and a cellphone with GPRS as a last resort. Last summer I was able to spend my days working on the beach, in company of my wife and kids. There was no WiFi there, but that's when the GPRS comes in handy. (I recommend a Bluetooth-enabled cellphone so you don't even need to take it out of your pocket and fiddle with a cable). Sure, working on the beach sucks compared to just relaxing on the beach, but working in the office sucks compared to working on the beach (in summer that is).
Sig erased via substitution of an identical one.
Just hire a call girl to come bring some human interaction to you.
I've been in the same position for the last few months. Suggestions to get by:
- make sure you take a lunch break, rather than spending 2 minutes getting food and going straight back to work (this was the biggie for me). Find something on TV to watch; go for a walk; ride a bike; do anything, as long as you're away from where you've been working
- use IM to stay in touch with workmates. In particular, if you've got workmates working on the same projects as you, use IM to talk to them as you would in real life; use it multiple times per day, if that's what you'd normally do. Get them to mark themselves "busy" if they don't want interruptions. If they're constantly busy, schedule times to have "meetings" using IM
- try to get out of the house at least once or twice each day. It's very easy to get in the habit of never leaving the house, which leads to the feeling of walls closing in. Remember that you're only paid for e.g. 8 hours a day; in that light, down tools when your time is up and go do something else
- if you've got a partner, meet her/him for lunch at their work occasionally, and go out for dinner more often. Don't let your home life suffer; now that work is taking place at home, try to live some of your home life outside the house to compensate
- if you've got young kids, drop them off and/or pick them up from school. Yep, these will be forced interruptions to your day, but they'll get a kick out of it (at least for a while) and you'll be doing something other than sitting at a desk. Take them out after school for a milkshake or whatever
- hobbies and sports. Find or acquire ones that force you to get out of the house.
- try to find lots of small pieces of work to do, rather than taking on one big chunk that stretches out over days or weeks. It's important to be hitting work milestones fairly regularly, and getting bogged down in a seemingly-indefinite project really takes it out of you.
Overall, I've found the biggest problem is that I get so tied up in work stuff that I'll regularly put in 12-15 hour work days if I'm not careful. Where that differs from doing 12-15 hours in an office is that it tends to be full-on, really mentally draining work; I'm not taking a break to have a chat to someone in the office while e.g. some code compiles, but instead I'm working on another task till the compile finishes. This really fries your brain when you do it over weeks or months without a break.
Another aspect is the lack of schedules when you're working at home. In an office, you've got meetings, lunches etc. that occur at specific times and which break up the day somewhat; at home, the hours tend to fall in one big grey amorphous mass. I find that giving myself specific tasks and scheduling things to break up that mass really helps.
it's very similar to college life. when deadlines are near you pretty much have a 24 hr day. if you screw up your sleeping schedule, you probably wont even see daylight for weeks (especially for fall semesters). i used to work from my apt. i cook, (or order pizza from) at home. typing away and hitting the books from dusk to dawn. it's not "how many days there are before the deadline", but "how many hours are left" and "how many hours i can allocate for myself to sleep - if there's time for that today"
my blog
Not everybody is cut out to work at home easy to go mad...Also you may lose clients because you do work at home and don't have a real office.
Something to think about, I just read an article recently where several individuals who work at home got together and rented an office to share.
Most of us in my company have been working from home since we began back in 1995. We do Linux consulting and programming, for reference.
The freedom is great, as you mention, but if done wrong it can definitely lead to problems. None of us have children around the house, which I suspect can change things drastically. I've heard others say that if you have children, you pretty much HAVE to have an office and make it well known that you can't be bothered there except for an emergency.
Anyway, back to my story. We've found that having an office can really help. With more than one person working from home, we found it was required, otherwise it was too easy to get distracted by other people. If you're home alone, this may not help as much, but some people find that "going in to the office", even if it's just down the hall, helps you concentrate.
As far as the lack of human contact... I've found several things that help this. About 2 years ago we found a coffee shop that claimed to be wired. We ended up bringing an AP with a modem to dial in to get some net. About 8 months after we started going there about once a week, they put in a high speed line and their own AP. We now go 2 to 4 times a week and call it "our office away from the office".
The coffee shop is interesting because you can develop friends there, often with much more diversity than in your office, but in general people also leave you alone because they don't know you, or they came to do something as well. Even a few high-priced beverages cost far less than a dedicated office. For a change of scene, try a different coffee shop. You can hardly throw a stone without hitting a coffee shop with an AP in it these days.
Another thing we've done is started hanging out more with our identified communities. In our case, that's largely other geeks, but you get the idea. Going to more LUG meetings, including meetings that we probably wouldn't normally drive to after a day in the office.
Also, I started a meat-space group called Hacking Society 2 years ago and we now have several regular chapters. The idea is that we meet once a week in a regular place to work on various topics. The Boulder, Colorado chapter meets in a coffee shop, we meet in an office here. It's a good way to spend some time with a bunch of good folks. You should start a chapter in your area. ;-)
As far as the question of an office. We had office space at one point. It was a nice change of pace, going to the office, but we had really nice space. My office looked out down main-street in our town and everyone walked by. It was fantastic, but cost $1400/month. We made good use of it, but it was way too expensive. I've often thought of getting some part time office space, but it's never been a high priority for me.
Also, it should be noted that we have developed rather good communication skills. We have an IRC channel open for the company which we use for a lot of the "office chatter" stuff. We also heavily use e-mail. We have phones as well, but mostly that's used for client contact. We all prefer the electronic, less intrusive mechanisms.
We did have problems with one employee we hired who quit because she couldn't "stand sending e-mail or IRC messages to someone in the same room". The rest of us couldn't stand being interrupted in mid-thought because she came up to us, for something that could wait 5 minutes until we checked IRC or e-mail. That just didn't work out.
There are all kinds of different people, and the above works well for us, but obviously didn't work well for at least one of the people we hired. It's important to find out what works for you, but those are some of the things I've found.
Sean
I've been working as a freelance programmer/consultant for 4 years. To be fair, I have my wife and 5 kids at home.
I have an office, and I have a home-office. I switch between them. A few times per year I spend a week or two working at location with a client to improve relationships and help things work out when there's a big project afoot.
Also, have three (yes, THREE) phone lines:
1) Home phone. Only tell family and friends. Nobody you work with ever gets this number.
2) Work phone. On your biz card, on your website. Everybody you work with gets this number. Never answer it outside business hours. Never.
3) Cell phone. Mention on your work phone's voice mail with a "if this an emergency, call..." notice. If it's a doozy, people can call. Otherwise, they'll leave a message.
This has been one of the best ways I've yet found to separate home life from work life.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
You could try going outside, but this works much better in countries where random people on the street are actually worth trying to talk to. So, this technique doesn't work so well in the USA/Canada/Australia
There are two ways to interact with people. You can go to them (e.g., buy laptop and work "outdoors" in cafes as someone suggested), or you can have them come to you.
Being lazy and all, I prefer the latter. If you're working at home, and making a decent amount of money, why not get that ultra high-speed line and run a game server? If you can find some buddies for a computer game that you enjoy, you could run a game server in your home and experience the thrill of having other people essentially visit you all day (well, mostly night) long. Run maybe an IRC service and a web page service as well, you can start your very own gaming community as well.
Of course, I'm just suggesting this option because I'm a gamer myself. I have no idea if you like gaming. But it seems to me like it could work. It would mean extra work, and extra cost, but I think those costs and the work would certainly be less than the work of going into the office.
The important thing would be to pick a good game. It should definitely be something you like, maybe something slow and social like a MUD, or maybe something fast-paced with less frequent chat like a first-person-shooter. There are tons of other games in-between.
http://www.chmodoplusr.com/
Leave your house
Talk to people (or animals, maybe trees)
(profit?)
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- "In communist Russia"
- Any joke based on the fact the article was slashdotted
Really, we can make up these same jokes in our heads. They're not funny, and they're NOT +5 Funny.
I've been telecommuting for the last few years. Last year, I decided to get an office (more practical for me because my consulting practice had grown to include a few employees.) I love it... I still work from home most of the time, but go to the office 2-3 days per week.
The bottom line is this: I don't EVER miss having to go to an office... but I defintely missed having an office to go to.
http://www.jrj.org/
jrjBlog
It's pretty easy to fall into this routine at college, too. You can quite easily get an apartment that includes internet service and live in the same room for everything. Eat, sleep, work in the same room. Never open the door except to go to the grocery.
It's really sad. I was doing it for a while. I eventually put the computer in the closet for 6 months and forced myself to go to the campus labs for work. I also try to go over to other people's apartments instead of just watching TV or playing on the computer. Otherwise you could go through college and never meet anyone better than their weblog.
Host LAN Parties during free time. That's how I socialize (other than my girlfriend).
warning: This post is likely to contain gobs of dripping sarcasm. Consume at your own risk.
Also have a hobbie that hopefully takes you out of the house: join a bar band, play pool, do non-job reading in cafes.
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
I'm serious about this, no joking.
:-)
I do go out during the day to see clients, usually in the afternoon, in the morning on those days I do work from home, most days however I attempt to tote the b/w laptop somewhere with wifi access and ssh to my remote box, when I hit a milestone I have a cup of coffee, wander around, *cough* make an ass of myself w/ the women (they know me), and have a little fun, make some friends, you'd be surprised just how many people toteing laptops do the same thing, I have met people from all walks sitting in coffee shops so as not to be at home.
BTW...the b/w laptop starts tons of conversations, anyone worth their salt can work on a console and get linux on a 50mb harddisk
but I will soon buy a powerbook, OSX looks too cool
I've been independent for about three years. A couple things I'm doing to deal with this: 1) Got a cell phone. At least then I'm not tied to some desk, and I can take my laptop out and go wherever. 2) Started grad school. Lots of people and interaction, and it should translate to saleable skills.
Maybe an idea to share the office space with other home workers? That way you can share costs, gossip, and share info if you're on the same field.
The good bits of a company, but without the bad (boss) bits.
Boo fucking hoo.
I know that additional work doesn't sound all that appealing, but you'll have the advantage of not actaully needing the job, so your attitude can be more focused on doing a good job to help others rather than just collecting a paycheck. You'd be surprised at the enormous sense of satisfaction you can get from being helpful to your community.
I started my own company and worked from home for 1.5 years. Worked well, but in retrospect I would suggest that you get an office somewhere away from home.
Most communities have an "Industrial Growth Center" for new companies. I would suggest renting an office there and enjoy your freedom.
I'm doing this same thing, but from the graphic design perspective. It's hard, and it leads to bad situations if you've got roomates (especially if they have normal jobs). The hermit lifestyle will conflict with others who are used to leaving the house every morning.
Here's what I do:
First of all, always normalize your sleep schedule as if you still had an office job. Get up at 6 or 7, make your coffee, and fill up your non-working hours with little productive chores. DON'T TAKE NAPS! You don't nap at the office, so even if you have zero clients for the week and you're zoning off by 3pm, don't succumb to the sleep sickness. It'll really mess you up when you need to suddenly shift to a busy schedule. Fill that time with some self-promotion, or artistic endeavors, or just cleaning the apartment. Hell, I've been reading a lot of books lately just to fill the day.
Try to find a balance between home hours and on-site hours. Hard to do, and this is all dependent on your clientelle, but once in a while you'll land that client that really wants you around their office for instant changes or quick feedback. This can be a lifesaver for human contact; it forces you out of the house, and you actually have to remember what it's like to look other humans in the eye and play their game.
And finally, consider grabbing a small office away from the home. This is once again dependent on your steady flow of income, and can hurt you if you take an entire month without any incoming cash-flow. Try to sub-lease from a company that is somewhat within your field. Rent could be cheaper, and you can land free internet and phone as part of the deal. One potential advantage is that company will probably come to you first for quick jobs since you're right there, so this really helps out for both parties.
Good luck, this kind of situation can really challenge one's psychology. But I enjoy freelancing so much that it'll be a long while before I consider another fulltime job.
Kip Hawley is an idiot.
I have been a home office coder since 1998.
I agree with a few of the earlier posts - having a laptop and working in the various places around helps. But the best tonic of all is about once a year, taking an onsite contract for a month or two. This is usually enough to remind me why I decided to work from home in the first place. This allows my hump to fill and then it provides the necessary reminders for the rest of the year. Until it wears down and I have to go and remind myself again that office work sucks arse.
You just have to experiment with various modes of work and find what works best for you.
This is an issue for unemployed people also. I just got laid off and I'm facing a lack of socialization until I find a new job. Thankfully this is my first week since it's an unusual week with the holiday.
*It's not what you can do for the Dark Side but what the Dark Side can do for you!*
I work from home and the best bit is that it let me get a life. I can highly recommend it.
My daughter is 20 months old today. I saw her first steps, her first word was "Dadadadadadada", when she gets excited about something I can be there to see what it is, when she falls over and bangs her knee I can sit with her till she's happy again.
I don't commute so that's an extra hour or so each day that I can do other things with. What could you do with that extra time?
I also work closely with several other people who also work from home. We stay in touch with instant messaging (we all touch type) and that really does help. Did I mention my wife is here as well and that is a great help (no, you can't have her. Get your own).
I wouldn't go back to the office (I'm resisting at all costs) but I do know what you mean about missing the contact. But I find when I do go in for meetings or whatever, it's so noisy and unproductive being there that I have to come home to get some work done.
Having said all that, it's not for everyone and I know at least one colleague who tried it, hated it and now happily goes to work each day. He wanted the separation of work and home lives and now he's got that.
I am a leaf on the wind
Although working at public places is a great way to meet your social needs (it always worked for me) tbut keep in mind that you may be working with (at that point in time) sensitive information.
If somebody glances that of your screen and uses it you can be held liable for insider trading.
Sig? What's this sig thing I hear people talking about?
Do something physical outside the home. Get involved in some kind of team sport, even if it's bowling. The important thing here is 'outside the home with other people'.
I have a 3 year old in the house with me and have found play groups to be a life saver. It's nice to occasionally be defined by something other than my work persona.
Online relationships do NOT make a good substitute for face to face relationships (I'm not just talking about romantic interests here). If your work and your personal life are coming to you through a box on your desk, you will begin to hate the box.
You are working from home and it is good to remind yourself of that occasionally. Jump up and go to a movie or take a walk. I usually just go biking around town.
Realize that everyone goes through a gray area when starting off. The move from a highly structured environment imposed on you from the outside to a self/un-structured environment is a tough transition. You will either learn to deal, learn to structure, or go back to the office. None of these options is a failure.
- Richard
Not just answers, the correct questions.
-Dividing up work/living space is a good idea. It's easier for me living in a 3 bedroom duplex, I just commandeered a room as the office. You'll have to be creative. -Use your at home status to your advantage, don't stick to a 9-5 type schedule. I usually try to work an hour or two, then do something else, like running errands, or a brisk walk.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Just to echo what others have said; find somewhere that's not "home", but with network connectivity. For that matter, find several and cycle through them.
For example, when I was working for a small startup in Atlanta, I was living in Berkeley, CA. I'd pack my laptop and a book, and hike up the hill to Wall Berlin (RIP). Free wireless, interesting people and scenery, cheap food; all good. On better days, I'd take my Ricochet (RIP) out into a park and work under the trees.
Obviously being in a university town helps a lot, but with the push to get wireless into more cafes it shouldn't be too hard to find somewhere that's not-home and not-office that will let you work.
While I have lots of freedom at work it was starting to drive me crazy. Ultimately my answer was to keep working part time and to go back to school to get a more formal education in programming. It's great being in school again--even the math classes that I hated in high school--and being among other people who are also interested in programming is great fun. We'll see if I still feel that way by the time I get my degree. :-)
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
I have worked at home, (with my parents and brother, we had the same company), it can lead to your company life taking over your whole social life, and if things are rough, it can be like a living hell. There is a saying that working for a family run company can be like working in hell, this is true...as problems happen, people can get really pissed-off with each other...working at a company with "strangers" means that you have to be at least proffessional and civl to each other. I have also worked a my cousins firm...that was okay as they had their owm offices/warehouse/manufacturing, but they tended to expect more because I was "family" and expected a lot of free stuff like I was a partner in the firm without the equivalent reward (I did like working there, I just wish it had paid more). I do agree that working for your self means that you can get lazy and out-of-touch with the real world..you have to be diciplined (not me, I'm afraid) to keep it together...also, a big important thing about working at a company is that you get to bounce ideas off your co-workers, likewise, they can suggest ideas to you which is important (or point out how much your latest great brain-wave is nuts). This is important in any creative endevour like high-tech where ideas drive that industry. Another important item is that humans are social animals, most of us go stir-crazy in isolation...
because that's a good way to spend about 10 minutes away from the computer.
I started working from home just over a year ago. My other previous jobs were all office based.
The initial discipline took some getting used to, but we got there in the end.
Social interaction was the biggest issue, I have a wife and 3 kids at home, but we still need a change of scenery. My health was also starting to suffer. In my previous jobs I did a lot of support work that meant probably several miles a day of walking between buildings/offices. The nature of my current job has me tied to my desk. After a few months I noticed (well, the missus did actually) that my weight was increasing at an alarming rate. I cured two problems with one solution. I get up earlier now (rather than the old 15 minutes before I started work), and take a walk for the morning paper. Gets me some exercise and also allows me to socially interact with others. On my lunch break I take the dog out. When I finish work I take the dog AND the kids out for a walk.
It took a lot of getting used to working from home, but I don't think I would easily go back to office work now. It's all about adjusting to the different working environment.
After I got laid off from my last job, I started working for a firm in another state. There's no question of going in to the office without flying to the opposite side of the country.
Most importantly, set concrete work hours. It really doesn't matter what they are, so long as they're consistent. Don't get lazy and sleep in.
Second, pick up a hobby that does not involve computers or technology in any way. I took up martial arts (Kali/Arnis and Kickboxing), which helped immensly. If I had a frustrating day at work, I would go to the gym and beat the shit out of the bags, pads, and Tae Kwan Do students.
Hobbies that require you to leave your house are best. You might enjoy basket weaving or knitting, but you'll still be at home. Pool is a very geeky sport, and a great way to get out and socialize.
Third, take breaks! Most states have laws about this; check yours. In general, they allow for a 5-15 minute break every 1-2 hours, plus a lunch hour.
In general, going stir crazy is your body's way of telling you to get off your ass and do something. Listen to your body.
When I was in the same situation, I made a conscious effort to book lunch appointments with my friends and colleauges that work in the same area.
:-)
It helped a lot, and I kept my self up to date on what was happening out there
If you can't do these things then consider returning to the office. Working from home can be a liberating experience, if it goes well. If you cannot adjust it can be an isolated and depressing time
You need to be able to separate your work and home life and you do not have the office doors to create that barrier.
1 - Don't work where you rest - separate out the flat even if you are confined to working in small area (definitely do not work in the bedroom!). You need to set boundaries within your home to allow you to step out of work when you stop.
2 - Try to set limits on your hours - Work your 40 hours and stop even if this happens in the first few days of the week. If you have trouble motivating yourself do the opposite and ensure you work your minimum number of hours!
3 - Plan events outside the house. Meeting friends, going to concerts, getting to the gym etc. Getting yourself out of the house stops you from turning inward and allows you some perspective on what is important.
4 - Get together with the work colleagues. Work nights out, events in the office (birthdays etc). This allows you to stay connected with your work colleagues. This is important if there are events in the office that you need to be aware of (i.e. financial instability, major people leaving, new departments forming, etc). You won't know these things sitting at home and they have a major impact on your working life
These are all basic things but necessary if you want to continue in this type of lifestyle.
I bought a 15" Powerbook so I can work on stuff at home, sitting on the couch while my wifey watches her 'stories'. I don't pay too much attention to TV, I'm not the only one in the office (spooky at night), and I get to stop and *be at home*(rather than drive home, drive back, ect) and do something else for awhile.
I spent two days working at home last week and I knew that I didn't want to be home all of the time - I'd go crazy - so I make a point of going to the office most of the time.
Back in the day when I was actually making a living being a musician (bolded for the fact that this was absolutely amazing ;)
I worked Thurs-Sat and had the rest of the week off. I used to ride my bicycle everywhere and smoke dope with the other members of the band. I highly (heh) recommend that if you're looking at passing (lots of) time. I don't quite know what happened for about seven years. Of course, thinking, concentration, thinking and attention, concentration, concentration, and concentration becomes a problem after awhile, but now that I've quit, I find that its no longer a problem. Attention.
Coffee shops are good if you're there often enough. You can probably get it on with one of the sultry coffee shop girls too, since you have a job. Excellent work if you can get it, and free coffee all the time!
If you're really in a bind for answers, think about what you did while you were unemployed. Most people have way more fun when they don't have a job - I don't know why, maybe because they just to get to do crazy stuff on a moments notice.
No matter what do NOT do the following:
Paint Minatures
Ice Fishing
Roll your own cigarettes
Become obsessed with the movie 'The Last Starfighter'
Collect screensavers
Visit the Hostess Outlet store
Barhop at 9:30 in the morning (ok, once is alright)
Read slashdot for more than 15 minutes
Read Fark right after slashdot
Hang out with Scientologists
I hope I have been some help. Good luck.
Working in a cafe's OK but can be kind of distracting. I also found it helpfull to make sure I didn't spend all the morning in my bathrobe - get up, get dressed, read the paper, have coffee then start work.
(this doesn' t apply so much to the consulting situation ... but ...) Working at home you basicly get to avoid most office politics ... the downside - you tend to lose most office politics - unless you have a boss who will really go to bat for you. You also have to make sure you go out of your way to introduce yourself to your coworkers. At one job many people thought I was a consultant, while I had actually designed the main product they sold - I'd go and do trade shows just to get to meet them.
While it was great to do this - going back to a 'real' job was wonderfull I found I really didn't appreciate how important the social side of work
If you work from home that means you can work your own hours. In my last job (Oh I miss it SO) I used to telecommute and only get to the office about once a month.
Advantage of this was that I could work when I wanted. This can improve the quality of your life SO much. If you're really bored then go out after working say 4 hours and spend a couple of hours in the gym.
Go to a cafe with your laptop and work there. Visit a friend. Go catch a movie. You can even play all day and work all night if you want to.
Telecommuting is only what you make of it. It'll only work for you if you learn to think "out of the box". I mean 95% of the time you're not missing ANYTHING at the office. It's your life. Make it as interesting as you want to.
6:30am get up, have coffee, converse with my family.
7:00am bathe
7:15am Kiss my wife goodbye
7:16am Play music, code, babysit my kids
8:30am Take my kids to scool
9:00am code my ass off, work, make calls, drive in for a few hours sometimes, once in awhile, if not wokr and enjoy the view. show that my work was done or up-to-date, take mnt bike rides from my doorstep ( I live near some sweet riding areas), never adhear to a dress code, cook good chilli whilst I work, call my friends and meet them for lunch, get bored or "blocked" and then be able to complete my work at 3am when I can't sleep... The list goes on.
WTF man? have you no sense of creativity or no ability of time management? Now, I don't have such luxeries and still work from home and am a district manager. I don't mean to be a dick but with bitches like yours I'd pull you into a cubicle in an Orange County half-breath.
My point, realize the time you have, relish it, make the best of it and enjoy it whilst you have it. Stop whining. I still work from home and now I never see home. If you want to hear bitch stories E me. You're lucky enough to get out and make your own time. Sorry to be rude but you have the proverbial keys, pinkslip and Ferrari. I envy you. Enjoy it whilst you can and be creative with your time.
Being in the same apartment to sleep, eat, AND work every day definitely leads to cabin fever...
Then do something else with your life besides sleep, eat, and work.
Start smoking.
:)
But don't smoke in your house
I stopped contracting about 18 months ago, and since then I've been working from home. Now my wife works full-time, and I work at home in the morning, look after the kids in the afternoon, and if I'm busy, work some more in the evening. I'm having a great life doing this, I get to spend loads of time with my kids (much more than most other dads), I decide when I take my own free time, and I can pick and choose my work.
Find funky gifts
For most of my career (I'm a programmer) I've been doing work on contract for other companies, off-premises. While it gave me an incredible amount of freedom, I found myself having exactly the same problems as you do. I'd be in my apartment, working on my laptop. Hell, some days I'd not even bother getting out of bed to work. Eventually, this sort of lifestyle, along with a natural predisposition, lead to on and off bouts of depression.
My solution? I found a shared office. I've had two different ones, but both were within a few miles from my home. I've found that being around productive people keeps me focused and motivated. The second one I've found I'm actually not paying for. They give me space in their suite in exchange for some technical help, advice, and the occasional small program. In addition, I get the advice and guidance of the owner of the company who's suite it is, who's a fantastic fellow.
Some days I don't go in, but it certainly helps keep me on track. I have my own workstation there that I use only for work. I can log in using Terminal Services from home. (TS is probably the one thing that Win32 has over my Mac. The equivalents on the Mac (VNC, Timbuktu, Apple Remote Desktop) are extremely slow. Why is that?
So, my advice? Try to find a company with an office from somebody you know, or a company you've dealt with. Either rent some space from them, or try to trade services.
Wow! A phone sex operator.
I, for one, would welcome these new cliche-hating overlords.
He he. Sure, the cliche quantities are limited, but the combinations of applications are virtually unlimited. What was that Trek saying again?....
Table-ized A.I.
easy!
go traveling. bring a laptop with ethernet
and a dial-up modem. find a provider
that has worldwide dial-up nodes (www.mci.com?)
get a digital camera too.
"get inspired(tm)"
"work from anywhere(tm)"
You'll probably meet someone - don't be too geeky about what you do - and don't come across like you're too special or too much of a loser to stay home - it is what is.
;~)
For a while I was snagging consulting work where they would put me up in offices - but then you're always - 'that guy'
Even if the place is just down the street - it's worth it if you can pass a few shops every day
Oh - don't forget to go home to sleep - unless you find some place else
Subduction leads to orogeny
Inflatable office mates
"Dogs at least give the appearance they're intently listening to you, explaining problems to them can sometimes unjog your mind when it gets stuck on a problem. Haven't had him talk other than bark tho, YMMV"
Hey! Rover, how do I start a successful dot.com business selling pet supplies?
I always found that background noise stopped me going loopy when I had a short stint of homeworking. Stick a 24 hour news channel or something non-engaging like Big Brother ora chat show on at a low volume. (avoid movies you end up watching them) It is a fair simulation of general office noise.
Warning! This post may contain a pun!
I spend between 50-60% of my work week telecommuting, and the other 40-50% onsite at customer/partner datacenter locations that are mostly filled with computers, not people.
Since a lot of my work is on-call and queue based, I am able to take off in the middle of the afternoon during a slow time or if I feel like I'm getting frustrated. I still have to get the work done, but its on my time. Go grocery shopping. Go see a movie. Just... don't forget to do your work. lol
I have also set aside my second bedroom as an office. It seperates my work space from my living space, so when I'm in there, I'm at work. It helps you get in the groove when you need to. It also helps get rid of the "whenever I'm home I'm really at work" feeling when you are home but don't want to think about work.
Probably the worst thing I've done so far is go wireless. Now I find myself dragging my laptop to the sofa so I end up watching TV and working at the same time.
Since you mention you are an independant contractor, you may be able to write a portion of your rent off your taxes, which also helps you afford a larger place, giving more room for a seperate workspace. I think the rule is that it has to be a dedicated workspace. i.e., the spare bedroom turned office is ok, but laptop and filefolder flung on the dinner table is not. You'll want to talk with an accountant on that one.
Another good way to get out is to see if you can find an independant contractor group that meets in your area. There is one in my area that tries to have a lunch/dinner meeting every so often. If that isn't available, try a Linux or other Users Group. They are great to network with other people in the same boat as you, and talk with real live humans. Getting into a hobby that isn't computer related can also help you get in contact with humans and de-stress you from working on your computer all day.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
"Another important item is that humans are social animals, most of us go stir-crazy in isolation..."
No we don't. You insensitive clod!!
Uh... friends? Bars? T.V.? Beer?
I don't know if you live in a big city, but there's maybe others in the same situation in your own town. So try to find the interesting ones and propose them to share an office.
:)
This way you are not alone and there's also the possibilty to share skills with each others.
(Please excuse my english
If you work from home it's not only the lack of personal relations, kids vs. driving dilemma and such. There are two possible career issues:
1. You may become a purely virtual character. For instance, if you lose this wonderful job you are having right now, or simply decide to go the other way - noone knows who you are, noone can give you reference, noone has ever seen you in person and if your first name ain't Linus, noone gives you credits just for the sake of it.
2. Professionals must meet, talk and argue. It helps them improving. E-mail is by no means substitute to it.
So I agree with the posts that advise to have home and work separated.
I like my outfit, it's inexpensive, but cool -- April Ryan
I did work from home for the last two years:
Ciao, Valerio
This can lead to you doing fuck all very quickly. I'm pretty nocturnal, so I tend to work a split shift, but the most important things I have found is:
It's bloody hard to start work until you do something else. Even walking around the block will help. Going out for breakfast, or just coffee, is great.
Exercise a lot: if you do something more social(not just jumping on the exercise bike or lifting weights) this will provide human interaction. This works really well if you can find something that is near the start of your schedule; in my case lunchtime ashtanga:) Hey, its morning for me. I also find having a martial art to do most evenings helps me end the work day, but any fun activity will do.
YMMV.
Set up an office building and rent small offices. This way all the people working from their homes can rent a small office to work from and make use of public areas to have some contact with different people.
You could offer these people access to a central server and make backups for them. Maybe even hire a secretary and make a front desk. The sky is the limit!
despite my personal experience wasn't about the computer field, I had to spend two years at home working for appliance to one of the French "grande ecole". The work rythm was exhausting, and I couldn't afford to work at home.
My first logical reaction was to go study at one of the Paris public library. This is a great place for socializing, for people in there are all in the same state of mind, ie working hard, but willing to take some enjoyable breaks. So at some point you *have* to meet some people, because this is bound to happen. I met some of my best friends there.
Furthermore, there is such a crazy atmosphere created by all these people working, just like a huge bubble of thoughts and reflexions (the feeling also relies on the physical disposition of people inside the library : in my example, there were 3000 people in each room, with a 10 m tall ceiling, plenty of space and light, and 50 people tables : amazing). It gave me a tremendous incentive to study hard.
Obviously, the prerequesites is that the library be quite large, and quite enjoyable, and that you have a laptop (but this is affordable, compared to the alternative of renting a work place). If you live in a populated area, it should be OK.
I now remind this time as one of the most exciting period of my life.
You should give it a try : it's free, enticing to work, full of exciting people. And of course nothing prevents you from having a break for lunch with your friends, girlfriend, dog, real doll, water puppet :)
Regards,
Jdif
Let's overcome our weakness.
It's a godsend for the handicapped. And yes we have friends.
dude, either dont work every waking hour or get over the social anxiety issue you seem to have.
Go out every now and then to do stuff.. geez
I have been telecomuting for 9 months now... I setup an audio/video webcam portal that I, and several other past and present co-workers will sign into and interact during the day, or throw out coding questions to each other with.
I have also hooked up with a local user group of developers (in my case ColdFusion), we meet once a month for our regular meetings, and will occasionally IM or go grab lunch.
Previous to my telecomutting I was working out of a client's office that was about 20 minutes from my company's office, I would try and meet my co-workers for lunch every other week at least. If I lived near my home office, I would still do the same.
ms rdp has low level hooks to query and render text and other gui widgets. its a lot quicker to send 10kb of text rather than a gif/jpeg of 10kb worth of text. vnc and others just work by recompressing the end image that you see on the screen.
this is why you sometimes see rdp display forefront text before the background. i believe it also uses tech borrowed from citrix who are the absolute masters at this.
tightvnc is getting better with every release however - it currently is quite usable of adsl equipment
I work for a large computer company that encourages you to work from home if possible. They introduced a "team space" system of allocating desks, so I dont have a regular spot to sit. Often, if I go in (usually to put in expenses) there isnt any where to sit becuase there are far more employees than desks. I love this system - they actually have the "team space gestapo" who go around and make sure desk are clean and not personalised in any way. I guess some people have too much time on their hands.. I make plenty of customer calls during the week to do systems implementations so I avoid cabin fever that way, and it also lets me work on those social skills that can slacken off a little if you spend too much time by yourself. If I am at home for an extended period I will always make a point of going out at lunchtime, or play a game with my kids. (who used to camp outside my door when I first started doing this, but now they are used to it). I also tend to "time shift" - If I cant work durng the day (or choose not too) I will often work in the evening. Right now I am sitting outside on my patio enjoying a balmy thursday evening (yes - it summer here ..! ). Not that I classify posting to /. work.......
Regards - PeeZed.
I got myself a job at a local pub one or two nights a week. I find I get my fill of human interaction fairly quickly this way.
;-)
Of course, you need to find the right place with fun people, but, it gets you out, gets you talking, and earns you icecream money
Score:-1, Funny
I am in the exact same situation, and have been for 2.5 years now. I find that several things help quite a bit: 1) a mid-day walk to a local coffeeshop to get outside and get your fix at the same time; 2) keeping the television as far away from you as possible; 3) going to local networking association events to both meet other developers and find clients (meetup.com is a great way to find these). 4) KEEP IN TOUCH with your friends and make a point of going out with them. Schedule it if you must. 5) Whatever you do, don't work after 'quitting time'. I found that because the work was always in the next room, I always worked on it... until midnight... and never got a break, because there was no 'hometime'. As a result I snapped and buggered off to do volunteer development at an NGO in Croatia. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee. That's a long way from Toronto ;)
geeks are cats who dig a certain kind of cool
The psychologist Eric Berne called this a need for "social stroking." .. the need to interact with others on a daily basis, akin to apes having an inate need to groom each other. I've been telecommuting for 3 years and I have a number of devices that get over the problems of being and feeling isolated. Firstly, I shop for food daily, usually first thing. I get to see familiar faces and say hi. Secondly, I work on projects that do require me to interact with other ppl on a f2f basis from time to time. Other developers come over to work for days, and I go to them and we share space, help each other out and have a laugh. Thirdly, I have other things I do outside of work - for me it's sports coaching mainly. Lastly, I don't have a TV. Radical huh. But at least I don't veg in front of one and deprive myself of human interaction as I'd be tempted to do otherwise.
re-invent wheels
I cannot telecommute, my own choice.
I use computers at home for support out of hours but work is work and I have to be structured in my processes. I also like talking to people face to face about issues and resolving them directly face to face.
Thanks for ruining my dream in life. =
Make use of public spaces. You'll get that general thing of people being around.
Eat well. Don't graze.
Get dressed every morning. If you are at home, don't just start working in a dressing gown.
Try and get to do some work at the office. Like 1 day per week. It will help to retain focus.
Enjoy your freedom. Personally, I used to love being able to go shopping or take in a movie mid-afternoon and then work in the evening.
It has been nice: First working from the living room of our appartment. It was fun, because my wife was great (enjoying freshly cooked food), and our first son was just born. She would leave me with him to go shopping while he was asleep, saw him grow up, etc. I have been traveling 10-20% of the time, which helped it be more bareable. Also, you need a strong ability to focus and disconnect from your surroundings.
But it's amazing how quickly a small baby learns to find the reset button.
Then I managed to get a small office in the same building, and hired a Co-op to do a small project.
I was also working on a project with a team located 3.5 hours away (in the opposite direction). That was even better, and I enjoyed it... but I ended up leaving the job -- and joined a local start-up.
What I missed the most wasn't space or going out. It was daily team interaction, and having some fun with coworkers. I felt lonely in a way, during the day. Plus in terms of company integration (peers or bosses), it doesn't help to be away.
It was a great experience, but I am happy that it ended.
If I was to work independently or telecommute again, I would want to have a team to interact with, or at least an associate. It does bring a lot of synergy and interaction.
So maybe finding another consultant to work with would help. Then choosing an office location is just a secondary thing.
Or look for opportunities to work on your customer's site.
Buy a notebook and do your work from any place, it'll be much cheaper then a new apartment AND you'll be able to work from a large variety of places.
;))
Use WiFi or GPRS if/when you need the network connectivity.
Also good idea is IP telefony with the folks back in the office, that let's you stay in contact without acctually going there or paying astronomical phone bills.
I can sometimes feel the cabin sindrom if I work at home for the whole day, but I am ussualy saved by a good radio station or, preferably, by my girlfriend (you should get yourself one too! It is a very interesting piece of equipment in itself
I find that college computer labs are good places to work. Take a class so you can use the labs. Don't use the general labs. Try the CS or engineering labs. First, all of the cool stuff is there (or the art department, maybe). Secondly, you'll often find that they run linux/unix machines or some sort of non-windows environment. They may possibly offer free printing (depeding on your school and/or ethics). Set up a LAN at home, (with a cable modem etc) and SSH into your local development environment. Or travel with a laptop. Work at a cafe. Start work early or work late and take in the OCCAISIONAL movie. The better the college, the more interesting the environment. A good state school (you know which ones) can be pretty interesting (i.e. Madison, Berkeley, Urbana etc). Or if you got the money, a good private university. If you take classes (even grad school courses at a bad school, you MAY be disappointed). I've worked in college towns, so I know.
:)
Plus, the bonus of taking a class (grad schools often offer late afternoon or evening classes for TAs and working people) is that you get to work on that MS in whatever, or just take a class because it's interesting. Make sure it's an upper division course or a grad course. You probably don't want to hang around the younger kids. Incidently, if you are taking a lighter load and enjoy the subject matter, you'll probably get good grades.
Personally, I found that the conversations I've had with grad students in the sciences (not engineering/CS!!!!!!) are pretty interesting. Oh, and seriously don't spend to much time on Slashdot. The guys here are way to cynical and depressing
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
Don't sit home and watch the telly or play computer games.
I really don't see much difference between working at home or at my office. I don't like to be disturbed when I'm working at either place.
Join a martial arts club (I did). You need the exercise, and most often you get to meet A LOT of interesting people who are in the martial arts community.
Or do something else... Join a vine club etc.
Go out with friends.
I gues he never heard about Everquest ;)
... down the goatse.cx guy's pants. Of course, in Soviet Russia, it would be the goatse.cx guy down the hot grits's pants. The burning question would be does it run Linux? Who cares, if it ran BSD then you might get somewhere with Ceren.
and I've come to the conclusion:
If you're gonna entangle private life and work you've gotta make shure that work is fun. Make networking a part of your freelancer life. Make it a habit of getting up early regulary. Remember: That's the reason you're a freelancer: You want to have fun getting up early! A rule: Do *never* work in your PJs.
Do some aquisition or outside networking by 10 o'clock AM the latest and shut the box down in the evenings and go out and meet the guys, girls or go catch a movie. Have at least one talk on the issue of your trade a day, one on the telephone will do in emergencies. And have at least one talk that is *not* subject to your trade per day aswell.
Having a family and taking over small regular tasks (bringing the child to kindergarden in the mornings, f.e.) can actually help rythym your freelancer life. If you haven't got any dutys of those sorts, make shure you get a grip yourself. You don't want a boss to do that for you anyway.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I worked from home for about 3 years. I ended up cashing in my stock, quiting, then getting fired (I had to work out my 3 months notice but getting fired meant I they let me go straight away and had to pay me).
Then I took a year off...well I am actually about 4 months into the year off and it has done wonders for my cabin fever.
[Please type your sig here.]
As I've been in the same situation for years, I believe that can give a bit of my experience.
:)
First and foremost, lack of human interaction IS a problem, and a big disadvantage of working home. You are ahead of
the game, by having recognized it as such. But you seem a bit apologetic about the whole issue,
and some joking answers can perhaps increase that point of view. Don't ever. Humans are a
social bunch and prolongued lack of society is as damaging to the mind as prolongued lack of
water to the body. You need to get yourself society. Period.
The suggestions so far are good. Get out, see friends, walk a dog and talk to other dog-owners,
go to a date agency, whatever. Just do it regularly, as a routine. Other good idea is having
someone live with you, if possible. Even if she (or he) works out, in my experience the simple fact of her returning home in the
evening marks the day differently and changes the structure of working home.
If a romantic relationship is involved, so much the better,
but don't restrict you to that. You can change your living place to a shared place, for example.
(If you share with students, the social problem will probably change in the other direction
The extreme of this solution is having kids. Those will generate an inmediate desire of locking
yourself in your working room and banish all desire of human interaction for literally years.
Long-term solution, I call that.
Also if possible you can try to change the nature of your work, and insist in doing customer-
oriented work. And don't consider the hours spent in the waiting room like lost. You can
always talk with the secretary. That can apply to your situation or not, I don't know, but
I know it makes a difference.
In any case, when working home remember the importance of structure in your life. Other
peoples' presence adds structure to our lives, and that's also lost when you work home alone.
So don't lose your structure. Have a routine, and follow it to the letter. Wake up at the
same hour (it can be late, but always the same, that avoids all-nighters that are the root
of many evils). Then go out after waking up. Going out is important. It doesn't matter if
you go to buy bread, but go always out. That forces you to get a shower and get dressed, and
avoids the dangers of working in your pajamas. Then work for some hours, have another break,
etc. It's not only society what is lost when you leave the office. It's structure too, don't
let that happen to you. Renting and office out of your home helps with this structure problem,
but of course do little with the main one, the lack of society.
Good luck and my best wishes.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
I have been working at home for about a year. As an Architect, I am addicted to a desktop (x2 monitors, x2 processors) so the laptop route is not an option. I deal with working at home by having a routine. I try to do two of the following three things everyday: Take a morning walk, meet someone at a cafe, train at the gym. I try to place one activity in the morning and one in the afternoon. I also stop working two hours before I want to sleep. This gives me enough flexibility to and some resemblance of structure. An apartment with a relatively central location in the city is also important. If I were in the suburbs it would kill. One, last thing a cell phone with SMS makes keeping up in touch cheap and easy.
ArchiDork
Every time my boss asks me where i am now, i reply with the name of the country i'm in.
Note to people sick of the moderating: Could you PLEASE stop pointing out the +5 comments: - How many posts have you seen - "With a list of all the cliches" - That someone can't stand to read as +5 - And now they are concisely put in a bitching list - "But, now aren't funny like the original +5 posts"
You work 8 hours, usually almost in one stretch, and other people usually are also working in that time frame, so making short visits is difficult. In effect it's hard to have little social breaks during these 8 hours.
Being in a similar situation I'm solving it in two ways. For one I found other people who also work at home, and sometimes we try and work in the same place; usually first working at home for 2 hours (missing the rushhour) and then hopping over for a few hours.
Another solution is that I have some contacts (companies, usually a friend of mine is working there) I use to do some private work for, and they have no problem with me sitting at one of their unused desks.
And - if possible - I (after the rushhour wait-out) I drive to a client to work. They'll see something is being done and I get to sniff some office. This is the least preferable situation, because you're at "the clients".
Tbee (or not?)
I was very disappointed when Apple failed to keep the network transparency of its windowing server when it moved from display-PS to display-PDF between Rhapsody (development version of OSX) and X 1.0. I had hopes they could leverage its roots when they released their Apple Remote Desktop product, but it appears it's not much more than a screen-scraper, a la VNC.
Basically, I can use RDP to the office and barely notice I'm across a network. VNC is painful in comparison. Even TightVNC, which is still much slower, as well as looking awful from the JPEG artifacts.
i read an article that telecommunters often get left out and don't get as many promotions and such because nobody notices their existance. is this right? anyone seen this hapen?
Tennis. Soccer. Cricket. Golf. Indoor rock climbing. Bike riding. Gym (aerobics, weights, whatever takes your fancy). Dancing (tap, jazz, funk, ballet, ballroom, Latin American, whatever). You name it. Find something that's close to home, and reasonably sociable. Then make a time to go there and do it. It might be a good thing to throw in an intellectual activity as well into the mix -- something like a chess or go club is good.
Actually -- this advice applies to anybody reading this. Life is not computers. Computers are not life. Diversify your interests! You'll be a better person for it.
You'll be first out of the door when your company get rid of any employees, so you'll get plenty of time walking to the job centre soon enough. I know I did.
I've been working at home for years now and found that ice hockey is a great way to get out the stress of sitting at home working all day. There's something quite primitively satisfying about smashing someone else into the boards that goes a long way towards relieving the stress of the day.
;-)
Besides, in my work my brain and fingers get a lot of exercise but the rest of me needs something else.
I will also go out and ride my motorcycle through the hills around San Francisco or go hurl myself out of a perfectly good airplane. Other people have been known to ride a bicycle or go jogging. Swimming or soccer are also good choices. Even going for a walk is better than sitting at home in the same room you've been working in all day.
In other words, I don't care what you do, but try to get outside every now and then and do something physical. Watch out for that big bright thing in the sky, though; it's called the Sun.
I've been working from home most of the time for the last 3-4 years.
And i'm kind of sick of it. Its not good. Its very depressing. Its impossible to meet people. It is terribly lonely. Find an office to work in and get a job there instead.
_
\\/ are accustomed' - First Lensman
Gosh, I find it so enlightning to see that there are people out there having the same problems that I do. Please, help!
Typical solutions, such as "go out", won't work, because most of the people have enough contact during their work, so they are simply not ready for every day hanging around after work.
...get a life. Or at least find a geeky way to socialize with your peers. To that end, I'd suggest that you find and join a LUG or two. If you live in a decent-sized city, you can probably find at least five or six within easy travelling distance.
:)
During my telecommuting periods I generally haven't been starved for human contact, but I've been in a comparable situation during periods of unemployment...stuck in the apartment all day, sitting around at the computer working (on job applications, in my case)...and those periods tended to coincide with the times when I haven't had much of a life outside of my profession.
Going to LUG meetings helped keep me sane. Plus I met some cool fellow-geeks, helped a few newbies, and occasionally defended the honor of the One True OS (FreeBSD) against the onslaught of Linux nerds.
I have a very hard time ever getting any work done when I am home, so working from home would more than likely end up with playing games, watching TV, and generally not doing work, at home...
He works too from home, albeit a bigger one than yours, but takes looong holidays away in Camp David and in his Texas ranch to recuperate from the trauma..no, not that of working from home, but from actually have to work for the first time in his life..
Norman Bates had a way of keeping people around the house.
Hi,
I am in the same situation that you, what help me the most is to have regular activities outside the house. Every monday, I do theatre and every wenesday, fencing. That way, I see the same people once a week, that help compensate for the social interaction I miss not having a outside work envirronement. That also give me a motivation to leave the house.
Beside that, taking a walk in park in the afternoon and gooing to eat at the restaurant one or two time a week are also helping.
There are a few Java Terminal Services clients out there that'll let you TS in through Linux and Mac.
As far as VNC, seeing as it is a product meant for wide cross-platform use, it actually takes snapshots of various windows/desktop, versus Microsoft's ability to build in specific calls to that server/client and just push icons, etc.
To say near the topic of the article: Yes, find some office space to share with other like-minded individuals. If you're good at networking (socially), you even may be able to score some extra work out of it.
Rent a room in some other company's office. That way you have interaction with other people if you want it, and can close the door if you don't.
We've got such a room in a town 50 miles from our main office, and we've got a couple of people who will use it regularly. Don't ask me about the costs, I'm just the tech guy who linked it up.
The office would have to be close enough to home to make it worth while, and far enough away that you aren't going there every evening/weekend.
Oh, and a radio is good.
Do go out to a local cafe for lunch. It at least forces you to get dressed, as opposed the sitting around in your dressing gown all day.
need a free COBOL editor for Windows?
Write a killer app for the WWW, make a squillion and retire to the Bahamas...
47 Meelion Dollars!?! I'm the cat!
An alternative to renting space is to make completely separate work-area in your own home. Set it up in a room of its own, and make sure everything you need is there.
Having a separate connection to the Outside World (In the form of a door, I mean) helps too.
After work, leave the designated work-area, and DON'T GO THERE until the next morning. Lock it up and give the key to someone else if you have to, but keep work and play SEPARATE!
All this doesn't help woth the human interaction part of course, but it's a cheap alternative to renting office space.
He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
I telecommuted for 2 years as the Vice President of a Computer Aided Software Engineering tool company. Of course, that's not the type of job an extrovert would take whether it required telecommuting or not, so it took about 8 months before I even noticed the comparitive lack of social interaction. How I handled it was, I waited for Microsoft to buy our biggest competitor, Rational Corp, and drive us to the verge of ruin. Then, being not just flat broke but seriously in debt, it was very easy to get motivated to go out and take the first crappy sweat-shop programmer job I could find. And one of the places they sent me to work at bought my contract out for more than I made in a year at the telecommuting company, and wound up paying me the highest salary I'd ever seen.
Um, none of which had any real effect on my opportunities to socialize. For that, I got really drunk one night and joined some chick's band who I was flirting with. The band became very popular playing places like Burning Man, and now I'm seeing 5 different girls, only one of whom is old enough drink.
Let me know if this formula works for you as well.
it'll solve all your problems.
I was a freelance consultant for a year, and worked out of my apartment. I had a spare bedroom that was my office, and I figured that separating the areas would help. It didn't.
I had tried "dressing up" in the morning just to get into the attitude. That didn't last long either. I felt sorta silly changing into a suit and necktie in the morning, only to sit through till midnight working, then change back into my pajamas, even though I never left the house.
There was a serious lack of human interaction. I still met with friends on a regular basis, pretty much the same as when I worked at an office, but it turned out that I really needed more human contact. That may just be a personality thing.
My hours became really, really weird. I was living 30hour days, meaning my days and nights would get inverted all the time, and when I needed to meet the client I often had to do the equivalent of a 3:00AM meeting... even though in reality it was noon.
Since I was at home, but at work, all day and every day, I would get distracted. I would go off and do something totally non-work related, but feel guilty the whole time. I have mild symptoms of ADD, which may have been the culprit and may not affect other people. Not sure.
The worst, and I mean WORST part of it all was that even when I was home, I was at work. I never felt quite comfortable, and sorta felt guilty for not working, even though I was averaging 16 hours a day working. That probably was one of the reasons for the 30 hour days.
In the end, I stopped working at home and got a job. A job where I had to clock in by 9:00AM, and got off work during a reasonable hour. I have now returned to commuting during rush hour, I have a boss to deal with, and I have annoying co-workers. Best of all, I can actually bitch about it! When I worked at home, I only had myself to blame.
I'm sure there are people that can cope with the situation better than I did, and people that just LOVE working at home. Power to them. I couldn't handle it, and don't want to do it again.
I almost forgot one of the best things that happened after returning to an office. I got a girlfriend again (broke up with the last GF after freelancing and living odd hours that didn't work out) and got married to her one year later.
I've had jobs where I didn't integrate into the local culture. I'd always go read a book during lunch, and didn't go out afterwork with my coworkers. Ended up leaving in about 2 months.
;), so its important to develop a strong relationship with your office family.
Starving for human interaction is a problem not just from working home.
My next job was ultra moronic, but I made an effort to meet and great everybody around me. I grew quite attached to them, and I even looked forward to going to work. People spend 1/3 of our time working, 1/3 sleeping and 1/3 recreating
I also find computers to be a giant vacuum for my social skills(and my libido too) When I have to code heavy for weeks, I find myself uninterested in socializing, which in turn leadsd to me having boring conversations, which leads me to be even more uninterested in socializing. A cycle that feedbacks very quickly.(and my gf gets grumpy with me)
I guess what I'm trying to say is working in front of a computer is very destructive towards you social life, and working at home is also harmful there(Never doing it again) And the less human interaction I have, the less happy I am. Even though I hate talking to morons!, the simple action of talking about the weather, lunch and football in the end makes me much happier.
Get up every day at 6am, iron a shirt, put on your suit. Walk half a mile to the bus stop, stand in cold for 20 minutes. Get a bus to somewhere miles away. Get off, stand in cold for 20 minutes again and get bus back. Walk half mile back to house. It should now be about 9am.
Decorate your 'office' with a stained carpet (preferably one made of carpet tiles,) a strip light that flickers and a vending machine which serves not-even-close-to-being-coffee.
Place a proxy between yourself and the web, pointlessly block any sites that may have useful information relevant to your job. Only allow yourself to unblock them after a week-long argument with yourself via email.
If you smoke, don't do it in the building. Stand outside (in the cold) and move at least 100 yards up the street, to avoid tarnishing your company's corporate image.
Have daily meetings, where the main topic should always be how to cut down on meetings so that actual work can be done.
At lunchtime, take another cold 20 minute walk to the local newsagent, who will be happy to supply you with a disturbingly cold sandwich from their fridge. The only one left will be egg.
Walk back to work, eating your sandwich and smoking at the same time, for efficiency and to hide the taste of the sandwich.
Every 10 minutes, pick up the phone and say 'Oh, you should have gone through to reception. Let me put you through... Oh, they're not answering. Can I take a message?' After this, scrawl something on a post-it note and wander around the 'office' for 10 minutes to simulate finding the message recipient's desk.
At the end of the day, leave the office and perform the bus trips again.
Rik
Wireless account at starbucks is very cheap.
Many starbucks are very comfortable.
Starbucks has an excellent hiring policy. They hire bright, cheerful, culturally diverse young people. Most of the jerks buying coffee treat these naturally friendly, outgoing people as furniture. Be even just a little bit friendly & take just a little bit of time to get to know them, and voila, you now have a working environment with lots of pleasant human interaction that is all the better because it is free of work-related stress. And you will often get your coffee for free : )
Spend enough money on your laptop (think Apple), and you will also have other customers start conversations with you about it and what your doing, which will also lead to job offers. I would estimate that to date each 8-10 hours of work in a Starbucks has led to 1 work lead.
Also excellent are the big book store chains that have made a policy of being reader-friendly (Chapters, Barnes & Noble, etc.) They WANT you to sit in the store for hours with a laptop with a pile of books beside you. You're helping them create the atmosphere they want. And you will meet lots of people.
All of this works only if you're able to be productive in such environments. I personally find myself more productive in this environment then at home or in a cubicle. Just bring headphones for when you need to drown out someone whose conversation you find annoying.
Even though I currently I have a job, I made an agreement to work 1 day/week at home, so that I can spend a few hours a week working in a Starbucks with my tibook.
...I work with my brother in our business, the main offices down in london are fully manned, but I'm running a sattelite office up in the midlands until we expand further up here and I'm working from my room. I love the freedom as you do but I do indeed feel starved for interaction!
Luckily I live with my girlfriend and so have someone else to talk to in the evenings, plus we go out with friends regularly.
Something fantastic happened at the weekend though, I got to man our stall at a trade fair...which is great...because you get to meet literally thousands of potential new customers face-to-face. So basically, what I'm suggesting is take every opportunity to get out and meet clients/potential clients. Instead of doing that spec via e-mail or phone, get your suit on and travel to the offices of the client in question and do it face-to-face. When you're working from home you have to take every opportunity to get out and meet people.
I am NaN
Do what i did, take up skydiving. Jump during the day, work away the dark hours. Consume your spare time, and your spare cash too!
If you expect to be called a lot, then a library may not be for you.
NETWORKING
Sitting alone is very bad for the web or relationships that make jobs secure (or fungible).
I make a point of doing some work onsite, just to shuffle the cards a bit. I also offer to do some light exploratory work for free for new contacts / friends etc., stating I do not need new business. This helps a lot digging up new possibilities and keeping mindshare up.
SOCIALIZING
I now consider socials part of my work schedule. I determined that I MUST go out and meet people on a regular basis. I joined a number of circles that meet regularly, and scan local pages for events to invite people to. A careful use of email, IM, H.323, and even sending nice HTML'ed stuff to friends also help. Without that, life would just dry up too much.
Applying these patches is time and energy consuming, but the unpatched lifestyle would just be too buggy for stability and performance.
That will give you at least six months worth of freedom before you have to do a thing.
Get a laptop/tablet and start making appearances at the office. Hob nob, suck up, scheme. You'll feel a lot better.
I started this about three years ago as Field apps for an FPGA company, most the time I work and play from my (small) flat. Granted, I do get to see some customers on a weekly basis but this can be limited. I make sure I go out for a walk every morning, and take at least an hour a day to visit friends nearby/go to the park/excercise/whatever. Try and go to the office of whoever you are working for once a week and work 'on site' where you can, and when you feel like it (this is the bonus part). The most important thing that I had difficulty was freedom overload, which lead to some late starts/late finishes, and I felt tied to the office as I could never escape. Set yourself firm targets for the day and when they are complete, finish. If you can hide the computer (my laptop goes in its bag in a cupboard now instead of screaming 'email!' at me all night) Yesterday, I had to get the London underground home early morning with the rest of the sheeple and it was a fucking nightmare. Made me remember/realise how lucky I am to be able to roll out of bed any time I like (within reason) and be at the office. I don't have to leave the flat for a smoke break and I can read /. as much as I like without my manager looking over my shoulder.
Don't worry. They'll talk back eventually.
The passive laptop screen wasn't a good choice for me, but I usually have some paper reading to do. I take the cats out back to the creek at noon and let them climb trees and chase mice while I sit on a log and read.
I suppose that process could generalize to going out to lunch around real people.
It's JUST like being unemployed. Except you get paid. That is, if your pay is more than my unemployment check, that is....
I know, the computer-in-the-room is like a exreme version of office-at-home. But seriously, given the choice, I wouldn't do it again. I would rent space somewhere (because the trampling family IS a distraction) but never again the computer in the room.
Screaming newborns do not make for a great working environments. And spouses sometime do not understand that "this is work time."
I'm trying out a 6-2 schedule so I can give her a break in the afternoon. My trouble is that if little one keeps me up till 2am, I'm not much use at the office. I lucked out. I've been there for a while, and everyone seems to understand.
Parenthood is not measured in success. It's measured in survival.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
2. Avoid a lot of caffeine: Coffee is fun but it can fuck up your sleep. Caffeine helps people deal with the stress of coworkers and office politics and chances are that you need less pick-me-up since you're at home.
3. Marijuana: Wake 'n Bake. Pure and simple. Weed makes the work day much more fun and coders more productive. Plan on a quarter ounce a week.
4. Keep the same sleep times and get at least seven hours sleep. It's tempting to sleep a few hours, work, repeat. This is a sure way to fuck yourself up. Go to sleep at the same time every day.
5. Avoid a lot of booze. Like coffee, booze is fun but can mess up your sleep. Have a beer at lunch and dinner if you must but not a couple of hours before bed. 6. Travel. Take a long "weekend" (better during the week) at least once a month. Go drive someplace a few hours away and spend a night or two. Try getting a cheap flight and spending a few days in the sun. Cheap airfare and a cheap hotel work while you're sunning yourself on a warm beach. "Bed and breakfast" places are normally clean and fairly priced. Plus you're in a comfortable place and not in a warehouse style motel/hotel.
7. Eat well. Anything more than a bag of chips in the house is a recipe for disaster. Avoid that crap and you'll be happier.
8. Excercise. Not that office workers do a lot of walking but you'll be doing a lot less. Plan on walking atleast a couple of miles a day for breakfast or lunch.
9. Have friends over. This will force you to clean up the house and yourself. Saturday LAN parties are a blast (have more weed than that 1/4oz on hand for this).
Yeah, yeah, I can see you screwing your face up and saying "but I'm a fat, pizza-loving geek, I hate exercise and I hate the idea of people looking at me with contempt because I'm a fat, pizza-loving geek". But it's not like that. Or at least, it needn't be.
I go to a nice place with a swimming pool, sauna, tennis courts, and the likes. All sorts of people go there - it's far from a haven for steroid-saturated meatheads or aerobics obsessives, in fact I'd say a majority of members are families. There are a few fairly hefty fellas there, but they're not intimidating in the least - in fact, you'll find that if they spot you struggling or looking lost, they'll help you out (even if you're not a good-looking girl in a skimpy outfit...). People of all shapes, sizes and abilities attend, and nobody looks down on anybody else. There's classes in many disciplines covering all levels of ability, so you can be sociable and meet new people that way if you want.
For me, it fits the bill perfectly. When you're pissed off, you can go and shift some serious weights. If you're feeling lethargic, go for a run or a row or whatever and you'll soon liven up. If you just want to unwind, have a nice soak in the Jacuzzi. There's something to fit any mood, and you soon realise that that mental image you had of what it would be like, the one that kept you away all that time, is far from the reality. It needn't be a chore if you find a place that suits you, and your subsription won't be wasted if you find, as you may well do, that you start enjoying yourself.
God - I sound like a salesman, don't I? Back to work...
I've seen those who do something similar to this. It's pretty cool having a friend who's always home and you're always welcome over.
And never found a GOOD way to cure it. You can help it by getting out as often as possible, but it can get bad. It's part of the reason that I say I will NEVER telecommute more than 3 days/week again
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
Hookers
Go there during the day. You'll get fit AND meet people. People tend to be friendlier in gyms during the day since it's quieter and the same people come at the same time.
Try to do projects with friends, or at least some kind of colleagues. Do one day at their place, on day at yours. Only working at home, constantly, although it seems like a dream initially, will really get you down and depressed, even before you notice it yourself. I love being able to work from home a lot of the time, but always sitting home really gets under your skin after a while.
Even when you are quite social and know many people, you won't meet new people easily if you sit at home most of the time, and although that also means you don't have to see people you rather dislike, or get stuck in traffic or whatever, you miss the kind of small 'adventures' like fights, near-accidents on the road, hot women wandering by, dissing the boss and mocking management at work, etc, anything that could give you some laughs or adrenaline.
I predict that when telecommuting gets even more popular, you will see local telecommuting offices where people get together to work, even though they work at different companies. In fact, there are already business spaces and some companies have 'satellite offices' where their employees can work during the traffic peak hours.
I tried this when I was contracting at one point. I lasted about 2/3 months before I started loosing sleep and having problems relaxing in my own house.
:-)
The problem I found was that it was fine when the project was going fine but as soon as it started going wrong there was no way to escape it.
My solutions was to find a small development company in the area with too much space and negotiate desk space with them. I also agreed that I would help out occasionally on their projects (if I had experience they needed) in exchange for being able to talk over problems with their staff when I got stuck. In the end I got the space free in exchange for the help - except for the phone bill
On top of this there is also the advantage that if they are in a similar line they will have equipment and facilities you need (for instance a graphical designer, fax, photocopier). It worked out very well until they got a bit larger and needed the space back...
Actually, VNC hooks into the X server on XFree86-using platforms, but on Mac, unfortunately it doesn't.
...we get maybe a dozen frosty (crunchy-lawn) days a year, on average, here at the bottom of the dent on the left edge of Oz.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
i usually start working at home, and around 1pm i turn to the local coffeeshop with free wireless internet .. i find it not to be as distracting as most people would claim (you have more distraction in a real office), this way you have the human interaction, a change of scenery and caffeine all in one
Vidi, vici, veni - Alexander the Great (read that carefully).
More importantly, I'd like to take the opportunity to add "One Virus" to the Microsoft ad, together with the rejoinder, "and they're all toast!"
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
I agree - Renting Office Space just to get out of the house is a great idea! Plus the cost should be minimal considering its a pretty old movie (it came out in 1999). According to this popular video store, you can even purchase office space on DVD for only $16.98. Im sure using Froogle, you can find it even cheaper. However, renting it will get you out of the house instead of waiting for the mail truck. Oh - you mean real physical office space. Doh!!
At the time I was going to a lot of AA meetings and spiritual study groups in the evenings, sometimes in the mornings depending on my schedule. I would commit to a schedule for a couple months to give me continutity. Often, I would meet people for a coffee after the meetings. The honesty and love of my meetings was a great boon to my very technical/non-social daily routine.
Also, I became an NPR fan listening to "Talk of the Nation" and other reports daily. I would often walk to the nearby grocery store to get items for the next day or two. I found that I rarely drove to the store any more, and looked forward to grocery shopping (something that I always considered a chore).
Today (2339 days later) I'm a very active AA member and still love the interaction with the people.
Have fun with exploring new clubs and places. Listen to your heart.
For the price of a sandwich I sit in the sandwich shop for a couple hours using their internet connection. (I also get a sandwich in the deal! mmmmm.)
Porn, porn and porn.
I'd usually work all morning and in the evening so I could take the afternoon to go do something, like a park, zoo, shop, etc., while the masses were at work.
I'd often pack up my laptop and go work at the library, church, or the mall food court.
Combine the suggestions for separating the work space from the living space and getting out. War drive! Though the Pringles can on your roof may tend to affect your chances for socializing.
Always ripe (Techie-shirts!)
Trust me on this one - Let the cabin fever flow thru your veins. Eventually you'll get to the edge of insanity and go through it killing a bunch of people. Afterwards, you'll be thankful of the Catharsis.
You have a great opportunity to volunteer with whatever group suits your interests. Get social, get involved.
Doesn't sound like you've found a way to cope at all. Sounds like you're in a rut! One step away from a deep depression (if not already in it!)
Your fault for not having moved up in the world. (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
So, you've escaped the office, the politics, the long freeway traffic jams, and now you work at home, congratulations.
:)
The first question to ask yourself is if it actually gave you any additional *time* at your disposal. Creating a social life out of a complete vaccum isn't difficult as long as you have the time - from social life at your desktop, such as participation in on-line communities, chatting on IRC or an IM, and down to joining the local Linux User Group, becoming a 'free student' at your local university (attending courses without persuing a diploma), or going to rollerblade in your city's park.
The problem is that more often than not, working at home doesen't actually free up any additional time for you to use for social conduct. Thus, what you'd like to do is to be able to work, but still have some social interaction doing so. One way to do that would be to look for other independent / working from home professionals in your area, getting together, and renting a joint office for the bunch of you. The more different professions - the better; don't look only at IT people.
Doing so would accomplish two things, the first one - you will have social contact and a work environment, without actually having to deal with office politics, as in the end, each is an independent with his or her own agenda. A side benefit is the ability to share resources (copy machine? internet connectivity? you name it.) and thus potentially reducing costs.
It's all about common sense
Nooners.
Oh wait, this is Slashdot. No nooners for you!
What does it mean to wake out of a dream
and be wearing someone else's shorts?
BNL, Born on a Pirate Ship (1998)
I am an independant contractor as well. I often go out to do work on-site.
1) Slashdot, I kid you not, it is interaction
check...
2) Member of a Linux User Group
check...
3) Ice Hockey Ref
well.. no..
4) Excercise daily (jog, bike, skate, etc)
I try... see #5
5) Do something with the wife
hehe.. check
6) Do something with the dog
I'm not into that kind of thing.. also see #5
7) Take courses (painting, etc)
I'm a musician.. I'm thinking about taking up drawing as well. This is actually one of the main reasons I chose to avoid the standard 8-5 job. That and I hate corporate America.
Starting in 1993, shortly after moving to Seattle, I more-or-less-consulted for a previous employer, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. At the time I lived alone, and I did find it hard to get motivated in the morning. Telecommuting via transcontinental telnet over a 14.4kbps modem was a hassle. The time difference from my employer was also a problem; starting work when they did (5am my time...) was not an option. Fortunately I lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, which is very pedestrian-oriented, and I discovered that walking to Espresso Vivace every morning for a latte allowed me to "come to work" afterwards in a psychologically helpful way. Yes, I invented a commute for myself, but it was a very pleasant one!
In 1994 I took a job with Progressive Networks (later renamed RealNetworks. That took me out of my studio apartment and back into the workplace for a year. It wasn't a bad place to work during my time there, especially by mid-nineties tech company standards, but I felt I'd done most of my best work during the early months when I was the only programmer on staff. Back then I was a lot better at innovation than at maintenance, and I wasn't crazy about taking direction or meeting the often perfectly reasonable demands of my supervisor, either. I decided it was time to strike out on my own.
Meanwhile there was a lot of interest in the Mapedit imagemap editor, a web statistics package called Wusage, the old WWW FAQ list, and the GD library. But neither Mapedit nor Wusage was set up as a proper revenue-earning product, and I didn't have enough time to work on GD or the FAQ, either. I wanted to start my own company and make an independent living at it, but I didn't want to starve in the process. In 1995 I landed a deal for a book on CGI programming with Addison-Wesley, which provided me with an advance to live on, and I went back to working at home.
I set Boutell.Com up in partnership with my wife Michele. Another person in the living room/office was a helpful motivator to get a reasonable amount of work done. During those first nine months or so I completed the book, wrote a version of Mapedit that (a) was easy to use and (b) expired unapologetically when not registered after 30 days, and created the first commercial version of Wusage.
Fortunately, just as my checking account was scraping the bottom of the book advance, the software started to sell. Shortly after I was able to rescue my sister from temping for Microsoft and put her to work as my office manager. Filling the room with sensible women helps keep a guy on track.
In 1997 or so, my sister moved to Oakland with my soon-to-be brother-in-law, and we needed a new office manager. Michele and I hired Chris, an old friend from college. These were the fattest years for the company, and I was also able to employ Stephen, another old friend. Unfortunately I didn't provide Stephen with much guidance and support; one of his projects should have been recognized as too late in the gaming marketplace he wanted to enter, and the other needed more timely help from me or possibly outside investment to make it as a web-based calendaring solution. These days I can admit that his second project would have been better off with a larger company.
But back to what my workday looked like: make that agonizing commute all the way up the stairs, start the coffee, go out and fetch bagels, come back and sit down... and some weeks I worked hard, others I played way too much Quake. I was still getting the hang of maintaining a good thing if that's what is profitable for you; I kept pushing out new projects that were
Check out the Apostrophe open-source CMS: http://www.apostrophenow.com/
I think the basic problem with telecommuting is that none of the mechanisms that normally structure your day are in place. You're not commuting, you eat when you get hungry, sleep when you're tired, etc. You don't have to interact with other people, so you don't conform to the (implicitely) agreed to schedule that the rest of humanity keeps.
Getting to and from work is so obscenely convenient ("How far is it from the kitchen to the spare bedroom?") that you end up working in fits and starts, and at all hours of the day and night. [Hmm ... writing this at 5:30 am, fwiw]
So, I would say concentrate on finding activities that a) put you into contact with other people and b) help to "bound" your work day to reasaonable hours. Also, make a conscious effort to prioritize non-work activities over work activities.
For example, maybe get into the habit of going to the local coffee shop in the morning for breakfast and *don't* take your laptop or any reading material. This will force you to strike up conversation with the folks that work there and with the other patrons. At the other end of the day, taking night/evening courses (as a previous slash-dotter recommended), going to the gym, or (*gasp*) going out with your S.O. / friends will help get you out.
I currently have pretty much the optimal schedule (for me at least). I work at home 2-3 days a week and go into the office the other days, but about 10 years ago I did a 6-month gig where i was working at home out of the 2nd bedroom. It was great at the time, but as you've pointed out the need for human interaction gets pretty strong.
After a couple months, I found my "schedule" just got completely out of whack. It didn't actually bother me too much, but my roommate kind of thought I was a freak (rightly so, i'm sure). A "typical" day consisted of...
- Wake up at 3am
- Shower/shave/dress to walk, literally, 10' to the spare bedroom. (I should point out this is the only "job" I ever considered wearing a tie for!)
- Work for 4-5 hours
- Go for a 2-3 hour bike ride (I was training for a Pacific Coast ride)
- Lunch/watch TV for a couple hours
- 2 hour nap
- Work until midnight with dinner thrown in the middle there somewhere
- Sleep for 3 hours
- Repeat as needed.
I'm definitely glad I did it since it's helped me structure and prioritize work in the context of all the other things I do in the intervening 10 years. Would I do it again? Perhaps. I'd have to be really careful about how much time I spent in the house. My wife and I love eachother dearly, but we're not one of those couples that can spend 24x7 with eachother.Early this year I quit my job at HP to dedicate myself 100% to my company. There's a lot of advantages:
- My car sits on garage all day long (except when I go visit a customer);
- In order to arrive 8:30 I may leave home 8:29;
- When I need to work after hours, I go home to change clothes - for something like a short and sandals;
- When I need to work after hours, my kids often come by to fight LAN parties, or just to use one computer each, as I have only one at home;
- When my wife (or a visiting grandmother) cooks a cake or pie, it is easy to give me a piece;
- The working environment quality is a bonus, and one employee actually refused an offer, choosing to stay here - as he also lives in the same area.
Of course this works because we are an IT company, once our customers are all located elsewhere. With tools like VPN and even ICQ we managed to reduce the number of visits to customers, but when it is needed we often engage a trip crossing the city.If you can read this, thank an english teacher.
Can I write off hookers as a business deduction?
I get payed for 40 hours a week while working at home. The problem I have is I get it all done in a day or two. Data entry most of the time. I've told them I need more work, I dont know why but I have, but still, they like my work, my willingness to help other in the dept when they need it so they keep me around.
So what do other people do when they have no work to do at home? I've thought of starting a nother job but it seems wrong. Oh well, its just frustrating me for awhile now.
No work gets very boring. I've been doing this for over 5 years now and have had many ups and downs. At one point I had gained over 60 lbs, took me a year to get back down to my normal weight. I'm always forgotten about when Office thigns come up, like Birthdays, office parties. You learn to deal with it.
Office space with a shared receptionist is cheap and another advantage is it's usually deductible as a business expense. Deducting a home office can be a little harder.
Another trick I use is taking phone calls on a speaker phone instead of a headset. It's more like talking to someone.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I work at home and people always want to know what I do. My neihbors at one point thought I sold drugs. My mom always tells people "He does the internet". My wife assumes I have all day to clean and lay around the house. My boss forgets about me sometimes, oh yea we had a meeting and here are the new specs and assumes I can make it work anyway. My friends think I can help them when ever they need something moved in the middle of the day with my truck. The people at the book store think its wierd I know where more books are then they do. And my dad just thinks I'm too lazy to go into work.
You know what? They are all right! HaHa ( except for the drugs thing. )
I love telecommuting.
I work from home (programming) a couple of days a week, my girlfriend works from home (programming) exclusively.
:- ;)
We recently moved to Bondi Beach (Sydney), which has mad a huge difference. Lots of cafes, strolls along the ocean paths, and of course a beautiful beach. Everything within walking distance. I now walk much more than I ever have before. I'm spending more in rent than ever before, but it's partly tax deductable, and much cheaper than a separate office.
My recommendations are
- Move someone beautiful (if you can).
- Get a girlfriend (if you don't have one and if you can
- Move somewhere with a community, where walking is fun and stimulating.
- Get a spare room if you can afford it. Friend come and stay at our beachside house.
I would assume you dont need to be online all day..
Take your laptop to the park and work from there on occasion.. Bring the cell phone, forward your 'business line' to it for the day...
Goto the museum and work there.. just wander around town on good days and do your work 'on the road'... For many people, their car IS their office...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
That's what I did. I work from home. My home happens to be 4 blocks from beautifully blue Carribean waters. I live in a town called Playa del Carmen. It's a resort-type town with a good deal of tourism. My rent is $750/month (two bedroom, two floor house, so room for a roommate if I wanted). I have plenty of work, and the money goes a LOT further down here. Not to mention, there's plenty to do.
I don't get cabin fever here. If I need to get out, I can go to the beach, or I can go to a party (someone's ALWAYS having a party here), or I can go scuba diving, or kite boarding. I can go deep sea fishing. You name it. If you don't mind lots of heat (I love it), and you enjoy the beach, this place is definitely a cure for cabin fever for us telecommuters.
... you could be one more unemployed techie.
I spent about 3 years telecommuting up to 75% of my work week. I had flex time too, so as long as the work was done, I could spread the hours as they were convenient to me. I put a TV card in my PC and I ordered a second digital cable box, and while I was working I always kept the TV running something from one of the Discovery Channels (excellent background noise). I tried first the digital music channels but the play list was only a couple hours long.
The cabin fever issue is real. After a while you start craving for human interaction. On these days I would wake up at around 7 AM, do emails and push some paperwork until past traffic rush time. Then I drove the 20 or so miles to the office with zero stress, most of the commuters were already at work. Meetings for a couple hours, then lunch and then work an hour or two until just before the afternoon rush would start. After a nap and dinner I usually worked another 2-3 hours depending on the project.
On a normal work week, without even trying, I was averaging at least 50 hours, and most of these were billable so my overhead spending was very low. Instead of sitting over an hour in traffic twice per day I was breezing thru the DC beltway during the low peak hours, which lowered my stress level. On days that I did not go to the office, I worked in 4-hour blocks, between these I would either catnap or go to Starbucks, which was just 2 miles away. Or I could play a game or read a book for a while. Since the work was getting done (and I was a manager too, thanks God all my employees where outstanding programmers) and my project managers telecommuted too, it was a sweet gig. They even paid for my cable modem.
Of course, our VC managed to screw it up and most of us either left on our own or got laid off. My current job has zero room for real telecommuting, the only things I do from home are emergency things I can do thru ssh or terminal server, and I spend two hours a day commuting (at least now I can take metro rail and bus, so it is cheaper and less stressful).
Would I go back to telecommuting if given a chance? In a heartbeat, and I would even take less money to do it.
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
Sounds like all the symptoms of cabin fever.
You'd be better off on a Spanish gallion
with sower craut for breakfast,
ARRRRRRRRRR!
I wish you hadn't said that. Sounds like an idea Microsoft would love to implement. Can you imagine the amound of coin that would have netted them over the years?
I reflect your pompous signature back upon you.
I take my notebook and go to coffeeshops to work and in summer out to parks and lawns quite a bit. Wherever i get a wireless connection is fine. I keep my access point at home open so people in the neighborhood can use it. Never had any problems and works just fine. I even met friends with some of the new neighbors who came over and asked me if they could pitch in to pay for my connection since they use it sometimes.
I've worked every possibility over the sun, including:
- 100% at the office.
- 100% at home (now)
- 1/2 days at the office.
- 2 days at the office, 3 at home.
- 3 days at the office, 2 at home.
Of all of those, by far the best choice was #4. 3 days at home let me be very productive and then I spent the other 2 days interacting. Specifically, the Tue/Thur in the office combination was the best. We'd talk about stuff one day, and I'd go home and blast away at it the next and then return the day after with whatever new problems/thoughts/ideas that arose. It was the most productive and just fine at a social level.The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
You think I'm kidding I'm not?
:) ).
I just came back from a nice little trip around mexico (Mexico city, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, etc..) One thing I noticed was how cheap service is their.
Christ 1$ U.S. to have a beer served to me on the beach. 6$ U.S. for a fancy 4 course meal!
The list goes on. Imagine making US dollars, but doing it all remotely from a hut on the mexican pacific? (sure you'll have to bend a few laws.. but that's what mexico is for
Sounds to me like you have nothing holding you here anyways. No GF etc..
Love,
Zaq
I work from home and look after the kids. Take them to school, make lunch go get them bring them back.
That leaves me with 28 hour working week and getting out of the house 3 times a day meeting other parents etc.
I have another two years of that routine then they will be old enough to fend for themselves. I plan on building a houseboat / office so I'll be out of the house down on the river in a really nice area about 10 minutes walk from home. On the weekend we will be able to cast off and cruise on the river.
Life sucks =:-D
realkiwi
Seriously..get a dog. I have been contracting for over a year and get cabin fever as well. Since I got a dog about a month ago, it really has changed my environment. Also, when i get 'code crunch', i take him out for a walk and its a great way to unwind since you dont have a cubicle, a handfull of elastics and paper clips :)
Pauly.
This really reminds me of my father's situation.
A retired (geeky) college professor, he relied totally on my very-social mother to schedule all of his social life. When she died, he was at a loss.
Although he now has plenty of time for his online life, it is not enough. He's climbing the walls with cabin fever. We have tried to get him out to do something - volunteer tutoring at the local college, joining a local club - ANYTHING!!! But he says he's too old to change...
I believe that a lot of us will share this fate unless we realize the importance of getting out there and doing something with people. Now. Before we have to.
hungryfrog is lucky to get his wakeup call now, rather than later.
I have too many friends (mostly online, but also a few in the flesh) whose ambition is, when they retire, to just spend all day online.
If they got their wish, most of these people would eventually realize how much humans really are social animals, and would grow to crave interaction.
Sigh.... I guess geeks will be geeks...
- Don't grunge out: I make sure I get up, take a shower, shave, get dressed and eat some breakfast at roughly the same time every day. I also make sure I am presentable enough to go out in public before I ever start working. If I know I am going to a client site I dress appropriately when I get up (and then eat breakfast very carefully)
- Keep to a schedule: I typically start my work day around 9:00 am, work until 11:30, eat lunch in another room, take a nap (one of the benefits of working from home - a strictly enforced Siesta Policy), work from 1:00 to 3:00, go out for coffee, work from 3:30 or 4:00 to 6:00 or 6:30 at the latest. I might work on the weekend or in the evening, but that is considered an exception to the rule and I make sure I feel guilty about that.
- Exercise: No, this doesn't have to be a marathon run, but try to walk a few miles every day. I quickly discovered that a brisk morning walk beats the hell out of coffee for clearing your head, gives you time to think (don't think too hard, though, as you tend to walk in front of cars), and may force you to purchase a slightly smaller-sized wardrobe
:-)
- Get Out: See the point above - and then get out of the house more than that. I walk to my coffee shop and, whenever I'm stumped, I get out of the house and walk around the block. Living in some sort of an urban environment makes this a lot easier, but even when I lived in the 'burbs I would go walk around the neighborhood for some head clearing.
- Talk to People: I don't have a formal office in the town where I work and most of my customer interaction is via telephone or email. I try to make sure that I get out to talk to people at the coffee shop, my favorite bar, my apartment complex office (amazon.com forces me to go there once a week at least) and various other places. I also have a number of outside groups that I interact with and keep a couple of IM sessions going at most times.
- Call People: Yes, IM is easy and most of us are constantly checking our email, but sometimes you just need to hear a friendly voice. I have a collection of customers and co-workers that I call and I'm amazed at what a short call to a customer every month or so will do to your relationship (call your SO a bit more often, though).
- Do Lunch: If you work for yourself (tax writeoff) or you have an expense account (even a small one) take customers out to lunch. You don't have to be extravagent (I rarely spend more than $20 on lunch for two) but you can have a great time. Your schedule is probably more flexible than theirs is and they want out of the office just like you want out of the house
:-)
- Visit a Cube Farm: Every so often I have to go to either a customer site or "corporate" and I make sure I spend a bit of time in a cube - this reminds me why I no longer work in that environment.
I wouldn't trade working from home for anything, but I do agree that it comes with its own set of problems...I worked out of my house for a year and a half before I couldn't take it anymore. Acquired the most inexpensive office space I could find and found a huge turn around in the quality of life. It was worth it for me to have to do the regiment of actually traveling to work. If you want to test out the theory then I suggest seeing if you can take up space at a friends office for a week. Justin
Also The Lazy Person's Guide to Happiness is available for free download from this link if you want to sample some of his work:
http://www.executivelibrary.com/Author/zelinski.a
But definiately get out and get some exercise and add a little bit of routine to your life like going out and conversing with the regulars at the coffee shop or walking the dog. You'll find about 300 things you can do to make your life better in TJoNW.
-S
That is a sick idea, I'm gonna get the patent for it right now!!!
Someone else has already pointed out that a dog is not only someone to talk to, but someone you have to go on walks with. If you go to the same parks all the time, you get to know the other dog-walkers.
Another useful idea is to find a good neighborhood bar with regulars. The one I go to (Cambridge Brewing Company in Kendall Square, Cambridge) when I feel like eating and talking but not like cooking or organizing company has lots of other people who are self-employed or in small business environments who use the bar for something like what you're looking for.
Why do you live in a small apartment? If you work home you can live anywhere, like Aspen, Hawai or [add you favorite place].
Or simply take your notebook and work around the world!
I'll admit that I have an easier time than you; I run my business out of my basement. Even hung a sign with the business name on the door. I get up every morning, shower, shave, and dress for work (every day is casual day!) I also have set business hours so that I know when it's time to "go home".
But, like so many people have already suggested, get out and about during the day. I take time, every day, to drive around and find local businesses that I can do business with. I've made friends with several of the business owners whose shops I frequent. It has lead to deals and $$$$.
And take classes at a local community college or other continuing education program: when you're green, you grow; when you're ripe, you rot! Excellent way of meeting people, making contacts, and even drumming up business.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
I agree and disagree with some of the conventional wisdom commenters have had -- perhaps because it depends who you are what will work.
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Many have made very good suggestions about finding a way to leave the house and get your work done. I enthusiastically second these -- go to a coffee shop, or to a park (weather-appropriate), or a bookstore, or a library, or wherever you go. Go to a place for a while -- like others have said, you'll get to know people. When you get tired of it, stop going there and go elsewhere.
Vary your schedule; take a 1-hour break during the day to do something (others have suggested good stuff like this, too). Programmers sometimes can get lots of work done from 6-10 PM; do this once in a while. Get a huge amount done in the morning once in a while. Let the rhythms of your life control your schedule -- work 55 hours one week and 25 the next (one of the great advantages of managing your own schedule is you aren't forced to work those extra 15 hours in the 25-hour week when you're going to get little done anyway, and just tire yourself out trying to force yourself. Don't miss this advantage -- spending the right 160 hours working a month can make you get more done than you would on a fixed schedule).
The only thing I haven't seen mentioned that worked for me was to vary where in my living space I worked. This is completely irrational and I don't know why it works, but it did
Besides blocking the juvenile funny boys (and their like-minded moderators, apparently), the other bonus effect is that when you're expecting to have to read 20 +5 comments, you click on it and it actually gives you 12 or 15 or so because all the supposedly funny ones have been filtered out by your pref.
One simple rule for its versus it's
Well, not really from Starbucks -- the wifi access costs too much. But it's easy enough to find out about free wifi access in various coffee houses, and it's rare you find an empty coffee house these days.
Even if you're not interacting, at least you'd be around (normal) people.
I, for one, welcome our new Antichrist overlord.
- Make a work space very separate from the rest of your life. Mine is in the basement of the house in a room that you have to go to. Make it a spare bedroom or something and have nothing in there but work.
- Commute to your work space. This is important as it does separate your work from home and the callings of "just 10 minutes more" are easier to avoid.
- Go wireless from time to time. I have a great coffee shop I frequent to go see other humans from time to time. Free (as in beer) wireless and good coffee. Perfection.
- Get out at night. I go to Boulder and meet my wife a couple of times a week for dinner and drinks. I hang out with some of her officemates. It takes some work but keeping a social life is paramount.
- Keep regular work hours as often as you can. You have to "go home" and "stay home".
- Take water cooler breaks. Even if its just you alone, get up and walk around and do something else from time to time. Your work will improve as will your mood.
- Get some face time with the people you work for. Email and telecons do not make up for sitting in a room and seeing what people are saying (facial expressions are key to understanding and even video conferensing puts people off).
Overall I love the extra hour I dont spend on the road. My 1600 mile once a month commute is a bit of a pain but it works.Today is a gift. Save the receipt.
I'm now working on-site so I cannot tell you from a long term perspective, but from my experience telecommuting what worked best for me was simply seperating work place from living space.
In my case I lived in a 2 storey condo, what I did was to set up an office seperate from where I slept, ate, etc... This amounted to a different PC for work as well, as I also found that helped to remove distractions and make me more productive/focused.
Best of luck and congrats on the situation, it can be nice if you keep things seperate.
My variety of getting out there is to go to local rock shows in small venues. They cost less than a movie, you get to meet all kinds of people into the same kind of music and the setting is different than any kind of home or office.
Another thing to do is WALK to a friends house. Part of the problem of working at home is not being able to focus your eyes on anything farther than a few meters away. I have friends who live 2 or 3 miles away that I walk to all the time so my eyes can focus on something far and I can breathe outdoor air for a while.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
I work at a large corporation that has an active "mobile" population. People are actually encouraged to work from home. It saves the company money. Anyway, I do it specifically because I hate people. Being a bit of a hermit by nature, I can do absoultely everything - including grocery shopping - without ever leaving home. Cabin fever? Nah. I get irritable when I have to deal with all that human filth bunched up together on the roads, in the malls and shops and public places. I get all the human interaction I need from my girlfriend (an extrovert who likes going out, whoodathunkit).
There are things you can do which keep your performance on track. Lots of houseplants is great. Increased oxygen supply is fantastic. Engineer your lifestyle to best integrate your entire life, eliminating the artificial polarization of work and non-work. Excercise is good, either outside or inside (ie a stationary bike during the winters). Look after your body, especially the rough bits that have to interact with the computer. Optimize your interactions with the box and eliminate potential problems for years to come. A good keyboard, chair, multi monitor setup and good audio help out. Rituals should come naturally. If dissatisfied, change slightly and approach your goal. Expecting to hit it right on the first time is counter productive (even counter biological). Don't forget to breathe. Eat well. Suppliment with good array of vitamins+minerals. Drink lots of water. Take time off liberally (your doing so much more with your time). Get yourself a zaurus or a laptop and go to a park for reading.
I'm thankful daily that I'm not in the dry, torturous, stupid communinal blather-pots others call places of work.
Andy
I've been working "at home" for a few years, and one of the hardest parts is convincing others living with you that you are "at work". My live-in GF still has a difficult time understanding that when she's home and I'm working. I wouldn't go into her office to ask how this shirt looks, but she has a difficult time dealing with the fact that I am "at work", and thinks I'm ignoring her...
Another problem I have (living in an apartment complex) is distractions. Kids coming home from school at 3:30, upstairs neighbors walking hard on the floor (my ceiling), lawn maintenance crew every wednsday morning... a nice quiet office would be nice, but renting or buying a house might help. Plus having a separate room ("office") would be helpful with the separation issue.
With regards to human interaction, I've gotten in the habit of being "off work" and going out; concerts, bars, whatever, just to be out doing something. I keep putting off joining a local LUG (there are several in the Atlanta area), but that would be another nice getaway (my work is Windows programming, so I code in Linux for fun...)
I've always been the isolated type, so it wasn't too huge a transition for me. Often times I go for a long drive just to get away, and though it doesn't help the isolation issue it does help clear my head (it's the one place I can really crank the music).
NGWave - Fast Sound Editor for Windows
I didn't contract for long, when I did it: just a couple months, and about halfway through, I started going into the office full-time (which led to me being hired full-time). But I can say that separating my work/sleep/fun space was critical for me. The associations with my bedroom (which was my office) made it hard to get work done in there, at times.
See about getting into a two- or three-bedroom, and declare an office. It worked well for me. If I can't get work done in my office for whatever reason, I use the living room table with a cell phone and WiFi at the ready. Bottom line: cutting up your workspace is important. Maybe not renting out office space (that's a little extreme), but see about a bigger apartment, or designating a setting that doesn't involve sleep or fun for your work. I noticed my productivity went through the roof, when I started doing that.
As for the cabin fever: gotta get out of the house. Social clubs, bar-hopping, reading groups, sports, whatever. Just get out. I was out with friends a lot more often when I contractor than when I was in an office for that exact reason (nearly every night), partially because I could, and partially because I needed the socializing. Find something to get you away from your apartment, so you can keep that environment fresh.
- i've been freelancing for many years, but have been full-time from the house since 1997 (kinda forced to, as a military pension only affords one the ability to eat dogfood casseroles)... - it took me about three years, but i finally got the 'stir crazies' (and developed severe apnea along the way)... - my solution was to start teaching Linux several nights a week at a local business college... - human interaction, a chance to get out of the house, sharpen personal communication skills, and make new friends among peers... - working from the house is fine... but not for everyone...
I work in a very small company of only 2 other people, so even though i leave my apartment, commute, and work in a downtown location, I'm still starved for social interraction. I actually look forward to the days when i work at home even though I have 2 less people to talk to at least I'm not sardined in the subway at rush hour. i also prefer after work interraction with my friends rather than office politics.
I agree with many of the above posts as excellentt suggestions, and in addition (since i have no one looking over my shoulder) I keep an IM open and chat to my friends that way, usually plans can be made by early afternoon and either I play host or one of my friends. This week for example we are sampling each others cooking, so when the work day ends i'm off to a friends house for dinner. It can really break up the troll factor of being at home all the time.
So in short, just do your best to enjoy your freedom! and be thankful that rush hour is no longer a part of your life. As urban centres become more congested commuting becomes more and more of a pain. You might even live longer from the lack of rush hour stress.
Come on people. Don't be ass holes. Telling the guy to "get a life", "get a girlfriend", or "get out more" isn't helpful. The guy already KNOWS he needs to do those things. The problem is, HOW do you do them? It's not like these are simple things you can just make happen because you want them to. I'm sure MANY guys on Slashdot know the frustration and hopelessness of wanting to a get a girlfriend while being too ugly/unpopular/geeky/shy/inexperienced to know where to begin or how to find success with it.
Try making helpful suggestions. The few suggestions I saw about "go to a bar", "walk your dog at the park", and "join a gym" were decent ones when it comes to getting out of the house, but they still aren't helpful when it comes to actually making real friends. Honestly, how many of your real friends did you meet while walking your dog, working out at the gym, or getting drunk at the local pub?
The real problem here is a deeper one. As a society, there are only a few limited numbers of ways to meet people, and for the most part they require you to be good-looking and outgoing, and into mainstream-ish things. If you're not particularly good-looking and you're not particularly outgoing, or you like more unusual types of activities, you're stuck, and it's pure hell trying to find friends, let alone a significant other. Society needs new methods to accomodate these people.
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
If you have (trustworthy) friends who are in the same position then why not work in each other's houses? That way you get a change of scene plus the benefit's of a nice work environment - assuming your friends don't live in shitty places. Or you all work in the one house for a while then rotate. Use a bit of imagination!
I did this all summer, and still do it evenings and weekends (attending university at the moment), and I found that perhaps the best advice I can give anyone is to get out of the house at least once a day. I cannot stress this enough. If I let one day go by where I don't get out of the house I tend to start really feeling sick, unmotivated, like I'm going to crack. Also, specifically allocate times to start/end work. Crunching code late into the evening works every once in a while but one should not make a habit of it if you're going to have to get up in the morning and crunch more code.
$0.02.
When life gives you lemons, you CLONE those lemons, and make SUPER-LEMONS. -- Dr. Cinnamon Scudworth, Ph.D
1. Find a wifi hotspot at a coffee shop. Work one or two days a week from the coffee shop and mingle with the other customers. Hint: Find one near a college campus so there will be nice college chicks to chat with rather than grumpy old businessmen.
2. Get a cell phone which can connect to the laptop to provide internet anywhere. My Sanyo 4900 (sprint service) has a usb cable which lets the cell phone act as a 128k internet connection. It's well supported by Linux.
3. Go to the gym each day for an hour immediately after work. You will get in shape quickly. In addition, this change of environment each day between "work" and "home life" will be a welcome change and will logically seperate your evening from your work day.
4. Get a wireless router and work from your balcony, front porch, front lawn, etc. on the nice-weather days. Take time to say hello and chat with your neighbors and to joggers.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
IMHO, humans need interaction with others. At least with some form of nature. Some people are more adept to being alone for an extended period of time and other aren't.
I do quite a bit of value of working from home:
- One gets to sleep in later.
- Coworkers can't come over to your cube and bother you.
- One can be working on some important project, blasting some music, and be buck naked and there's no one around to care.
I still feel that one must get out of their place of residence. I've worked from home before and it was great for a time. However I got depressed and just needed to get out of the house. I'm mentally better if I get up and go to work. Yes, ther is more BS here at the office, but I'm better.
I haven't tried the avenue of renting some other place to work. I think it would be ok, but it would be quite better to have people there to interact with.
One word: teamspeak!!! I spend about half my time behind my desk at home. I started using teamspeak while gaming, but now I find teamspeak a valuable addition to other communication means such as phone/im/mail while working. I particularly find teamspeak less intrusive than im.
... and smoke some pot, eveything will be just fine!
My cat never backtalks me at meetings. But she never does as ordered either...
and find IRC to be the saving grace. I used to be in a very high interaction job, and the loss of personal interaction has taken quite a bit of getting used to. I also got a dog... hey it helps!
It's sort of like the old advice given to insomniacs. Some people have too much stuff (TV, computer, phone, etc.) and do too many things in their bedrooms (read, work on the computer, watch TV). It creates a zone of activity in what is supposed to be a zone of rest.
Essentially, you're conditioning yourself to be awake in the bedroom. But by removing the distractions and keeping activities there to just sleep (and sex if you're lucky), you create a more restful environment and associate that room with sleep, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
If you make your work area separate from the rest of the house/apartment and avoid it during non-work hours, it will help you deal with "living at the office" better.
Also, definitely get out regularly. A good thing to do might be to join some groups like Toastmasters that have morning meetings. It gets you out and it's also a good place to prospect for business.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
There are two of us in a software startup, and so I'm at home most of the time. Two things that have helped:
Driving to the other home-office once or twice a week. It's a mother of a commute (Santa Cruz to Berkeley) but the social interaction and productivity gains are worth it. (Plus, there are >50% backroad routes that don't add much time)
Get a gig that requires client visits. To keep food on the table, I've taken an occasional gig that requires going to customer sites.
With these two things, and a separated home office, you can stay quite sane and enjoy the 50' commute most of the time.
You have violated Robot's Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future immediately.
The best pieces of advice I have picked up today are very similar to those I learned back when I was self-employed (but had an office): 1) get a laptop; 1a) get wireless access if possible; 2) get up, shower and dress as if you were going into the office; 3) get a cell phone and use that for calls to clients (or in my upcoming situation, to the office); 4) get out of the home/office every day, even if it's only to the coffee shop or to pick up soemthing for dinner; 5) develop a network of professional folks with whom you can IRC/email/call when your brain gets squirrly; 6) sort the change in lifestyle out with your spouse/family - it will impact them as well; 7) learn when email is appropriate and when a phone call is more appropriate. Looking forward to the challenge...
I pretty much live, work, and sleep all in the same room, sometimes I don't even go outside for a week. But I don't get cabin fever. The several days a month I spend hundreds of miles away from here for recreational purposes and hanging with friends are enough for me.
Maybe it's just me, but while I'm not shy or particularly anti-social, I can only stand to be the hyper-socialite for a few days a month. The rest of the time has to be me-time.
mogorific carpentry experiments
Having worked as freelance writer, telecommuting engieer and consultant from home over the last 10 years or so, I have some input. I have considered an outside office to seperate my work and home life. It's easy to become a workaholic at home, since work is always waiting for you. Some people discipline themselves to work fixed hours and only work in a specific space (office) at home, in order to achieve the seperation. I made sure that I got out of the house at least once a day. I would divide my work into taks that required equipment (soldering iron, internet, etc...) and things that I could do at cafes/bookstores to get a change of scenery. Also, it helped a lot to keep into contact with peers from old jobs or at other businesses, as well as other telecommuter and had coffee or lunch with them regaularly. Besides being able to talk about life/work, etc... it kept me up to speed on local jobs, talents and opportunities. I also made an arrangement with a former employer at a University to allow me to use some unsused lab space, when I wanted. Essential tools for me, were fast Internet at home, a laptop, fax machine, nackup strategy for computer(s). Also, become very friendly with the local private computer store/repair show. You never know when you need a motherboard/power supply in an hour in order to make a deadline...You and them _are_ the IT department. Here is some advice. Make sure you become friendly with the baristas at your favoriate coffee shop and tip them well. Besides, the additional benefit of socializing with people outside yoru field, they also know most of the other homeworkers who come there. I ended up marrying a barista... must have tip well enough ;-)
Hope that helps... -ingo
I got lots of work, and I get to do it from home...woooes meeee
please. Get the hell out of your apartment and meet somebody for christ sake.
There are 1000's of user groups, gaming clubs that welcome new members.
Take a martial arts class, go to the gym, go to a church, take a class at the local college.
I'd give my left nut to be able to have all the work I needed, and be able to do it from home.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The "get out and do something" advice is probably the best. I've been working from home since 1996, and _by far_ the most rewarding social interaction has been taking up dancing (tango, in my case). Walks in parks and dogs are great, but they are no substitute for people. Girlfriends/boyfriends also great, but a lot of people who work regular jobs come home and want to relax, watch TV, and do nothing. Not me, after working all day alone at home at the computer, I want to get out and be with people. So I took up dancing. It's not just mingling and conversation, when you are dancing you are actually touching other people. It is like human contact in a concentrated form. So if you have little to no contact with people all day, going out and dancing for a few hours will make you right as rain. Sometimes my girlfriend comes out with me (we dance with everyone who is there, not just each other), and sometimes she doesn't. Not surprisingly, at the dances and classes I've been to there are lots of women and they come from all walks of life. But a majority of the men are engineers and computer people. Anyway, it may sound silly, but it's worth trying. (P.S. most cities have vibrant salsa, tango, and swing dance venues. Be careful of the ballroom dances (foxtrot, waltz, etc.) which have all but been taken over by the high pressure Arthur Murray-like dance studios.)
You're lucky to have a job, never mind one working at home. Sounds like a great gig to me.
My company moved me out west about four months ago (from Boston), and it has been kind of tough. While, as you say, I like the freedom it affords me it gets really lonely. When I was working in the office I could just get up and strike up a conversation if I got bored. Now my only salvation is irc and aim. :-/ What makes it worse is I know no one here. Anyway, I'm just whining now, but my solution has been to make sure I get out more than once per day. I live in an area where I can take a walk and at least be around other people. :-)
I've been doing it for over two years now, and I have found several problems and a few remedies:
1. "She's not really working." I get this from everybody from family members to the UPS guy (who expects me to take in packages from everyone on the street). You just have to keep on hitting them all until they apologize.
2. Office space. Not a problem now, but it was. We live in a house, and my first "office" was the upstairs hallway. I claimed the bedroom of the first kid who moved out. If you have a small apartment, by all means set aside an area! Otherwise, any balance between work and your actual life will erode until you can't tell the difference.
3) Human interaction, etc. This was a problem with multiple facets for me--until it began actually affecting my health. I'd find myself still in pj's when the rest of the family arrived home from work, and the numerous pounds I put on during the first year only exacerbated things. Get out of the apartment. Take a walk, go to the bar, grab a sandwich somewhere. Do a major outing at least once a week. (If you happen to be religious, it could be religious services--otherwise, a movie, a museum, Office depot for supplies, anyplace.) This doesn't seem to be important, but it is.
Why am I sitting here working on a holiday and still in my pajamas?
Anne
DUCT TAPE: The Election Supervisors' Secret Weapon
I can't recomment it enough. In a handicap league, you can be a terrible bowler and still be competitive. And, who knows, you might be good, or at least get better. I started in February and my (2 person) team won the summer season. Money and friendship, that'll keep your spirits up. Not to mention beer, if you are so inclined.
I thought the seasons in the lands "down under" were 180 degrees out of phase with those in the northern hemisphere. Since fall is ending and winter beginning here, wouldn't spring be ending and summer beginning there? Am I missing something?
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
You work when you want, can do it naked, take a nap anytime. But also somebody will call you late at night when you are with your girlfriend, or call you sunday morning (just after you spent the night with her).
Conclusion: working in your own home is great. Terrible is to live in your workplace.
IM really helped me stay in touch with co-workers and friends when I was working from home for more than 5 years. I've changed jobs and I'm back in a cubicle, but I'm still using IM to stay in touch with them!
It's almost as good as a water cooler.
- Murphy's Corollary: - It is impossible to make things foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
Just find a coffee shop with wireless and work from there all day. That's what I've done in the past.
Plus, if you wanna get crazy, you can go to a different one each day.
Just find a big comfy sofa, put your legs up on the coffee table, and get to work.
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I loved the telecommuting for the first two years. Unfortunately the cabin fever set in about the time that my assignments really started to suck. I would joke with my friends "I get paid to find misplaced semi-colons in an (xml) haystack". I did take advantage of the flexability -- go to Yoga class during the day, invite friends out to lunch etc. But it didn't matter -- I was going crazy in this quiet quiet house. What's worse is knowing there are thousands of people who would want my job and confirm I'm crazy for wanting to leave (still paid pre-2001 wages). Well crazy or not, I'm leaving at the end of the year. Actually changing careers since a IT Generalist has harder time staying up-to-date and employed these days. I'm going into healthcare, and plan on looking for opportunities to bring Open Source into healthcare as my IT hobby. Imagine that -- IT has a hobby again!!! Security ain't everything. It's more fun to be alive. Build some bridges while you are employed, and get out of there. good luck.
Support your local Independent candidate. Better yet, make new friends and run for public office.
Do you need to work full-time from home? What if you spent 3 days a week working on the sit-down contract work, and the rest of the time you focused on other ventures.
For example, building up a low maintenance business from which you can derive ongoing returns. This is a great way to build financial equity, and probably one of the easiest ways to become wealthy. Hint: once it's up and running, you want to work on the business, not in the business.
Or, maybe doing something that doesn't pay as well - or at all - but has a positive impact on your community. You could volunteer more of your time than you could when you had a day job. This could also be a chance for you to build a whole other kind of equity in your life, and you can definitely get the human contact you crave.
Don't forget education. You could use the time to get a degree, take some training. Leverage the savings you get from working on contract to build you human equity!
IMO the main advantage to being independant is that you can improve youself. I encourage you to explore your options.
Obviously, everybody is different, and will react differently to the benefits and pressures of long-term work at home. Some people couldn't handle it at all -- you definitely have issues separating work and nonwork activities. The snotty comments in this thread notwithstanding, it really is a serious issue, like the decision to go into business on your own. Some people simply cannot do it, and it's hard to decide which group you're in until you try it.
If you have decent work motivation, then I'd say it's great for up to a couple of years. You get a lot done, and you waste less time on nonproductive crap that can fill a day at an office.
Nevertheless, though I don't mind work at home, each time I've moved into an office I've been delighted by the separation and focus that result. It always energizes me, and it's a good time to institute big changes in how you organize, plan, and document your work. (Think "New Year's Resolutions.")
As you point out, life other than work can get lost in the home office situation. For most people, I expect that having an office is ultimately a good thing, and is worth the cost if you're billing enough. I have always found that, as long as I was busy, the office has paid for itself.
If you're on the borderline, or just must make it work, here are some suggestions that worked for me:
-- We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of other people. La Rochefoucauld
a) Lost the job or got downsized, cant find another job, living on whatever scraps they can find as an 'independant'.
b) Made a conscious decision to leave the corporate world, and strike out independantly.
The folks in category a are rarely working on projects they deem 'fun and rewarding', tend to be scraping to pay the bills, and tend to be miserable about the whole situation. The folks in category b tend to be sub classified into those 'just starting that way' and those that have been at it for many years. Many that are just starting soon decide they dont really like it, and go back to a 'real job'. A few stick with it, and will never go back. This is the category I belong to, been working from a home office for 15 years, and will NEVER go back to the commute grind.
The whole key to the situation seems to be missed by most posters in this thread, likely because they have never worked from home, or have not been at it long enough to realize what is and is not important. The whole key to a successful home situation is very simple, it's the work itself. You've got to be working on projects that are fun, interesting, and mentally satisfying to see completed. If you dont enjoy the work, then, where you do it will not change that, and doing it at home tends to 'pollute' the home environment. People that want a solid separation between home and office tend to want it for a reason, they dont like the office, and dont want it 'polluting' the home life.
When I first started from home, I carefully designated a bedroom to become an office, and kept home/office separated. End result, claustriphobia in that small bedroom, and an entire home going to waste. Now, I have computer desks set up all around the living room, and the hall closet is a 'server closet'. The spare bedroom is once again a 'spare bedroom' and I actually use it for guests.
Working from home is a lifestyle choice, so, dont forget to make the rest of the choice besides 'just the work'. Once you've crossed the line and make the decision to work from home, the location of that home is EVERYTHING. Make a conscious decision to find a place where you LIKE to live, and move there. I'm on the waterfront with a view over the ocean. It's a short walk (less than 5 minutes) to a fabulous little market with a great deli, great fresh vegetables, 2 bakeries, etc etc.
BUT, the most important item still is the work itself. If you are gonna get up in the morning, and not be looking forward to the next challenge the work presents, its not going to get done, especially if you dont have a 'boss' breathing down your neck for a deadline. The reality of the situation is, I dont work at all, i play. I get up in the morning, make the coffee, then sit down at the computer to solve the next detail that's part of an overall large project. I'm creating stuff that's technically challenging, and fun to work with. When we reach milestones, and projects move from the lab to the production servers, I dont just abandon it and look for the next, i keep an active role in specifying and developing improvements, not because I have to, because I want to, it's fun. If the work is not fun and interesting, then doing it from home is not going to change that.
Another really important part of being on your own and working from home, is the workstation itself. I pay for it with my own money, so, I buy the kind of computer equipment I want. My main workstation has 4 monitors attached, all are 19 inch high resolution with high refresh rates. My eyes are important, and, spending a few bucks on those monitors a few years ago was an investment in my eyes. Since I did that, I've never had a headache from computer monitors, used to get them all the time from the cheap crap corps would put on my desk when I worked there. For christmas this year I'm probably going to treat myself to 4 lcd panels, another investment in my health, in particular the eyes. My notebook h
I've also telecommuted a lot, my solution is that I live in a rural area where rent is cheap and there are lots of outdoor activities to get me out of the house. Also hanging at the girlfriend's place when not working also seems to help. M
Here in the Seattle/Bellevue area, most Barnes and Noble bookstores tend to have Starbucks attached (rather than featuring a "Barnes and Noble cafe" inside). Seattle/Bellevue Barnes and Noble stores also feature inexpensive local area wifi -- $11.95/month -- via Cometa Networks. Quite convenient and cost-effective if you don't need the nationwide coverage provided by the likes of TMobile. :-)
I'm writing this message from the Starbucks attached to the downtown Bellevue Barnes and Noble, via a Cometa connection. Works JUST FINE, and often has signal strength better than Starbucks' own (more expensive) TMobile wifi.
I'm back telecommuting again, and love it. I have more than enough extra-cirricular activities to get me out of the house - teaching karate classes, taking bodywork classes, poetry readings, open-mic music nights...or I can just go out to the local bar and see a live band. I have friends, I don't need to see co-workers to have human contact.
If I'm feeling stir crazy during a workday, I'll go out for lunch. On a few occasions, I've taken my laptop, or a book I'm using to get up to speed on something, and gotten work done at a cafe.
Taking a break and throwning a frisbee around the yard for the dogs for a few minutes also helps.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
I'm also in the same situation you described. After a few months I started feeling the same deprivation of human interaction that you speak of. As for creating a separate work space, my office is actually in a different area (basement) than my living space and I have found that it has not alleviated these feelings. The other observation that I have made is that I have found it difficult to establish a schedule. Most people's work day starts with a physical displacement and that for a lot of people, whether they are conscious of it or not, denotes the start and end of their day. In my world there is no distinction unless I adhere to a specific schedule (which, in all honesty, tends to slide too often). It takes much self-discipline to work from home. In my case, the way in which I was able to get the "dose" of human interaction that I needed was to actually take on a part-time job in retail sales. My reason for choosing this route are many but mainly because it was an environment that was familiar to me and that would allow me to enjoy myself (would not require me to thnk too much). This solution also helped solved my schedule slides. I now have to "budget" my time and it's helped me to prioritize my tasks. If focusing on your work is the goal, then yes, it would succeed to that end. I'm not sure that renting office space just to get out of the house would benefit someone whose core issue stems from lack of human contact. Personally, my solution works for me. I get level of the human interaction I need and I make a little extra money while having some "fun".
I'm in kind of the same situation and it turns out there are many countries (asia) where life is interesting and cheap while internet connections are no problem. I'm currently staying in Thailand. Good times.
--M
If you are a social outcast that has nothing to do with telecommuting.
Do I ever want to continue wasting 3 hours of my time every day to go to an office where bureacuracty reigns? No thanks.
I work 9:00 to 17:00, take regular breaks, cook my own lucnh, sit on my garden when the weather is nice. No stress.
Before 9:00 I can go for a swim or run a few kilometers to keep in good shape, after 17:00 I have time to be early wherever I want to join all kind of social pursuits in the town where I live without worrying about geeting back home too late.
Frankly to rent an office defeats the whole purpose of working from home.
If you need human interaction and socializing, join a club, go down to the pub, leanr to grow bonsai or play chess in metspace.
Why would you like to socialize with people whose only connecion with you is that they work in the same place?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Working from home does get to be boring so I started doing some volunteer work. In my case, our local film festival http://www.breckfilmfest.com. It's a great way to meet other people in the commnity, could generate additional business, gets me out of the house for semi-regular meetings and isn't that much trouble since I'm already coding websites anyway. Plus, I can use it as a tax deduction.
There are lot's of non-profit organizations out there that need people with web programming skills so why not help out and meet some interesting people in the process.
For a few months I was working at home, and despite the fact I don't live alone, it does get lonely. I'm now working at home most of the time, but I work in office about 15 hours a week. I'm enjoying this quite a bit. You may want to try something like that. Try to get to the office as often as possible for meetings concerning your work as an excuse to leave the house if you want.
There probably isn't really a need to rent an office. With a good notebook (may I suggest a 17" PowerBook) and a decent mobile internet access plan, the world is your office. Weather permitting, find a local park, or just spend a few hours in a coffee house (if they'll let you!) I've found that there's plenty of ways to work out of the house, you just have to be creative about it.
Sounds like you could use a bike, good sir. Since I traded in my bus pas for a bicycle, I'm finding I'm getting to most places almost as fast (or faster), and don't need to worry about checking the schedules, etc., etc.
It's also nice because it forces you to take smallish loads from the grocery store...which means you have to go more often and can keep perishables in stock.
And I damn well agree with checking out the small local shows. There's fewer silly kids there as well.
Maybe I don't like people as much as you do, but I've always preferred working from home. When I wanted human interaction, I went to the coffee shop.
Furthermore, when I worked in offices, enjoyable human interaction was generally frowned upon. Unpleasant human interaction was expected. I see little to miss from the office.
Regardless of that, I don't care where I have to go to program, since I've been unemployed for a while. Lock me in a closet or sentence me to Dilbertville--I don't have the luxury of worrying about that.
Mi klopodas varbi por Esperanto.
Human interaction is the key you are looking for. We have discovered that our employees all work better when regular visits are paid to the workplace or office. Your end customers are your point of contact in the world and are the most important resource. Your fellow employees are (or should be) your friends and allies.
... you will too soon learn ...
... more, if you wish.
Suggestions:
* Do at least some of your work in a busy traffic space. Don't under estimate the value of the background noise in the local Starbucks with a WiFi net. Alternate cultural feedback is essential to keeping your mind alert to reference frame changes, fashion and local music trends.
* Cultivate a disconnect between your personal and social life and your work. Your sanity is important and constant or continuous exposure to your closest significant other(s) can eventually wear out your creativity. I worked with my wife in a business many years ago and we mutually decided to call that aspect of our relationship a bad trade off. We now have a house rule that after 6 PM, no business is discussed, even though I find her career incredibly fascinating (archeology) and she believes mine to be a quite mysterious (ecommerce), there is no question that our relationship has been dramatically improved because of this disconnect.
* A deep rut may not be necessary, but getting into a small one may prove to be quite beneficial. > Regular visits to the corner tavern can awaken the those inner mental needs to connect with your fellow human beings, even if you don't like the beer. > Phone the boss at least three times per week. This will do you both a world of good, even if your progress reports are nothing short on changes.
* Set limits on your daily schedule. Our work schedule is limited to less than 4 hours per day on the computers. After more than 20 years of screen burn and several bouts with burnout, I can attest that more than half a work day is very trying on the eyesight, no matter how good that new monitor may be. I limit my personal office time online to 2 hours and page development time to less than one hour per day. My feeling is that web page writers should not do more than 4 hour stretches in any 24 hour period. You younger folks will probably not do this, but,
* Take a cab or walk to work or to the market or to the library. Read the billboards, window shop, take a look around. Driving yourself around is not conducive to cultivating good peripheral vision. Tip the cab driver.
1. Buy a House - even a cheap one - more rooms will do wonders for you. FHA has great rates now...
2. The girlfriend will like the house - get a wife and have kids! Then you will really have a challenge, working at home with kids!
3. Yes, get the dog - it will go well with the wife and kids.
4. Get two cats also, - they will sit on you keyboard and pester you while you work... two cats so they keep each other company.
5. Get a great laptop and extra batteries - work at StarBucks, Borders, The Library, go hang out in the park on good weather days - all of the above will increase your creativity.
Make one room your work room, put in the PC, fax, phone, printer, desk etc... then you can 'go to work', and come home, giving some sense of spacing out the two parts of your life...
Live happy - sign up for a theater ticket subscription, get out and play and exercise somehow...sign up for a Gold's Gym (yes - geeks are allowed to get muscles too!)
Volunteer for church / hospital / or community activites...
all three love new workers, and the experience of helping people first hand will be good for your soul and well being.
Join some groups and take some fun non-credit classes at community college - music or art...maybe meet that girlfriend / wife? Or get a degree that is worthwhile to you.
Plan what you want out of life (you only get so many years) and then break that down to 10 year plans... do you want to grow wealthy - plan how. A family ? How big and when? Want to travel, when and where?
It's very helpful to write down some life goals and time frames - so you don't let a few decades go by and wonder where all the time went!
And finally - get certified in CPR and First Aid.
Wherever you go - it may come in handy some day when you really need it!
Why?
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
It may sound funny, but that's been more-or-less my solution to the cold weather. Currently I'm working between two locations (alternating days), and one has a large room full of cables, hubs, servers, and more. In the cold mornings after driving my (frozen) car to work, I definately prefer to work in the server room as it's actually quite toasty warm despite the heat being off overnight.
Laugh as you may, but enough electronics definately do cozy up a room in winter... not very comfortable in summer though and I'm pretty sure dress-code isn't lax enough for me to wear a cut-off T-shirt.
When I left a full-time office position to work full-time from home, I made a concerted effort to maintain planned human contact in other situations. For instance, I became more active in Toastmasters. That helped me maintain human contact -- especially with positive people. I also scheduled racquetball games with friends and former colleagues.
I also worked very well in that arrangement. I never burned out because I could always take a break when I needed it. Take a nap, see a movie, whatever I needed when I needed it. I produced very well because I was doing the work when I wanted to do it, and the customer loved the work. If only they had kept paying their bills!
-Steven
quite ready for that again
@HbFyo0$k8 tH!$
I go out for lunch with my friends at least 3 times a week, plus do Thai Kickboxing 3 times aweek. That ususually gets me out enough. After 10 years of traffic and ties, I'll only go back kicking and screaming. I make nearly as much as I made contracting at UPS, but now I do it from home. It rocks - PLUS the softare I write doesn't have some dumb-ass corporate higher up intefering with it's development. But, I must say, I am very lucky - the job I have is full time with one of my old clients - and he doesn't care how or when I work as long as it gets done. Yep, pretty much the dream job. Got the big screen setup on one side and dual LCDs on the other....
Ideas: Join your local Chamber of Commerce and attend whatever events they sponsor. I do this, and always feel less alone. Find a local "business center" - you know the kind with small offices, and a common mailroom/receptionist. Perhaps rent a mailbox and voicemail there (could serve as a classy place to meet up with clients) so you have a place to go every now and then. Get to you know your fellow tenants, perhaps it could help develop business contacts.
I kid you not.
I quit the dotcom consultancy business (such as it was) in 2000 and got hired by one of the aforementioned company's biggest clients to do work for them at home...still working for them so they must like me or something. I also run a startup for media distribution with two partners. My typical schedule is 10AM-6AM (with a break from 6PM to 9PM) . Every day. For years. Do a trip into the city once a fortnight for meetings and dope replenishment, but otherwise...stare at 6 big flatscreens all day, all night.
My sanity prescription.... You need analog to balance the digital.
My Analog side:
1) Spend at least an hour or two a day with wife/kids eating dinner, watching something on Tivo.
2) When I feel the stress building up to, say, Level 5, I go do the back roads by the reservoir at 130 mph in my M3. It's worth the payments, and gets rid of all that pesky adrenalin. (Take Bondurant or Skip Barber course first so you don't, like die doing this.)
3) Find a local gun range and buy a Glock or H&K 9mm. I'm not advocating carrying it: leave it at the range (almost all have lockers for rent, my guns are all at the range except for cleaning and I have no ammo at home), but nothing cures Level 8 Client Stress like 300 rounds down at the range. It's very Zen (you need total concentration on safety and breath control to get good at precision shooting) , and you will get very good, very quickly. It is really fun and totally de-stressing. Not expensive either, you'd be surprised how cheap it is to get a used 9mm or 22 and enough weekly ammo to suck all the adrenalin out of your blood.
Bonus big fun is interacting with all the gun guys at the range, and seeing how the other side thinks. I see guys there who carry 4-5 concealed weapons on themselves at all times (legal in my state, Connecticut.) I see guys teaching ten year old kids to shoot 22 rifles at Saddam and Osama targets telling them "go for the forehead!!!" You realize at that point how far you are from SCO discussions.
I promise, by the time you get back to your geeky home office, your mind will have been somewhere far away for hours.
4) Find a paintball field near you. Fit in an hour every month to go play. It's very analog and highly addictive.
5) Hey! You work for yourself: take two long vacations every year with your family. We do a beach trip (Caribbean usually) in April, and Disneyworld the week after Thanksgiving for 12 days..every year. Gives you something to look forward to, and ensures you will get to see your kids grow up.
Works for me! See if I'm working.
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
Wow, this guy has a job which allows him to play Final Fantasy XI all day, and he's complaining?
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Although having an office at home that get lots of natural light won't help you problem with social interaction it will help to fight depression. In general you need to make you workspace comfortable and open. If you work in a dark closet it's not going to make your problem better. Your office should be a please that you being in.
I think I think, therefore I think I am.
I telecommuted for 3 years and enjoyed it. One thing I did was to set up a WAP and move around some. It helps to vary the setting you happen to be in. In my case, I had space set aside for work which helped me a good bit but being able to go sit on the porch and do work was refreshing. Keep in contact with people you know in the business--that helped me too. Get with someone you know for a working lunch, social lunch or a network lunch. I'm back in an office and dislike it--enjoy the telecommuting while you can.
I was diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder a few years ago, and have learned the importance of sunlight (or a high lux lightbox). Keep in mind that this disorder is because of a lack of sunlight - it isn't because of the season necessarially.
;)
I'd recommend
taking a look - it wouldn't hurt. I was skeptical until I noticed an unbelievable change in the way I felt with light therapy. A high-lux lamp serves two great purposes: therapy and "indoor gardening"
We have furnished and wired office space ready to go. It's cheap too: $475 per month. It may be of interest to some of you wanting an office away from home in New York City. You get a place where you can work, meet, make calls, get network access, and interact with a community. We have quite a few other tenants who are solo entrepreneurs, consultants, and small businesses, including technology consultants. Check it out at www.microoffice.us/slashdot.
I was working from home in a condo for a while. That was hard and I always wanted to go out after work. Now I own a house in the country and I love it! I enjoy solitude and am married so my situation may be different than yours but I really enjoy having piece and quiet and yet room to go do things and walk and get out and accomplish things.
When you don't get out much, mowing the lawn is very refreshing.
Owning a house is usually cheaper than renting both an appartment and office space expecially when you factor in the tax implications and equity building. Plus, it gives you something to do in your off hours. Being a programmer, I especially like to work on things in the house. It is tangable work which is a welcome change to something as abstract as programming.
Also, too many people feel that they are "working" when they are phisically at work. Simply being someplace doesn't mean you are working but many people find that without that distinction, they are rarely ever actually working and that can be troubling. If you're goal is to get things done, the added simplicity of not leaving the house can really improve your productivity. Plus, it makes a lot of thigs simpler since you don't have to maintain a work environment in two places.
set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
I joined the Rotary, Toastmasters, the Masons and even the PTA even though all my kids are in college.
Does dividing working/living spaces help (my apartment's small, anyway...)?
It does if you can find a way to write off a proportional part of your rent on your taxes for the dedicated work space. Just don't install any games on that computer.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Want a cure? Switch with me. I'm still stuck in the damn cube farm. I'd trade anyday.
One of the best social hubs if you're into meeting engaging people is the local independent record store. Buy yourself a good stereo and go buy records at least once a week. The interaction is great and so will be the music. Breaking up long hours at home with great records helps immeasurably.
How about you stop your fucking little-bitch whining and be thankful you have a fucking job at all. There's a lot of people out there who would actually appreciate having that work, bitch.
rdp client "rdesktop" and its frontend "grdesktop" work very very well under linux...awesome. As for Mac, you could always use Citrix Metaframe on the server but that's pretty expensive..
Join the local volunteer fire department. In many small towns, suburbs, etc.,
volunteer fire departments are starving for qualified manpower because so many
men commute to work outside the community. If you are in town during
"normal working hours", you will be a Godsend to them. Typical
commitment might be a few hours one night a week for
training, as well as wearing a pager and responding to
emergencies as needed. In my town there is an average of one call a day but
you only have to make 20% of the calls. (To account for being out of town, busy,
hung over, too tired, etc.) Seriously, the training is great, the job
is a challenge, and you will feel good that you are helping your neighbors.