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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?"
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'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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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'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 have worked from home for 12 years now, having started when I moved back to Britain after contracting in Germany. Nine years ago I moved out of the city to live in a rural location. Out here isolation can become an issue, especially in winter when one could easily go for weeks without meeting anyone. On the other hand I am not tied to work at any specific time so I am free to go out on the spur of the moment -- for a run or to go sailing, or just to socialize. Virtually none of the people I meet locally are techies, so there is also a sense of technical isolation; however I phone work colleagues to get the contact I require and to have someone to bounce ideas off. Living where I do also makes me really look forward to the occasional on-site meetings!
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.
...whereas I had to look it up.
explanation here
*Now* I feel the familiar warm, geeky goodness.
je ne suis pas un fou
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
- 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...If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
Set up an encrypted partition on the laptop and make sure you sync it up when you get home so if it is stolen you lose little data. When you work outside the home just work with your back to the wall, I'm sure you'll notice if someone is trying to sneak a peek. Set a hotkey to blank the screen or lock out the laptop quickly for when you need it.
It's really not as big of a risk as you might think. I work outside the office all the time and I can tell you that it comes fairly naturally once you find a few places that are comfortable.
Sapere aude!
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
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'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 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.
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!
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....