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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?"
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
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.
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
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 |
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
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
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
Just get in your car and drive 20 miles at 8:00 AM, this will stop the bitch'n.
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.
Note to moderators: could you PLEASE stop moderating the following comments to +5:
- Any joke based on the fact that geeks have no life and/or sex
- "You must be new to Slashdot."
- "Make profit!"
- "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.
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.
I notice this:
A large percentage of office cube workers find a happy medium of slackness and relaxed attitude to work, even in an opressive office where the bosses are tyrants.
Home workers, especially self employed geeks, artists and small business owners tend to have a very hard persoanal work ethic (especially in the US and UK) and actually drive themselves too hard.
Basically being in office unburdens you of a psychological resposibility and you can grab slack by just putting in the hours, but being your own boss can be a problem when you work yourself too hard.
Try to get the best productivity from your workers give them (you) a break frequently. There is more to life than work ( so I hear )
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
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...
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
I did work from home for the last two years:
Ciao, Valerio
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.
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.
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.
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'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
...whereas I had to look it up.
explanation here
*Now* I feel the familiar warm, geeky goodness.
je ne suis pas un fou
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.
- 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...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)