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For Programmers, the Ultimate Office Perk is Avoiding the Office Entirely (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-things-are-moving dept.

From a report on Quartz: Over the past decade, designers and engineers have invented dozens of new tools to keep us connected to the office without actually going there. Unsurprisingly, those same engineers have been among the first to start using them in large numbers. More programmers are working from home than ever and, among the most experienced, some are even beginning to demand it. In 2015, an estimated 300,000 full-time employees in computer science jobs worked from home in the US. Although not the largest group of remote employees in absolute numbers, that's about 8% of all programmers, which is a significantly larger share than in any other job category, and well above the average for all jobs of just under 3%. [...] Programmers not only work from home more often than other employees, when they do they are more likely to work all day at home. From 2012 to 2015, the average full-time programmer who worked from home said they spent an average of five and a half hours doing so. That's an 92% increase in the average time spent at home from 2003 to 2005, and nearly double the average for all jobs.

7 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe if you're single by computational+super · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One reason I avoid working from home is that I trust my coworkers in the office to let me work more than I trust my wife and my kids to let me work.

    --
    Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
    1. Re:Maybe if you're single by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One reason I avoid working from home is that I trust my coworkers in the office to let me work more than I trust my wife and my kids to let me work.

      Unfortunately, I trust them far LESS than my young children to leave me the hell alone. Instead it's either bug me at my cube, or if I find a place to hide, call a meeting and bug me there. I produce substantial documentation to ensure they don't need to bug me, but they don't read it, and bug me.

      If I could work from home, I definitely would.

    2. Re:Maybe if you're single by computational+super · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Funny how the people who always insist that software development is "collaborative" are the ones who mean "you do your job, and you do my job, too".

      --
      Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
    3. Re:Maybe if you're single by Gr8Apes · · Score: 3, Insightful

      People freak out when I turn off the damned IM.

      Tell them to email you if they need an IM session....tell them that for some reason IM isn't working on your machine some times, etc...

      I found my productivity has skyrocketed since I turned IM off....

      Bah, just turn off all the notifications. No sounds, banners, popups, etc. It's there when I want to check it and poof - back to the back it goes. I do the same with email. Just because it says it's instant, doesn't mean you'll get an instant response. (Meetings, bathroom, lunch, boss talking to you, etc....)

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  2. Well, I'm single and... by dmgxmichael · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My worry is that if I took up the offer to work from home I'd start to hermit. I need the social time and to get out and be among other human beings, otherwise I fear I'd stay single forever.

    1. Re:Well, I'm single and... by Drethon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Social time and socializing at work never seem to be the same. I can get along fine with coworkers at work, outside work tends to be a different situation, sometimes better, sometimes worse.

    2. Re:Well, I'm single and... by farble1670 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      On that topic, team building events. I generally enjoy all my coworkers, but after spending 8-10 hours a day with them, the last thing I want to do for relaxation spend MORE time with them.