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For Programmers, the Ultimate Office Perk is Avoiding the Office Entirely (qz.com)
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.
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.
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.
Pros: - less commute time - good for the environment - more flexibility - potentially higher productivity Cons: - Out of sight, out of mind is not good at layoff time - less social interaction - less professional interaction (maybe) Overall, I prefer to work from home, but since I have direct reports that I manage, I'm not allowed to do it full time. I do telecommute every friday though!
Brawndo: It's what plants crave!
Things that improve your efficiency and effectiveness dramatically, are not perks. They are good sense on the side of the employer.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
But Home can beat a creative, collaborative open space.
Depends very much. While I am not a full-time coder (I am also architect, designer, security-expert, technology-consultant, risk-manager, etc.), I am strongly going on 50 and customers are quite happy to pay my consulting rate to have me coding for them (usually from home). Of course, if you do not keep current and do not acquire the additional skills your age and experience should bring with it, then you are indeed toast. The problem is that for older coders, it is far more obvious if they are semi- to incompetent or cannot do anything besides the actual coding and there is no (irrational, but real) "youth bonus" to cover it up either.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I got my contract written as a minimum of two days a week WfH and wish I had demanded three! I have a nine-year-old boy who loves attention and a wife that does too ;) (how dare she! :P). But here are some basic steps to maintaining professionalism at home:
1) Closing door. I.e. an office.
2) People knock and await "come in" before entering unless it is a dire emergency. If it is not an emergency and they do not hear come in, then they can either knock again or come back later.
3) My office hours are just that. I need to spend time in my office which means no, I cannot help you build a Lego project, no I cannot help load the dish washer. When I take a break, I can help, but only then.
4) My family needs to keep the noise down.
5) IM always up and I try to respond almost immediately. If I cannot I mark myself as busy, if I am marked as available then I expect myself to respond in 60 seconds. This also includes soft phone, always on.
6) If there is a reason to be in the office I come in. I don't resist it. One SIT for a recent project made sense for me to be in the office, so for two weeks I came in, got SIT done and remediation and then back to my normal schedule.
I personally thrive working from home as my commute time generally becomes a part of my normal day. If I have tight project deadlines, I will tell my mgr. not to expect me in the office for a bit. I still attend meetings remotely, I still beat on project mgrs. to either open a Skype call or a conference line (no excuse not to, even people in the office sometimes take meetings from their desk so they can multitask).
Communications is the key and delivering what you promised on time is also the key. I collaborate with my fellow developers and we do so quite well and white boarding digitally is a lot nicer than a physical non-smart board.
Now there are people that do not do well working from home, they either do not get their work done or they become depressed with the lack of human contact. From my observations, I find those that do not work well from home (not the ones that get depressed with lack of human contact) have a pretty poor focus and planning skills in the office and outside of it. So you help them build that ability. You help them to use proper time management skills, you help them prioritize their workload and come up with a plan of attack for the day.
Other areas like SQA testers. I loved my 1.5 years Cisco contract job to work from home because of my disabilities (e.g., can't drive, speak, hear, etc.). It was perfect!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I read that as "For Programmers, the Ultimate Office Perk is Avoiding MS Office Entirely" and nodded in agreement.
The correct term is Native Southern Asians, you insensitive clod!
Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
As a postgrad student I often worked from home. It meant I never got away from it. Now I deliberately don't have an internet connection at home or a smart phone, so when I leave work I am offline. Much better!