Remote Work
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I've been working at home now for 4 years and I love it. It's worked out well with little kids in the family, though my biggest problem, and my wife's, has been how to not work every day, at night, while we're eating, etc.
However working at home has required us to learn how to do more than just our jobs. We have to be the site IT staff, janitorial staff, manage ourselves, and really run our careers more as a subsidiary of our companies in many ways rather than an employee.
I saw an article about remote workers and the challenges of working at home or remotely from the rest of their company. While it's different for me since I ran a small business, my wife has been working remotely for 12 years and she's had to deal with some of the things mentioned in the article.
You definitely need to support yourself and manage your own career. Out of sight is out of mind, even in a corporation and as a remote worker, you need to take responsibility to ensure that your career, reviews, and even the support needed from other employees is forthcoming.
The article mentions that you need to outperform others to stand out as a remote worker. I think I totally agree with that since the natural tendency for many managers is to feel that a remote worker isn't working as hard. Or that they're getting less done, even if they can definitely compare work products and see the remote worker doing more. It's just a human thing that if I can't see you, you're probably not working.
It's not true and I think for many people that can handle working remotely, they'll be more productive. And in many cases they're happier.
The last thing I'll mention is that often a remote worker needs to do is keep human contact. Make sure you get out and spend time with people, especially fellow professionals. It will help you break the monotony of working alone and give you a break from the solitude.
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Picture link is broken Steve... No comment on the article as I've not read it, yet
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I am SQL Developer (not DBA)
I have had the priveledge of working remotely on and off for about 5 years.
I would agree that being more skilled definetly helps as you are automatically more valued for that.
Working for a small agile organisation has been beneficial for me as they seem to be more open to change and new technology.
I get face to face once a week for a day in the office but also catch up via skype and skype video multiple times a day
Regards
David Thomas
Central Coasty NSW Autstralia
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I've never worked remotely from home for an extended period of time, just connecting from home at times to do something instead of driving to the office. Maybe I'd like it if I gave it a chance but I actually like working on-site because I get to talk to other people. Also get to see office politics go down which is always nice and very informative.
"OMG, did that woman just run into the bathroom with that manager!" hahaha.I'd probably get too lonely if I worked remotely a majority of the time. I guess everyone is fit for particular kinds of jobs.
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Humans are highly social creatures. As much as we look at job performance metrics, there is substantial interactions going on constantly in a workplace that are substantially missing for a remote worker. This is not just fluff, impromptu contact, even body language provide substantial informative background to the more formal communications. Also a worker who physically arrives every day (or most days) can be perceived as giving more of him/her self to the operation than one who simply connects.
Job security is also a potential issue. If a job can be done from home, it can be done from India.
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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"I think I totally agree with that since the natural tendency for many managers is to feel that a remote worker isn't working as hard. Or that they're getting less done, even if they can definitely compare work products and see the remote worker doing more. It's just a human thing that if I can't see you, you're probably not working. "
I think it's less the manager feeling one isn't getting anything done and more the feeling that they want to have power of manager over one in order to feel that they are doing their job correctly. This applies in cases where one's output is substantial and measurable.
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Joe,
You might be right. I know I've tried to telecommute 2-3 days a week in many jobs and almost every manager didn't want to have me out of sight. What's interesting is then when I managed a DBA team, it was less of an issue.
One other thing that I just thought of. I used to work in an office, wear my headphones, listen to music, and pretty much keep to myself the majority of the time. I would workout at lunch or go meet friends, so I thought working at home would be easy. Turns out that I missed having people around, even if I wasn't talking that much to them.
Image should be fixed as well.
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Thanks Steve.
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My normal work is as a DBA with some development, I spent a year doing SQL development with zero DBA work for a state agency. Pure database development and TSQL and no VB, it was great! The first four months or so I did in-office as it was about three miles from my condo. Then I got married and moved to the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico to live with my wife. Since I had the framework/methodology already in place from my in-office time, telecommuting was a breeze. It also gave my wife the excuse to get DSL at home rather than dial-up.
It was a perfect job for telecommuting since the work was extremely modular. Once I had the basic methodologies in place, each subsequent section was simply adapting/tweaking what I'd previously written. And as I had no other commitments on my time, I could make the occasional 500 mile drive back to Phoenix for a day or two in-office. It was a great time, sadly only a one year contract.
The socializing aspect wasn't really a factor as I was a contractor and had no previous exposure to the people. I went to lunch with them occasionally when I was in Phoenix, but it was never that tight of a group.
But the ability to sit in a chair in a copse of trees in your front yard with a wireless laptop was a fantastic experience! I'm hoping to one day have my current work environment standardized and smooth enough that I can telecommute one day a week. But until we get up to SQL 2008, I don't think that'll be happening.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font] -
I get way more work done at home, but I'm accessible when I'm in the office. It is that accessibility that makes it hard for me to get anything done at the office. It is a balancing act and one which I'm happy to try to work out. I think it's important to be around everyone else on a regular basis. Probably more important for us because we are a small company. I just took a week off with a screwed up ankle, and now that I'm back I feel like "everybody wants me"... and I know I won't get any work done until they get over it.
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