Thinking about working from home. Am I crazy?

So I'm looking at a cross-country move in the next 12 months. I won't be able to keep my current job as they have a 'no work from home' policy.....unless you're a salesman apparently.  Anyway, I want to keep my options open as far as what city I live in, so that has me thinking about a work-from-home gig. I'm a technical writer, so I could absolutely do my job from home. Here's the thing, I've never done anything close to this, so it freaks me out. 

Work from home jobs don't seem as stable, but I have absotutely NO reason for saying this.  How many of you work from home, and what do you do?  

Is there a better or worse way of looking for a WFH job? BTW, I'm not looking for free-lance work, I need income stability as we are a one-income family.   

I hope this makes sense, I'm on the road for work right now and my sleep schedule is pretty jacked up.

I'm a Technical Writer for a large commerce company, owned by an even larger Tech company. If you've ever purchased from Williams Sonoma or BillaBong, or many others, they use our product. 

We are 2 days at home, 3 days in the office. Flip a day either way and it's still good. I'm not sure I'd want to go FULL-TIME remote, because going into the office, talking with your coworkers, forcing yourself to get up shower and get dressed (vs just walking to your home office in your PJs) is a good thing. Everyone in my office agrees.................but I've NEVER done FULL-TIME remote, so this is just my current speculation.

Not sure where you plan to move, but I can tell that basically every huge tech company (and many others you don't think of) all have locations in Austin, TX.

Salesmen - 14 years on the road - home office.   

High expectations from the group I worked for.  Tomorrow, the day before a holiday? Better be around for that “random” home office phone call at 3:30pm.  Never felt they trusted me after 14 years of service.  

Have a good door - make family understand you’re at work.  Be available - hated working late but the commute was sweet.  

Improved my love life.  

I’ve been working from home (IT) for several years now.  May need to build up some trust with the company you work for before you can do it, and you definitely have to be able to work with minimal direction or interaction with others.  My wife has said there is no way she could work from home.  She needs the office environment.

I'm wfh 3 weeks a month. I probably have 4-5 years of experience doing 50% wfh or more. It takes a special kind of person, but if you're disciplined you can really crank out work (because there are so few distractions).

It can get lonely. Sounds odd, but it's true.

I think the best way to get a wfh job is to work on site first. Everyone needs to know you and trust that you do good work and get stuff done before a wfh setup will be effective.

Also, be really careful not to joke or insinuate or even laugh at others jokes about how working from home is actually doing laundry, watching TV, caring for kids, or otherwise a day of no work or less work. Employers are really sensitive to this (as they should be) and as an employer it is really difficult legally to offer wfh to some employees and not others. So one or two bad apples can ruin it for everyone. 

I get one day a week, but had some extended telework while recovering from an injury.

Having a routine matters, as well as a designated office space. Make keep and meet daily goals. That kind of thing. 

eastsideTim said:

I’ve been working from home (IT) for several years now.  May need to build up some trust with the company you work for before you can do it, and you definitely have to be able to work with minimal direction or interaction with others.  My wife has said there is no way she could work from home.  She needs the office environment.

I totally agree and think a combination is best. When I'm on site I focus my time meeting with internal customers, making plans, setting dates, understanding needs. Then I get home and crank out the build.

I also happen to be in IT.

Couldn’t do it. No way no how. Maybe it’s my current situation. I have three small kids at home and a stay at home wife who thinks work should involve the absolute minimum effort to stay employed.  

I'm still looking to retrain in a career that allows 100 percent WFH or close to it.

I can work well in a group, but I prefer to work with minimal distractions and alone.  

I’m going on 6 years of working from home. I love it and can get more done because less distractions. This year I have to go to a client’s site for a week each month.  That time is useful to get to know people better and track down loose ends, but every time I go there I am always amazed that most of the employees seem to stand around shooting the breeze at least half their day. 

I absolutely would not willingly consider going back to work at an office even for 2x the pay as long as I have the opportunity to work from home. 

I do electrical engineering working on capital projects for utilities. 

I WFH between 1 and 5 days a week. Likely going to become 3 days a week on a regular cadence as starting in Septemberish our reporting lines will change and my manager will be 1000 miles away. I started working in the office, but my manager is never in the office (travels about 50% of the time, WFH at least one day a week if he is traveling), I don't actually work with anyone in my office, and seeing as the rest of my team is spread across the country, nobody even knows the difference. 

I love it. I have a good office at home though--this is essential. A good door. Make sure that family knows that even though you're at home, YOU'RE AT WORK and can't play. But you can still have lunch with whomever is home. It makes life's little surprises much easier to deal with--dog walker can't come? Fine, I'll stay home today. Then, on the slow days, kick back in the recliner with the laptop or play guitar for a few minutes at the desk. I get more sleep, but I actually work more hours. The other bonus? I'm leaving tonight for Memorial day. I'll get to the lake house around 10PM, go to sleep, wake up, work from "home" (the lake house has an office too), then I'll have given myself a 4 hour head start on the weekend. Little things like that add up. 

Drawbacks, you're always at work. I have a hard rule, the computer is off at 7PM except for the most dire of situations. I'll wake up at 5am for it, but I need my at home time to be at home. Otherwise you'll end up like my MIL who probably puts in 12 hour days, and 4-16 hours on the weekends, when she was working maybe 45 hours a week when she was in the office. For those that socialize at the office, it hurts. I'm an introvert though, and I get socialization regularly anyway, so I don't get lonely WFH at all. And even if you do, you can do like my brother who walks to the coffee shop and works from 10AM to noon every day. $3 in coffee is less than the tolls that he'd pay driving to work.

EDIT: The one MAJOR drawback for me, is not getting facetime with folks to get recognition in the company. Not as much of an issue with this company as most, but it does play a factor. I try to get into our corporate HQ once every quarter at least for a series of meetings. This may or may not be important to you; I'm 29 and it is important for me.

I miss work from home. I might be in the minority here, but I cannot stand the office/shop/co worker life. For a solid year, I was 100% remote. I even remoted in to meetings. It was spectacular.  I never got caught up in interoffice politics, I never got stuff dumped on my desk, nothing. I was free to drop the hammer and power out my work. Now granted, I am absolutely one of those people that does not need or want oversight. Hand me a pile, tell me what to turn it into and leave me the hell alone. That being said, it does take a certain level of dedication.  I was guilty more often than I should be of screening around on the clock. My numbers never suffered, but I definitely did things that you couldn't get away with normally. I built an r/c car between calls, as an example. for those that are easily distracted,  it could easily turn into a problematic situation. That being said, if they offered me a similar job,  100% remote, tomorrow, I would be doing it. 

Thanks for the input folks. 

I want to give it a try, but my wife and I know I need an office, and when the door is closed, I’m not available. 

I am 100% certain I could get more work done now if I were WFH. The amount of distractions at work is unbelievable.

my reason for wanting to WFH is because all the jobs in AZ seem to be in Phoenix, and I want to stay out of the valley, or at least, out of Phoenix as much as possible. 

Im what is called a mobile unit. Essentially work from home office, but area offices as needed, and all my clients are in the community meetings. 

My office is in the shop and driveway. Its the only way it works, because when it was in the main part of the house i was always at work. Never had the delineation needed.

That being said, i often feel like a lone wolf. I see the other people in my company ince a month at most. The bright side is that i have my own toilet paper and can pick the radio station without anyone bitching. But, its a profound lack of support or shared mutual experience. Doing what i do, that can be rough when you can't say much to the family and don't see/hear anyone else struggling with similar E36 M3. But you do technical writing, not suicide intervention and spmi housing subsidy. 

There are certainly people who need the office environment for their personal life, and people who need the office for their professional life. 

I probably need the office for my professional life - as in - I wouldn't get much done if I worked from home. I make plenty of friends outside of the workplace, though.

My wife, on the other hand, works from home (for a company based in Tempe), but she's shy and without hobbies, so she needs an office in order to make friends. It has, however, given us a massive amount of flexibility to deal with life events like our toddler and my wife's hip injury that a traditional commute for both of us would not allow. 

I still contend that for me at least, the best option would be the ability to work whatever office you choose. We've got offices in Prescott, Show Low, Havasu, even way down in Nogales on the border. It'd be awesome to work from one of those areas with a cheaper cost of living, for sure. 

I've run my own businesses from home in the past, and am now working from home if I'm not on site at a client.

Delineation is important. I have one computer specifically for personal/fun stuff because otherwise I get tempted to work just a little more. And then a bit more. That's usually the biggest issue - people in the office forget you're there (or think you're slacking off, but that really depends on the company culture) and there's always the temptation to work more to prove you're worthy of the company's trust.

It's easier if you work for yourself/your own business, although the delineation is worse.

For me a home office is god sent - I'm a raging introvert with an extrovert (consulting) job. I'd be even more exhausted if I had to deal with people in an office during my non-client time. IMHO I've done enough time as a battery chicken, sorry in an "open plan office" to last me multiple careers and lifetimes.

I used to do PC repair from home, got a lot of business back when there were no computer stores in the area. I still do side jobs from home - IT/software development stuff and PC repair. Saving the commute time and cost is great, right now I spend 1~2 hours a day commuting and at least 1/5th of my income on fuel

pheller said:

There are certainly people who need the office environment for their personal life, and people who need the office for their professional life. 

I probably need the office for my professional life - as in - I wouldn't get much done if I worked from home. I make plenty of friends outside of the workplace, though.

My wife, on the other hand, works from home (for a company based in Tempe), but she's shy and without hobbies, so she needs an office in order to make friends. It has, however, given us a massive amount of flexibility to deal with life events like our toddler and my wife's hip injury that a traditional commute for both of us would not allow. 

 

I still contend that for me at least, the best option would be the ability to work whatever office you choose. We've got offices in Prescott, Show Low, Havasu, even way down in Nogales on the border. It'd be awesome to work from one of those areas with a cheaper cost of living, for sure. 

 

Are they looking for technical writers?

I telecommute 100%, except once or twice per year when I drive to our office in Nola. I’ve been with the company almost 7-years, and been telecommuting about 2.5 years. I absolutely love it, though we’re also an awesome company, which greatly helps. 

Overall I’m more productive because of it - my workspace is more comfortable, and there’s only a few people who I have regular contact with, so there’s far less interruptions. We only have one kid left at home & she’s 19 so that’s not a problem, and my office/practice space is in the back of the house, so outside noise is rarely an issue either. 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Im what is called a mobile unit. Essentially work from home office, but area offices as needed, and all my clients are in the community meetings. 

My office is in the shop and driveway. Its the only way it works, because when it was in the main part of the house i was always at work. Never had the delineation needed.

That being said, i often feel like a lone wolf. I see the other people in my company ince a month at most. The bright side is that i have my own toilet paper and can pick the radio station without anyone bitching. But, its a profound lack of support or shared mutual experience. Doing what i do, that can be rough when you can't say much to the family and don't see/hear anyone else struggling with similar E36 M3. But you do technical writing, not suicide intervention and spmi housing subsidy. 

I know enough about what you do from our conversations in the past, as well as my dealings in as much and my ex wife's career. Sometimes I just needed to walk away from my desk, and I didn't even have a 10th of what you did.  

The biggest thing is getting with a company that truly has a WFH culture ingrained in their DNA. I work for Dell for 16 years. WFH at least a couple days a week now for 6 years. Now, I no longer have an office and split time traveling, at my client's office, or WFH. 

I agree with a lot here. You have to have a work place that is isolated from the rest of the house with all of the trimmings of a real office. I don't even open my office door outside of working hours. It's totally separate of the normal living areas. I also found you need to make yourself known a little more when you WFH. It's easy to be forgotten about and be stuck in a position. So you do have to self promote if you want to advance. 

The final thing is I wouldn't move to a place just because there is a WFH opportunity. If E36 M3 happens, you need to be able to get a new job. I know a friend that moved to a kinda remote area and then got laid off and couldn't get another job there. 

DrBoost said:

pheller said:

There are certainly people who need the office environment for their personal life, and people who need the office for their professional life. 

I probably need the office for my professional life - as in - I wouldn't get much done if I worked from home. I make plenty of friends outside of the workplace, though.

My wife, on the other hand, works from home (for a company based in Tempe), but she's shy and without hobbies, so she needs an office in order to make friends. It has, however, given us a massive amount of flexibility to deal with life events like our toddler and my wife's hip injury that a traditional commute for both of us would not allow. 

 

I still contend that for me at least, the best option would be the ability to work whatever office you choose. We've got offices in Prescott, Show Low, Havasu, even way down in Nogales on the border. It'd be awesome to work from one of those areas with a cheaper cost of living, for sure. 

 

Are they looking for technical writers?

We probably will be again soon. New Fiscal year starts June 1, so I think we have 1-2 reqs for Q2. 

They will let the right candidate go fully remote.

I disagree, strongly, with the "always at work when working from home comment." I may sign on early when WFH because I don't have to shower, let the dogs out, and then drive into work.

But just like when I'm in the office or at home, come 3:45-ish, I'm either leaving the office or turning off my computer. The 3 levels of management above me know this.

They also know I'm usually in office or logged on by 6:15. We all typically take 1.5-1.75 hour lunches.

DrBoost said:

pheller said:I still contend that for me at least, the best option would be the ability to work whatever office you choose. We've got offices in Prescott, Show Low, Havasu, even way down in Nogales on the border. It'd be awesome to work from one of those areas with a cheaper cost of living, for sure. 

Are they looking for technical writers?

Unfortunately not. Nobody reads the stuff we write anyway. Most of our jobs are entry level gas utility jobs. 

In reply to DrBoost :

My wife does it. She’s an IT project manager.  Going on her 4th year.  Current contract is with a bank.  You need to be disciplined because everything you do ( or don’t do ) is recorded and noted. 

She logs her 8 hours a day but zero commute time. She works wearing anything she feels like, using her breaks to change or just get away from the keyboard.  

How you are paid determines what benefits you get. If payroll taxes are paid you can collect unemployment and other compensation. 1099? Nothing and you will have to pay taxes etc. 

Easily terminated, so don’t try to do anything other than company work. No taking care of kids, housework during the day, on line shopping, or internet chatting. Much easier to get away with that when you go into the office.  

I work from home 3 days per week now, which is great because my office is 60 miles away.  I like this balance, somewhere between 2 and 3 days per week is ideal for me.  I want to be in the office some, as meeting and trainings where collaboration is needed are so much better in person.  Plus, you just feel more "plugged in" when in the office.  However, working from home allows me to concentrate more and is just a much more relaxed feeling.  I've got my music playing, the TV right in front of me (I turn it on sometimes as background noise), the dogs laying next to me, I'm in shorts and a t-shirt, etc...  However, doing it too much is isolating.  I had a job where I worked from home full time.  There were things I did like, but a HUGE downside was that I wound up feeling like an independent contractor, not a part of a team.  That really bothered me.

As for "always working" when being at home.  Nope, not me.  I am pretty rigid with that.  When my work time is done, it's done.  I shut my computer and work phone off and walk away.  It takes discipline, but I force myself to do it and I'm happy with it.