Experiences and Realities of an Homesourced IT Worker

toygeek writes "Some companies have small corporate offices with a few desks and some basic staff, and the balance of their staff works from home. I have worked for two companies that have home-sourced their staffing. I wish to take you through my journey in working from home in the IT world and share some facts that I've accumulated along the way."

Re: Do not want

[hawks5999]

Exactly backwards. Working for yourself you have the hardest boss. Working as TFA article describes you can log out of chat and set your phone on DND when your workday ends.

Re: Do not want

[notthepainter]

Exactly. I've done both, currently working for myself. All my friends say, "Oh man, that's great, you can take the day off if you want." Sigh... when you work for yourself you don't get a day off.

Re:Do not want

[TobinLathrop]

Thanks to my current work position I am out of on call rotation, so other than the odd big outage or emergency (well customer needs it yesterday) server build I rarely put much extra time *knock wood*. But due to long ago lack of desk space the company decided to push server admins in to telecommuting cause a cable internet is cheaper than desk space. Not that they pay for it anymore and there is still no permanent desk space but it is cheaper than gas on the 40 mile round trip if I had to drive it every day. My biggest problem is remembering to get out every day for a walk or something, while I am good at locking the work machine/setting away at quitting time sometimes it is a yeah still the same old walls I have been looking at all day stir crazy that really gets to me.

Re:Do not want

[currently_awake]

If you can do the job from home, then so can someone with better (on paper) qualifications in the 3rd world, getting paid 1/10.

A home office is hard to pull offf

[chad_r]

The article is rather light on the cons of working at home. I have been self-employed for 7 years consulting for my ex-employer. Over the years I've come across various pitfalls of being paid hourly, such as:

• - Sitting in a regular chair instead of an office chair, resulting in a year of back problems before I figured it out
• - Your coworkers think you're rich because you make a good hourly amount, without considering they get paid vacation, health care, 401k and many other benefits
• - For any errands or chores that have to be done during work hours, you're expected to do it since your family can't leave work to do it
• - You can't work after hours because you're expected to be with the family
• - You can't work after hours because there is way too much noise and interruption, and no door is thick enough to block it out
• - It's difficult to leave the house, knowing how much it's effectively costing you
• - With no place to walk to, you could go a whole day and not walk more than 200 steps
• - Less than ideal lighting and air movement
• - Time goes much slower with nobody around, and 6 hours feels like a full day
• - Vacation is unpaid, so you're less likely to take one
• - Being at home 24 fucking hours a day for weeks on end

My goal was 6 hours a day of work, and it was difficult most days to fill this amount. I got crazy after 6 years, and am now renting an inexpensive office space. It's a much better environment for many reasons, and the additional hours I can put in per month makes it pay for itself within a day. I have an office mate, and even though he works in a different field, it makes a difference having someone else around. It has been great being able to work in a real office environment, and I'm a more cheerful person as a result. Lessons learned the hard way.