This is my first "work-from-home" job. Honestly, I don't see how I ever survived working in an office before this. Between massive gas expenditures, thousands of hours lost in commutes, and daily distractions, my productivity and happiness have increased 10-fold at least.
I can't go back to the office. I've been spoiled. :)
I worked from home for 4 years in my late 20s. It's brilliant. There's one thing I wish I'd been told at the beginning: You really have to strive to maintain your social life. Work hard at saying yes to going out and doing things. Do not make the mistake of believing that online chat, gaming, forums, and Facebook is the same as meeting people in the real world. If there's one thing that working from home does, especially if you have a job you really enjoy, it's that it makes it exceptionally easy and fun to just sit write code (or whatever you do) for 14 hours straight without actually talking to anyone face to face. That will absolutely destroy your social life.
I think that is good advice. What I don't understand is why does social life have to be tied to work? I mean, its quite clear this happens a lot, to the extend that the President and First Lady met while working (not to say dating is the only form of social life too, btw). Although I don't work from home, I do try to develop and maintain more friendships outside of work than from within it. It helps to keep "work" and "play" separate.
Even if your friends aren't work friends, it can be more difficult to go out after work if you're working from home -- you're already comfortable and still in your pajamas. Whereas if you work in a city center and your friends do too it's a lot easier to make the effort to meet up on your way from the office to home.
"What I don't understand is why does social life have to be tied to work?"
I hate to think of it, but it could be that so many people are simply working so long, that the office is really the only social interaction they have the energy for.
I moved house partly because I could work from home and spent 8 years, in a new town, without socialising or having anyone close to really socialise with. It didn't help that my work colleagues were on two different continents.
Not having a social life eventually killed it for me. I loved the freedom of choosing my own hours and working in an office I built Just For Me. I loved being there for my family. But at the end of the day I just wanted human contact with the people I was working with. I needed those subtle levels of communication that you simply can not get on a video call with 1-3 second lag.
I finally called time on it and started working among people again. I still like to work from home every now and then but mostly I like knowing, immediately, how I am perceived amongst my co-workers and being able to gripe and moan about <insert office bug bear of the week> over a beer or ten after a hard weeks work with people who know me and can relate to my experience.
I've had a job where I can work from home whenever I'd like for about a year and a half now. This has also been my experience. I feel socially deprived when I work from home for more than two days in a row. After two days I want to go back to the office. There are just 3 of us here in the office, so we don't always say much, but still. Putting on real pants, walking up the block for some lunch, etc. works wonders.
> Do not make the mistake of believing that online chat, gaming, forums, and Facebook is the same as meeting people in the real world.
Who says it's the same? What you seem to be implying is that it's somehow worse. But that assertion needs to be justified.
> If there's one thing that working from home does, especially if you have a job you really enjoy, it's that it makes it exceptionally easy and fun to just sit write code (or whatever you do) for 14 hours straight without actually talking to anyone face to face.
What's wrong with that?
> That will absolutely destroy your social life.
I think you're projecting. Not everyone wants the same type of social life that you seem to enjoy. People can and do have social lives while working long hours.
Same experience here. On the other hand, I am not a particularly friendly person to be around, so that works out for everyone. Social interaction once or twice a week seems to work for me (YMMV).
That's good advice. Thanks for the tip. I'm only about a year into this, so my social life hasn't really degraded too much yet, but I'll keep it in mind going forward.
I also found that keeping weird hours / working weekends / moving shifts (not my choice, in my personal case) really messed with my social life and happiness. Not being able to hang out with people or do things because of having to stay up all night on a 12-hour shift on the weekends was pretty rough, and the constant rotation meant it was hard for others to remember when I'd be available. Lots of shift swapping on the team further confused the situation.
exactly this. I've been working from home for 7 years, and by the time Friday evening comes a long I'm desperate to go out and do things for the weekends. There are only so many conversations you can have with postal workers :)
I can't go back to the office. I've been spoiled. :)