[Cialug] Programming telecommute

[Jim Cole]

I'm currently on my 16th year of telecommuting for the same company
that I've worked for for 18 years. My entire team of 15 people does
is. We're all around the country..most were hired as telecommuters. I
even have people who live in the town the products are based out of
that work from home...they could drive the 10 minutes to the office
but there isnt a point. I would say of my companies 40-50K
employees..probably 30K telecommute. It reduced the office footprints.
My old cube became a place to store dead drives for a while and then
was completely eliminated when we leased out half the floor.

It has its plusses..I'd switched to 'everyday is PJ day!' for a
while..no need for business casual attire...my commute involves
walking down a floor to my office, its dang quiet here. I live near
Van Meter on 5 acres but I have a nice fast internet pipe.

It's drawbacks: It can get lonely..I talk to people on conf calls,
webex calls or google hangouts. I've thought about co-working in DSM
but really..you want me to leave the house and pay to work
somewhere?!?
If the internet goes down  I'm screwed..I'll end up driving to WDM to a Panera.

I started this way back on Modems.. I used to work on-site in
datacenters around the country flying out of the twin cities on
setting up new HP-UX and DG boxes..my wife was in a masters program in
Mankato and I wanted to move down there.  I didnt want to make the
drive to work when I didnt fly. I asked if I could work from home when
I wasnt traveling..they said yes, probably because they didnt want to
lose me over it. I then moved around the country over the years..out
east..out west and finally back to the midwest..iowa. I've stopped
traveling now..only travel maybe twice a year if its some huge
emergency that cant be solved remotely and conferences.

The flexibility is nice but yes, turning it off is a problem. I'm back
in school going for a IT Security degree so that helps..otherwise its
not hard to end up working all day and all night with a break to have
dinner with the family in there.
My wife is a teacher so she's grading at night and stuff too.

I put up with a lot of dysfunctional crap from my company at a
management level..the pay is decent and I get to work from home. Take
either away and I'd be out of here and wanting to work with some of
you guys but honestly..I think I'd find the move 'jolting' and it
would take time to adjust to it again..you mean I have to shower
before noon?!? come on...

-Jim