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Comment by ZiadHilal | Hacker News Reader

I've been working remotely for 1 year and 3 months. The company I'm working for checks in once a week for about 20 minutes, other than that all communication is done through basecamp. I have to admit it's really hard for me and I just handed in my two weeks notice. I feel so isolated working from home and not being around other co-workers. I miss seing and interacting with other people. I'll be looking for a new job in New York next month and I'm really excited.

Why do you guys want to work from home? Isn't the isolation during the working hours hard on you?

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Because the location of my wife's job is completely non-negotiable (she's a surgical resident), whereas there are no actual impediments to me doing my job from anywhere with an internet connection.

As for the isolation during working hours, it makes me fantastically productive -- no junior coworkers sticking their head into my office to ask questions they could answer themselves if they thought about it for a couple minutes. If they can't figure it out after a couple minutes, they can email me or we chat and I'll help them sort it out. When it comes to feeling isolated, I start work early and take a long lunch break. I go over to the college and have lunch with faculty and grad students whose work I find interesting. I give a seminar talk every now and then. I don't really feel isolated at all.

Why do you guys want to work from home? Isn't the isolation during the working hours hard on you?

I work from home to help keep my family life a priority. That extra 2 hours not lost to a commute (and sometimes another hour for lunch) that is spent with my family has immeasurable value.

I feel the same way. Well stated.

I endorse you too!

In my case, getting paid $110k/year in a country that pays $40k/year as the cap (and the currency is 2:1). I'm at it for six months and I have a huge family around me -- helps with the isolation. I will jump on a plane friday and work 3 weeks from the beach, and once I feel this remote thing has stabilized I will move to the countryside to about half the cost of living, so in one year going from the local national market cap to almost 6 times that, working much less (more focus without the office interruptions and away from the 8 hours sitting=8 hours of work) will be attractive to some people like it is to me, I guess.

That is what appeals to me...the freedom to work from anywhere in the world, especially places with a lower cost of living. But even if I stayed local, it would be nice to just be free from a daily commute and regular hours. Most of the time I'm very productive at 5am-7am and 10pm-2am. My 3 month old daughter is most active between 9am and 5pm, so it would be nice to spend this part of the day with her. I'm still looking for a company that is open to remote work.

I've been doing remote work since college, and I travel all the time while working. That may be the best part of remote work. I even worked for a few weeks on a cruise ship. As long as there's an Internet connection, I can do my job.

As for the isolation thing, my family is usually at home, and I also go out a lot during the day.

I can imagine, if I were simply home alone for most of the day, that it'd get lonely and being able to go to the "office" to be around people would seem like a good trade.

Where is this? Can i join you?

Some people feel the opposite in regards to isolation. Introverts gather energy from spending time alone, and are actually drained by interactions with other people.

Working from home is awesome if you're the type of person where lots of noise/movement disrupts your work (which is most programmers). It's very hard to continually be in focus in an office, while at home it's much easier to be in the flow. Not only is it more productive, but I've noticed over time that I've been able to flesh out ambitious ideas much more often and have personally grown because of it.

Think of all the office drama, personal conflicts from trivial things, etc. A lot of it is gone. There is still conflict, of course, but it's real conflict, not petty about desk space or something.

As other's say, you also waste no time on commuting.

You lose constant communication though, yes, so you have to balance this with tools. We use IRC and are constantly chatting, joking around, sending funny pictures, etc. so I don't feel isolated at all. We also meet up 3 or 4 times a year, and it's fun to travel.

It's not for everybody, but it's optimal for some.

> Why do you guys want to work from home? Isn't the isolation during the working hours hard on you?

That depends on the person.

As you grow up, you may prefer to stay close to the ones you love, rather than to the ones you work with. Or you work better alone, with less noise and distractions. Or you realize that wasting 2 hours or more a day commuting for warming up a chair and using an Internet connection doesn't cut it. Or you may just like isolation.

Whatever reason, it's up to the person, and there are quite valid ones. You're doing no harm in leaving if remote working is not for you. In fact, you're doing the right thing.

I've been talking to possible employers recently and I have a whole list of reasons not withstanding some family circumstances. Note that I'm talking about partial remote work, not full telecommute.

1. My commute is a drain, doing it five days a week drives me to be less motivated and productive 2. Working remotely has less distractions. 3. I know I work better when I'm not in the same place all the time, I have to mix it up or I end up staring at the wall. 4. A company that can't handle remote work has some major process issues, this is a red flag for me. 5. I have a kid, if I'm at the library or the coffee shop near home, I can come home to him at lunch. If you want to make me hate my job, ask me to spend all my time working in an office without seeing him. 6. If I can work remotely, I'm going to do more work. I'm going to keep working past 5 because I'm on a roll. If not, soon as five comes around, I'm gone.

An office is good, and having the option to come in is great. Forcing me to come in all five days a week says something bad about your culture and process. At least to me.

The isolation can definitely get to you. I've been working remotely for just over a year and a month now. I found it was becoming really difficult around the 6 month mark.

I was rarely leaving my apartment and working long hours because it was really difficult to "turn off", especially when I never really left the office. I fixed this by getting a dog, and honestly it was one of the best choices I've made. Working remotely, you're in a unique position to provide a great lifestyle for a pet. My dog gets a couple walks a day, and is rarely home alone.

Getting out of the house for one or two hours a day to get some sunshine and take a break is extremely healthy. Plus, there is a local dog park near by that is always filled with people.

Dog aside, it seems that you had much less conversation with other employees than I've got at my job. There is an unwritten rule to leave Skype on, just to hear about updates with the company. Just being able to easily reach out and send someone a message (not through email, basecamp, etc) is important to me.

> Why do you guys want to work from home? Isn't the isolation during the working hours hard on you?

I think the ideal thing would be an office about a block away from where I live. I am pretty happy being back in an office myself, but hate the commute.

In my case, the company I work for is based in California (I started out from there) but I now live in Connecticut. It's been over a year since I last saw them.

I work remotely not by choice but rather because the people I wanted to start this company with don't live in Seattle, and I love Seattle. So remote it is - and for the last 7 years it's been worth it.

However the issolation is an issue - chat rooms, and Skype/Hangouts have always been a big part of how we hold the company together, and how we solve this issue. But for me coffee shops, are a big deal. I'm in one every day for an hour or 2, and that's where I get all my "water cooler talk" and random socalizing. Which on the whole works out quite well for me.

I had a very similar experience. I know and respect people for whom remote work is a good fit. I'm glad they are able to take advantage of it, and support that option for them. But for me, after about a year of it, I was starting to have real emotional problems, which I've never really had before in my life. The isolation just took a tole on me. Perhaps I wasn't doing it right. Regardless, my new job, a twenty minute bike ride from my house, is, even two years in, still fantastic.

Isn't having to deal with coworkers and people and commuting and workings fixed times hard on you? You say isolation as if that's a bad thing, I say solitude because it's not.

i think it depends on personal taste. i'm lucky - i love working from home and, since i live in s america, that lets me telecommute (which means better pay). but i have always been a "loner". i don't mean i'm a socipath(!), i can get on just fine with people (and enjoy their company), but am happiest by myself. i also find it hugely more productive (although you do have to worry more about compensating for low bandwidth communication - but that gets easier with practice, and easier still when you're working with the same people for a while).

although once a week for 20m sounds a bit low. we do also have a daily email (progress/plans) and i will typically chat or email with co-workers or clients (as necessary) most days.

i'm sorry it didn't work for you - hope you find a more communal job! :)

> Isn't the isolation during the working hours hard on you?

I worked in an office for the last several years, and finally just being around people all day every day just got unbearable.

I've been working from home for the last few months, and having 8 hours completely alone every weekday is wonderful.

And my coworkers skype and chat so I get low-grade social interaction.

So I guess that's the answer: for some people being around others is more stressful than being alone.

I've been working remotely for more than a decade now, and other than the occasional day or two now and again, I don't think I've been completely alone that entire time. Either someone is in and out of my place, or I go to somewhere where others are. I imagine that helps a lot with any feelings of isolation.

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