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Comment by bwilliams | Hacker News Reader

As someone who has worked remotely for most of their career (which isn't very long since I am young) I can definitely say that working from home has a lot of negatives as well.

I've ended up thinking that remote working is for people who are traveling a lot or people with a family they would like to stay at home and spend time with.

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One target that is overlooked very often are people who cannot relocate to another country, for example because his partner cannot/doesn't want to leave his/her job or lower their quality of life by going into a country away from family (e.g. children and availability of grand parents nearby, friends, connections, language, ...). It's not only you. For example, in today's equal opportunities world, is hard to ask a woman to leave everything to follow his partner, yet it was something we took for granted a few years back, and modeled our expectations of what you can expect from an employee.

I.e. not being able to move because of family doesn't necessarily equate to wanting to spend more time than normal with the family.

There is a huge market of highly talented people that are unwilling to move into the country (or part of the country) where you choose to set up your business. Remote working has it's costs, but it can be offset by a larger pool of experienced and enthusiast candidates.

Not really. I'm glad I get to see my daughter grow up while working at home, but it's so much more than that. I don't have to deal with office politics or anything like that. Last office I worked at had a somewhat dress code, I'm glad I can now wear shorts. There is no impromptu meetings, and no annoying coworker stopping by my office at horrible times. I set my own schedule around when I'm most productive. I've worked at home for 4 years now and wouldn't go back to an office job without at least a $20k raise.

* Not really. I'm glad I get to see my daughter grow up while working at home *

Have you tried working with home without a family? I'm getting good gigs but they are all remote. It's has been a rough time since I socialize really little.

Are there any co-working spaces near you?

Co-working is an absolute godsend for remote work. It's like an office, but better! You can pop-in and out without the pressure that your actual coworkers put on you to be visible during "office hours". Even if you only spend an hour or two a day at your co-working desk, being able to get out and interact with humans (on your terms) is an amazing thing.

No. There is no night life either.

Yep, my daughter is only 2 and my wife worked before she was born. So for 2 years I worked at home alone, though I have 2 dogs. It was weird being alone all day, but I got so much more accomplished. Getting out for lunch helped me a lot, and taking my dogs out. Even just a stroll around the block can help a ton.

I've been working remotely for a while now, after running a consultancy out of an office for a few years. Personally, I think it boils down to whether you trust the people you work with, and you create the necessary conditions for them to excel regardless of where they are. It really shouldn't matter where you are, even though face-to-face time is indeed important from time to time.

I'd love to know what pain-points you found.

I just saw DHH post this, http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3658-cabin-fever and it explains a bit. Sometimes motivation can be hard. Especially since you have no "real" coworkers and you're sitting around the house all day. Often times going out and working at a coffee shop can help but it's not always viable. It also doesn't help that I'm in a pretty isolated and mostly tourist area of Florida where there are seemingly no other developers or dev companies and most certainly no co-working spots here.

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