Brendan Tompkins [MVP]

Man I couldn't work from home even if I wanted to.

I couldn't either. I have an 18 month at home and wouldn't get any work done. I worked from home for a few years and it went alright for awhile, then it got to where I never left the house. I like going to an office everyday now. I have a window office :)

I agree that when you are working from home, you are less likely to meet cool new people. However, that doesn't mean that it is impossible - I met some new people last year that are pretty cool. But on the plus side, I'm also less likely to work with really crappy people (and for some reason, these people seem to be everywhere!)

Also, just because I work from home doesn't mean I don't get out. I make an effort to get together for lunch with current and former colleagues at least once a week.

I will also admit that it is much easier for me to work from home now that my kids are 17 and 20, and generally ignore me. It would have been impossible when they were little. And I'm jealous of Raymond - my home office is in my basement. I would love to have a window office!

Your story rings entirely true. The freedom is wonderful, but the isolation can be crippling. The secret is to balance chunks of time between on-site and off-site contracts so you can get the best of both worlds. Cake and more cake...

I've been working from home for my entire career (19 years professional). When the economy is down (like the last bubble burst) it's bad. You have to save when the times are good. It has its downsides but I do like the upsides. One of them is taking care of our kids for a part of the time, as my wife has a part-time job. The latter will keep me working from home, no employer will take me with my strange break demands like "not available between 15:00 and 18:00 on tuesdays and thursdays.

Working for a company (which I've done a couple of times for a couple of months on a contarct basis) might be a good opportunity to meet cool people but my experiences have not been that good. Even cool people get stale after a certian period of time. And every company and its emplyees I met has some kind of tunnel vision.

To meet cool people I go to a lot of user group meetings, visit conferences and read a lot on the net. Where I learn more than from the chatter at the local coffee machine.

It can be a little lonely when everybody else is out to school or work. But leaves time to work quite concentrated.

http://spaces.msn.com/members/faithinteractive/Blog/cns!1pAy-yNoYs5GUZfZW_Je95lg!399.entry

I think that "going to work" however far it is, provides the separation between work and home that I need as a person. Sure I might go home and learn development stuff or code, but I'm at home and I'm doing what I want to do.

For the home workers: There's a reason that kids don't understand why sometimes when you're at home that you're not really "at home", you're "at work." :)

That last one is very true. Include the wife :)

Been working from home for 5 years now. I'd miss walking the dogs too much if I got a real job.

It is true that when you work from home, it is harder to separate your home life and your work life. I am still learning how to do this. I don't really want to have set hours (like I am work between X-Y times), as that defeats one of the benefits for me of working from home (the flexibility). I think the trick for me is going to be learning to say no sometimes to my customers.

Hey Brendan,

I have been working from home for 5 years, and like you, I have never really had a problem with being disciplined. I don't think this is a problem as long as you love what you are doing.

Although I don't think there are any rules written in stone, I personally find it helpful to have an office in the house dedicated to working. I make sure this office does not "spill" into the rest of the house. I keep business matters in the office, have consistent defined working hours, have regular sit-down meals and breaks, and when I leave my office I am either on break or done for the day. These rules aren't to keep me on task, but to make sure I leave time for what is more important - my kids, myself, and my wife.

The key for me, however, is really not the place that I work but the type of work I am doing. I can personally work anywhere, but what I couldn't do is work for someone else. I don't want to build the business of someone else, but build my own business. I want to reap the full rewards of my successes and learn firsthand from the failures I make a long the way.

As for learning from others and meeting others, we have a different climate than what we used to. INETA, bless their souls, is bringing some genius developers into my backyard every month from whom I am able to learn from and ask questions. Blogs contain some really cool information that Google is indexing everyday. Open-source tools and starter kits (which are getting better) are all around us, allowing me to see best practices in action. An last, lets not forget the webcasts, DNR, and other multimedia presentations that give me access to other smart developers and great content.

Although there are times I miss the companionship of other developers, technology and communities are making these times fewer and far between.

Wow,

These comments are great! My wife would love it if I worked from home, although now that I'm married, I'm not sure if I could define that clear boundry that David has. Someday, perhaps, I'll do it again. I'd love to write a book from home at some point.

Glad to see that you guys enjoy the way you work. That's the most important thing, right? I suspect that most of the people who are reading blogs heavily, and who get to work on the technolgy they're reading about, are pretty happy wherever they are.