Working alone
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I work alone from home, and a few times a month I am at a customers site. I develop and maintain some projects for three different companies. I like the freedom it gives me, especially technologically, but at times it can be lonesome work. Luckily I don't live alone, but in a household of five - otherwise I'd go crazy and end up as a loon. I'm considering renting a small office/desk in some shared office space instead of sitting at home. If you're also a lone contractor - how do you cope with working alone?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandI work at home and usually have only two cats for company from about 9-3. After 3, my son gets home from school, and of course during the summer he's around more, but being 17, he's out nowadays most of the time working himself. I really don't mind being alone. When I visit a client site, I'm quickly annoyed with the meetings, the interruptions, and so forth. I have enough conference calls a week as it is to make me feel not alone. If I do feel the need for company, I take my laptop and hang out at a coffee house or the Farm Store[^] where there are lots of people I know--teachers, friends, kids, etc. Marc
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I work at home and usually have only two cats for company from about 9-3. After 3, my son gets home from school, and of course during the summer he's around more, but being 17, he's out nowadays most of the time working himself. I really don't mind being alone. When I visit a client site, I'm quickly annoyed with the meetings, the interruptions, and so forth. I have enough conference calls a week as it is to make me feel not alone. If I do feel the need for company, I take my laptop and hang out at a coffee house or the Farm Store[^] where there are lots of people I know--teachers, friends, kids, etc. Marc
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I wish I could work from home again. The loneliness only bothers you when you are bored, so if you are bored, it either means you are, or your brain is tired, and you require a mandatory afternoon nap (boy I miss them!).
xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
IronScheme - 1.0 alpha 4a out now (29 May 2008)leppie wrote:
you require a mandatory afternoon nap
:laugh: :laugh: I try to stay away from those, since they just mean I have to work late into the evening instead.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
I work alone from home, and a few times a month I am at a customers site. I develop and maintain some projects for three different companies. I like the freedom it gives me, especially technologically, but at times it can be lonesome work. Luckily I don't live alone, but in a household of five - otherwise I'd go crazy and end up as a loon. I'm considering renting a small office/desk in some shared office space instead of sitting at home. If you're also a lone contractor - how do you cope with working alone?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandI'd like to try contract work from home. How did people get into it? Did you start with agencies or did you have contacts from previous employment? I accept I'm quite inexperienced right now (3 years C# as a working developer), and I assume companies look for a high level of experience for contracting, so maybe I just need to wait a few years.
Simon
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Marc Clifton wrote:
the Farm Store
The bakery is making my mouth water. And it's not yet 8:00am. :) /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Ravi Bhavnani wrote:
The bakery is making my mouth water. And it's not yet 8:00am.
The bakery is awesome! Fresh baked breads, the cinammon buns are to die for, as are the cakes, cookies, etc. Next door, they make their own cheeses, pickles, yoghurts, etc. It's amazing. Marc
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I like working by myself when I do contract work. I get far too many interruptions at my day job, which is why I come in at 6:30 a.m. From that time to about 9:00, I get a reasonable amount of work done. After that, it's hit or miss. If I'm working on contract stuff at home and I get lonely or bored, I look up CP, play with the cats (we have four), go pester my daughter, or do something else.
Software Zen:
delete this;Yeah I know. Working at a office can be very distracting indeed. I guess I should just be happy and content :)
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
I work at home and usually have only two cats for company from about 9-3. After 3, my son gets home from school, and of course during the summer he's around more, but being 17, he's out nowadays most of the time working himself. I really don't mind being alone. When I visit a client site, I'm quickly annoyed with the meetings, the interruptions, and so forth. I have enough conference calls a week as it is to make me feel not alone. If I do feel the need for company, I take my laptop and hang out at a coffee house or the Farm Store[^] where there are lots of people I know--teachers, friends, kids, etc. Marc
I really don't mind my own company. Not even close. I've always thought of myself as a bit of a loner - as many programmers do I reckon. But I have to admit that since I've started working home I'm surprised at the experience. Overall I love it, but I do feel a bit hermit-like sometimes. Luckily the house fills up with people around 4-5 pm, so it's quite ok.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
leppie wrote:
you require a mandatory afternoon nap
:laugh: :laugh: I try to stay away from those, since they just mean I have to work late into the evening instead.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
I'd like to try contract work from home. How did people get into it? Did you start with agencies or did you have contacts from previous employment? I accept I'm quite inexperienced right now (3 years C# as a working developer), and I assume companies look for a high level of experience for contracting, so maybe I just need to wait a few years.
Simon
Well I started with a company through some contacts through my brother. Then another company in a business heard about my stuff, and wanted something similar. Then the boss through the first company wants something done for some other companies he also knows/owns etc. So in my case it's all about getting to know the people. I haven't used any agencies at all, so I can't really say anything about that side of it.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
That I do not mind :)
xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
IronScheme - 1.0 alpha 4a out now (29 May 2008) -
I really don't mind my own company. Not even close. I've always thought of myself as a bit of a loner - as many programmers do I reckon. But I have to admit that since I've started working home I'm surprised at the experience. Overall I love it, but I do feel a bit hermit-like sometimes. Luckily the house fills up with people around 4-5 pm, so it's quite ok.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
Well I started with a company through some contacts through my brother. Then another company in a business heard about my stuff, and wanted something similar. Then the boss through the first company wants something done for some other companies he also knows/owns etc. So in my case it's all about getting to know the people. I haven't used any agencies at all, so I can't really say anything about that side of it.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
I work alone from home, and a few times a month I am at a customers site. I develop and maintain some projects for three different companies. I like the freedom it gives me, especially technologically, but at times it can be lonesome work. Luckily I don't live alone, but in a household of five - otherwise I'd go crazy and end up as a loon. I'm considering renting a small office/desk in some shared office space instead of sitting at home. If you're also a lone contractor - how do you cope with working alone?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandThe only thing I miss is interacting with others. I would learn more if I had people to bounce ideas off of or point me in a direction. Working from home it's just me, books, online and email (which is the reason I'm on CP). Shared space sounds like a good idea but it depends on who else is occupying the space. If there's a good number of techs, that might work well. Just remember that they don't work with you so you're cutting into their time if you walk over to chat or bs around.
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You should know, and I'd rather you not bother speaking to me - that's ever. So why don't you hold your breath whilst I get back to you and just in case you've forgotten how to hold your breath, let me remind you: Put your lips together, and stop sucking. ;P
modified on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 8:52 AM
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The only thing I miss is interacting with others. I would learn more if I had people to bounce ideas off of or point me in a direction. Working from home it's just me, books, online and email (which is the reason I'm on CP). Shared space sounds like a good idea but it depends on who else is occupying the space. If there's a good number of techs, that might work well. Just remember that they don't work with you so you're cutting into their time if you walk over to chat or bs around.
Bert delaVega wrote:
The only thing I miss is interacting with others. I would learn more if I had people to bounce ideas off of or point me in a direction. Working from home it's just me, books, online and email (which is the reason I'm on CP).
Exactly. That is undoubtedly the thing I like the least about working alone. Sometimes I really, really miss other programmers to bounce ideas off of. On other hand that means I do a LOT of research when I'm in doubt about something.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
You should know, and I'd rather you not bother speaking to me - that's ever. So why don't you hold your breath whilst I get back to you and just in case you've forgotten how to hold your breath, let me remind you: Put your lips together, and stop sucking. ;P
modified on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 8:52 AM
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Norm .net wrote:
Put your lips together, and stop sucking.
How sad. You even cut and paste my brushoff. Do you do that with CP code, too?
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
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is there some history between you two, if so take it outside (metaphorically speaking of course) :)
