Hi everyone. Current situation is that my current job may allow me to move to West Coast and work from there, at least for a while. That would give me some breathing room to sort things out, while still earning far more than I could earn in new position. Has anyone telecommuted or worked from home? Does it get lonely? Thanks!
Congrats! I've been telecommuting for over 7 years and love it! It's not for everyone though. I'm basically not the type to get lonely just because I'm alone. I use emails, forums like this, IM, and phone to keep in touch with people. I really like that I don't have the distractions of cubicle land, or even an office where people would still drop by when I'm deep into something and don't want to be bothered. I also like that I can flip on the NCAA tourney or listen to my music or whatever I want as background.
A friend of mine telecommuted and it wasn't for him, because he was more of a social animal. His wife would come home and just want to unwind from her day at the office and he would want to chat about everything. Likewise when the UPS guy would come he would try to start a conversation but those guys are running back to their trucks for the next delivery. I don't think he lasted a year before he came back to the office.
You definitely need the discipline to work while there are plenty of distractions around the house. Besides just goofing off because you have no supervision, I think some people start thinking about their bathroom needing cleaning and not have time to do it after work, and get off on things like that. But I found there were just as many distractions in the office. People would start chatting about last night's game and I'd join in, or about last night's Dancing With the Stars show and I'd want to scream because I hate the show and didn't want to hear all about it.
One difficulty for me is that people would share real work information via informal hall talk that I wouldn't be a part of. When I first started telecommuting I joined a team of two other guys who had adjacent cubicles, and I had a lot to learn. They would discuss things among themselves and I missed a lot, so I asked them to call me and put it on speaker phone and let me join. Now I basically work alone with one of them as backup, so there's not much to miss anymore.
The other big problem is that it's tough to separate home from work. Best advice is to dedicate a home office and when your day is over, leave the room and close the door. But it's tough when all you have to do is carry a laptop to your family room. I haven't really solved this, but I consider this flexibility in hours a strong point for me that makes up for disappearing in the middle of the work day to go for a run or ski an hour or two. So I often work 7 to 10 hours a day spread between 7am and midnight. Works well for me since I live alone, but it's not for everyone. I know people who have designed their home such that the office is a separate wing that makes it easy to get away from, and not hear the phone ringing.