OnTheGoSystems (our company) is growing and we’re looking for the best developers out there to join us.
We’ve been operating as a distributed company from day one, sometime back in 2007. When I think about it, I realize that what seems obvious to us, isn’t quite natural to everyone. Some of the people we’re interviewing now are great developers, but are new to working remotely from home.
I sat myself down and wrote a page that explains the pros and cons of working in remote.
If you’re considering leaving the comforts of your office and starting to work from home, you might get a thing or two from there. The executive summary of that page:
- Remote working puts you in charge of your life and gives you all the flexibility you can have.
- You need to learn how to manage yourself, organize your time and life.
That page is closed for comments, but I’d love to hear what you think and learn from your experience working from home.
Leave your comments here and I’ll get back to you.
Like you, I manage a small business from home. “Manage” may be an overstatement — as you note in your piece, it requires far more discipline than many expect and it’s easy enough to feel overwhelmed by the tasks.
Missing from your article are the specifics of the tasks. The at-home-businesswoman, whether managing an office for one or a distributed company, takes on far more roles than the average office- or production-line worker. The “Jack of all trades” status comes forward: you have to be the finance person, the HR manager, the accountant, AND the project manager.
There are ways to reduce those chores (automation, baby!) and ways to scale up your model so that don’t leave you feeling woefully adrift in an unending sea of “must dos.” But, yeah, I think it’s worth it!
Good points. Like you know very well, working from home and managing a business is not for everyone!