1

I see a lot of people wanting to find a remote work job. and as I’ve been working remote for 4 years (and know quite a few people in IT who work remote) I figured I’d start a thread to do some Q&A.

Also I’ll start with 2 questions.

What do you want to know about remote work?

Why do people seem almost desperate to find these jobs? (It wasn’t something I explicitly went looking for).

96 Spice ups
2

I’ll start by saying I’m not looking to change jobs or work remotely, so this is just from my perspective of what those in that position might be looking for. I live outside the city limits of a rural town and have poor internet service provider options. Remote or telework would not be a good fit for my location even if I wanted to work from home.

I’d say many would want to know what types of roles/jobs work well in a remote/offsite environment. I can think of many that would not be a good fit and a much shorter list that would have no downside to being offsite. Anything that requires one-on-one work with…less than tech savvy users may not be a good fit for working offsite. Many development roles would have little to no problem working offsite. What kinds of trade-offs happen when an employer hires you to work remotely? Lower pay, higher pay, different benefits?

I think some get “desperate” for remote work as they may want to get out of their current job, but not relocate. Maybe a spouse has a good job in the current location, family live close, or kid’s school necessitates that location. If their current location does not have broad job offerings, that might drive someone to look outside of the typical, on-site IT role for employment. They may also have a medical issue that makes it hard or impossible to commute and work a standard 40+ hour per week desk job. Maybe they want to work an off-shift type schedule and traditional on-site offerings don’t allow that (8-5 required).

Some less serious answers would be that they don’t like people, they want to work in their PJ’s all day, they have to stay home because their cats need them, they don’t like management looking over their shoulder, or they want to go green and get rid of all those commutin’ pollutants.

9 Spice ups
3

I applied for quite a few remote jobs semi-recently and my motivation was so I could stay at home and take care of my aging parent instead of putting them in a home. I installed some remote monitoring stuff and look in occasionally from work instead.

I think the hardest thing for me was finding a reputable site that I felt comfortable applying for jobs on and the site I did find still had some really sketch sounding opps. I also really disliked having to video conference so much - in real life meetings I don’t have to stare at my ugly mug while I struggle with the interview questions :confused:

4 Spice ups
4

I wouldn’t rule out rural life for internet reasons. I’ve see WFH done over vSAT and 4G LTE. Remember RDP doesn’t use much bandwidth. I’ve seen Verizon enterprise IT staff given unlimited data plans for their hotspot. A lot of it is about having the right tools to support remote workers. My End user support desk has the tooling so they can provision, manage and support me despite my laptop being dropshipped from CDW to me.

4 Spice ups
5

Limo, I recently took leave for family members (child born, in laws in and out of hospitals and emergency rooms).

The reality was I couldn’t get any work done even when I was “back at work” and I had people around. “One quick favor” breaks my consentration, and prevents any lengthy cognitive work. I’d rather work 4/10s (and hire home health 4 days a week) than try to work and care at the same time.

I’m thankfully I get 16 weeks of paternity, and unlimited time off so I can take care of stuff, but I find working less then 4 hour blocks a waste of time (Today was mostly spent playing borderlands 3 FWIW)

9 Spice ups
6

I’ve worked remotely for years, and now I’m a mix. Being in the office can be hugely distracting just as StorageNinja alluded to. Working from home if you have family at home can as well if you are not careful. We have an office space at a data center. When I go there, I’m usually the only one there. That is 100% the most productive work time for me. Complete uninterrupted silence. That’s where I go “hide out” when I really need to hone in and get something done. Going to the “office” for me is working remotely because the stuff is all in data centers not on site. I go there for the face to face time as it is easier to catch up with people and discuss stuff face to face when it’s a complex topic. The rest of the time, is just conversations over Microsoft teams with an occasional phone call.

8 Spice ups
7

I dont know why people want to work fro home. I can work at home at least 3 days per week, however, i told my boss I’m not interested unless i’m sick or i have an emergency.

How can you work from home when kids are around you, they dont understand why you at home but you cant play with them. It will leave more disappointments and upsets which make mammy angry too. Go on. try to write PS script from home. On your break making dishes and laundry rather than eating.

10 Spice ups
8

I was in a position where I was required to work from home 1 day a week. Definitely had to make boundaries with the family so I could do the work I needed to do. Otherwise they were constantly bothering me and was super distracting. At work, I can close my door and concentrate without any distractions. I liked the flexibility of being able to work from home, but also enjoy the office environment at times.

6 Spice ups
9

I don’t know why other people want to get into it, but I just started a remote job a few months ago and it’s great because I live in a small, rural town with no jobs. My previous jobs required me commuting an hour one-way to my job so the time and gas costs each day were ridiculous. This way, I am saving a lot on car-maintenance and getting a lot of time back in my day. That was the major appeal for me.

14 Spice ups
10

I find most jobs at this point really don’t require an office. Maybe not in our field, but I sincerely spent years in an office doing a job, and then they decided to let me work from home, sure enough… it handled exactly the same, and I thrived. I feel like it should just always be an option.

8 Spice ups
11

Why the hell am I in the office when my job is managing the infrastructure and we have local hands for the physical part?

“Because we’ve always done it this way.”

26 Spice ups
12

I think people want remote jobs and why I would love to be able to get one is because I can work in the comfort of my home and it doesn’t matter where I live. However you need to be able to separate work and home and keep them separate and not have too many interruptions. If given the chance I would love to work remotely especially since I am looking to move out of my state to a new one and it would be nice to not have to worry about getting a job ASAP.

4 Spice ups
13

I’ve found that I’m not nearly as productive when I work from home. Sure, I get done what needs be done and fix any issues that get brought my way, but seem to have trouble staying on task when there is no immediate problem to take care of. Of course I’ve been neglecting all the household chores/repairs/projects because of how much I’m at the office, so when working at home I have the washing machine that needs a belt replaced and that stove that needs a gas line replaced staring at me…

5 Spice ups
14

I worked solely from Home (with a VERY RARE trip into the office) and I went cocoo because I had no human interaction.

I work in an office now but I have the ability/option to work remotely if circumstances dictate.

7 Spice ups
15

Good topic! I get to work from home on occasion, but not long term since we do a lot of team projects.

How do you stay focused when you’re working from home?

How are you held accountable for your work?

3 Spice ups
16

I would love a remote job due to the fact that I live outside a very rural town with limited job opportunities. I am actively looking for remote jobs at the moment. I currently work at a K-12 school as the Networking Information Coordinator and I think I would be more productive at home with less interruptions. Due to state laws that have passed, my plate is very full this year with new policies needing to be in place, but the constant interruptions prevent me from getting anything done in a timely manner. While I am not desperate at the moment, I don’t feel like there would be distractions working from home. I don’t have any family that is home during the day, so it would be nice and quiet for the most part.

I guess my question would be what are some good job sites to follow for reputable companies offering remote positions?

3 Spice ups
17

Are pants required or can I just go commando?

10 Spice ups
18

My question would be… Where is there one of these jobs that: I qualify for, that pays well, and is near me (Chicago), and is up for hiring me?

EDIT… wants to hire me :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

3 Spice ups
19

For me, I set up my work laptop in a room separate from my personal computers, TV, video games, etc…

And for accountability, it’s the same as if I were in the office. I close the tickets I get assigned and make the deadlines that I’m given. No change from the office setting to the home setting.

2 Spice ups
20

Working from home sounds so good to me , But I think I would end up like this .

work_at_home.jpg
work_at_home.jpg800×588 86.3 KB
13 Spice ups