In the past 20+ years in IT with ColdFusion and other technologies I have worked about 35% of the time remotely. I have also managed an uncountable number of developers and functional team member remotely. Remote employees that possess a strong work ethic tend to perform at a more productive rate then in-house team member because they do not want to risk a negative appearance. I have also found that the work quality is usually higher most likely as a result of the lack of stress from the absence of office politics, coworker distractions, traffic, etc. It is important though to have a clear project direction prior to bringing a remote employee on. But that should also be the case with an in-house team member.
Thanks David Wilf PMP -----Original Message----- From: Dave Phillips [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 12:56 PM To: CF-Jobs-Talk Subject: RE: What Cold Fusion Job boards are there? I am a full-time permanent employee of a Fortune 500 company and am a full-time telecommuter. I live in Arlington, Texas and my boss and *most* of my team members are in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It works out really well. I have full benefits as I am a regular employee. I have also managed employees remotely, and while I will admit that there are some challenges to managing remote employees, from a development perspective, you can collaborate and work together just as well remotely as you can in person, and in some cases, are even more productive. The issue that I think most managers have with hiring remote employees is TRUST. They don't trust the employee to be in front of their keyboard 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. What they fail to realize, is that most employees in an office aren't in front of their keyboard 8 hours a day either. There's chatting with their co-workers, going to coffee or smoke breaks, long lunches because you have to drive 15 minutes to a restaurant, etc. Also, you are more likely to be interrupted when someone (especially the end-user) can walk by your desk than if they must pick up the phone or IM you. In fact, if you're busy, and someone IM's you, just ignore it and answer later. If you're busy and someone phones you, ignore it and answer later. But if you're busy and someone walks by your desk, what are you going to do, say, "sorry, I can't talk right now, can you please leave?" No, you're going to stop what your doing, and interruptions can cost 2-5 times more than the actual time of the interruption (for example, interrupt a programmer for 10 minutes, and it could actually be a loss of 20-30 minutes because of the time it takes to get ramped back up and 'in the zone', depending on what they were doing at the time of interruption. All that is said to say this: When I become a manager again, I won't have any problem hiring remote employees. If they don't produce, then I will let them go and get someone who will. The bottom line is that most remote employees (if they have experience being remote) knows that and they will produce oftentimes, even better than someone 'in the office'. Results are what matters, not how much time is spent tapping on their keyboard. Are they meeting deadlines? Are they producing quality code? Then who cares where they are located! Dave Phillips -----Original Message----- From: Vicky [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 11:40 AM To: CF-Jobs-Talk Subject: Re: What Cold Fusion Job boards are there? That's your prerogative. I just don't want people misled that hiring telecommuters necessarily means not having to provide benefits. While many telecommuters are contracted, many are not. On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 12:33 PM, Don Bellamy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've been in business for myself for 14+ years. Have always paid for my > own > health insurance, it can be had for pretty cheap, got full coverage with a > $5k annual deductible for $280 per month for a family of 6. Adjust your > hourly rates accordingly if that seems high. > > I for one don't want anyone else in charge of my health care or anything > else important to me such as my 401k plan. > > > Don > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Vicky [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 11:07 AM > > To: CF-Jobs-Talk > > Subject: Re: What Cold Fusion Job boards are there? > > > > Agreed on just about everything but the health insurance. Full-time > > telecommuters still often require full benefits with regard to health > > insurance, 401k, etc. True, you still save money on the overhead. I > > happen to be on my husband's insurance, but many are still the sole > > providers. > > > > On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Phillip M. Vector < > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > I know I've got a major bias here, but I'll say it anyway. > > > > > > > carl starm wrote: > > > > Our preference is for someone to work at our location in NYC. > > > > > > Carl, there are several good people out there that you are bypassing > > > because you are wanting someone in NYC. Did you consider the > > following? > > > > > > 1) A remote location person can be as connected with your team > > (perhaps > > > more so) then someone on site via IM, email, video conferencing, etc. > > > 2) By not asking them to take transportation every day to work, you > > are > > > helping the planet (Ok, perhaps you aren't interested in being green, > > > but perhaps you are). > > > 3) This one is usually the one that grabs peoples attention. Hiring a > > > telecommuting person not only means that you have more people to > > select > > > from, but it may be CHEAPER... Consider the cost of living in NYC. > > It's > > > pretty high. Now compare that to the cost of living in (let's say) > > > Montana. I would presume that it's much less. It would probably cost > > > less to hire a programmer there. Not only that, but you don't need to > > > provide space in the office, a computer, worry about lunch breaks, > > > health insurance, etc. > > > > > > Seriously. Unless you have something you are working on for the > > > government that requires top secret clearance, then you should > > seriously > > > consider telecommuting. Heck, I wouldn't mind the job, but I also > > need > > > to be at home at this stage of my life, so you are missing out on > > (what > > > I consider) a pretty kick ass CF developer. :) > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:3992 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
