My last FT job was 50% on site / 50% telecommute, and I can certainly vouch for being able to get more coding done at home than in the office. Not only do people tend not to contact you unless it is truly important... but personally, I feel more "guilty" (for lack of a better word.. I'm no slouch in either scenario) when taking a break at home vs. taking one at work. I tend to take less breaks at home, and I also tend to use the time I save on commuting for active coding. Not to mention, there's nothing like being able to remote in at 10pm right when a good idea or a resolution to a problem hit me like a ton of bricks! I have overseen other telecommuters, and it is as easy to know if they're not getting their work done as it is in the office. Easier, in fact. Especially when using a shared repository of files that are checked in and out. I've always been of the opinion that if you can't trust the person working for you, then they shouldn't be working for you.
On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 12:56 PM, Dave Phillips < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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:3993 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
