About my job

I work from home. I work for a large corporation, which has upsides and downsides (like everything does). The big upside right now is that I can work from home. My job primarily is software development and application support. My company has a very large software team, and I support some of the tools that they use to write the software which goes into our products. I also write small support applications which fill in the gaps between the tools. Collectively, all these applications and tools are called "CASE Tools," or Computer-Aided Software Engineering Tools. Are you still with me? I can see some of you dozing off in the back row. And who threw that spitball?!? So, the upsides of working from home:

• No commute - saves gas, saves time, saves sleep, saves stress.
• No cubicles - no unwanted noise, no office politics, and I have a window view.
• Diet - I eat healthier and cheaper at home.
• Facilities - I have a full kitchen at my disposal. In the office, it's an ordeal to get coffee and food, or just to heat anything up.
• Productivity - I get about twice as much done at home as I would in the office. There are fewer interruptions, and I can focus on my work, which actually makes it more enjoyable.
• Freedom - I usually workout at lunchtime, so I don't take a shower until after I workout. I also don't shave very often, mostly because I'm lazy and don't need to be presentable.

And here are the downsides of working from home:

• No cubicles - I don't hear the rumors and gossip, and I'm frequently left out of team events.
• Meetings - I have to call into all meetings, and if I'm the only one who calls in, then the team coordinator has to take the time to set up the phone and network just for me.
• Interaction - I have a strong hermit instinct. I'm perfectly happy by myself, so sometimes I need a kick in the butt to get out and see the world.
• Exercise - Our company's facility is so big that going from meeting to meeting, I could easily walk 4 or 5 miles each day. Heck, going to the bathroom is a good 1/8 mile round-trip. At home, I sit in my chair. Sometimes I need to get up just to get up.

Without a doubt, the upsides outweigh the downsides. With modern technology, there's no reason why any of my co-workers couldn't work from home. We can have conference calls, net-meetings, and whiteboard sessions. Pretty much anything you can do in person you can do online.