Working from home
New to working from home? Heres some tips on how to work from home .
I am a senior software developer for a very large financial insitution and I have been working from home(here after wfh) fulltime for ~ 9 years.
I think I have been successful since I am still at this job :)
Be Available
Since you are not in the office, you need to make sure your boss keeps you in mind. Being available when others may not be, makes you an asset. An example would be volunteering to do some weekend time, "yeah boss, I will log on to make sure that release went well". This is huge.
Make your at home set up bullet proof
Internet connection
There is nothing lamer than a wfh employee who cant do their work because their internet is down, or something like that.
I highly reccomend having two ways to connect to the internet, I use internet from my cable provider and also AT&T (fiber to node) internet. Yes its expensive, but it will pay for itself in worry money in one outage event. Try two providers, determine which one is best/reliable and make that your primary and get the highest speed package, and use the other with a lower speed/price package for backup. As a 3rd backup make sure you can use your phone as a hotspot in a pinch.
Equipment
Make a battlestation! Get as many monitors as you can, you will not regret it
Buy a decent office like phone and get a decent headset. I use my cable internet phone or home phone as my primary, cheap and better than skype etc. I would also suggest checking with your employer, some provide ip phones (like an Avaya) then you can integrate with your IM client like Lync etc. Get a decent webcam, and make sure you watch your background, have it neutral like a blank wall, you dont want your coworkers thinking you are having too much fun by seeing some black light poster or something dumb on your home office wall.
Have a back up computer, if you are using a PC as your main box have a laptop and be prepared to be mobile. Scout out good wifi locations near you, I have been forced to take my whole show on the road more than once for power outages, etc.
Also having a spare mouse/keyboard on handle is well worth the cost.
Instant Messenger
If you company is using some form of instant message client, you will need to be wary of your presence. We use Lync, and it will set your presence icon to idle after X mins of no activity. This will have the side effect of making your at work co-workers think you are taking a nap! Protip: software like Move Mouse, will move your cursor and click etc to replicate your presence, thus preventing the dreaded yellow idle presences icon, and will also keep your remote connection to the office open which is a life saver sometimes.
Go into the office for special events
When there is something special going on at the office, be it a town hall meeting, or a Christmas party, or some offsite meeting, make an effort to be there in person. Sometimes there is no substitute for face time, particularly with upper management, and they tend to be around these special events.
Tell your family and pets to get lost during work hours
Having a crying baby on conference calls or a barking dog will get old real quick with your coworkers, they will hate you for it. Shut the door, ride the mute button on your phone, whatever you need to do, do it.
Conference calls /webex etc
Become a master of conf calls, get your own conf bridge if possible. Dont be late to other people's conf calls, why give the at-work people a reason to complain about you?
Well, I hope this helps someone. Working at home is great, but keeping a work a home job and doing well at it is better :)
I would love to hear your thoughts/tips/etc!
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