[imjared]

I've been working at home for about a year and can sympathize with the author. I've really been surprised at what an effect its had on me socially. I'm not the most outgoing person to begin with so the forced in-person interactions (both appreciated and unappreciated) that I got in my previous office settings were probably a lot more beneficial to me than I previously believed.

I feel like I have the additional challenge of being a web developer so when I do get the chance to talk to people, I don't have the "oh you won't believe this crazy guy I work with" stories. Everything is "oh you won't believe this wacky stacktrace I was getting." Cue glazed over eyes.

I love sitting here in my sweats, making fresh lunches, taking a short nap almost every afternoon to refresh, and being able to travel literally wherever I want as long as there's wifi. I miss people more than I thought I would. I think I'll probably join a coworking space before long even if it's only to go for a part of the week.

[ht_th]

> I've really been surprised at what an effect its had on me socially.

One of the odd things that happened is that I've become more extrovert when I do meet people. To off-set working alone at home, I volunteer two days a week at the local hackerspace to socialize. That has been a blast.

[kleer001]

Exactly.

A girlfriend way back when introduced me to the term "People Batteries." As in it takes energy to be around people. Some people get energy from being around other people and some from being alone. If you're the alone type those batteries still fill up. I think that's a much better model than people being extraverts OR(and only or) introverts. We're more complicated than that.

[krylon]

That is a very interesting idea, one that I can relate to.

On the one hand, I do enjoy being around other people most of the time. When I spend too much time by myself, I feel like I am loosing proportion of my own life, like what is good or bad about my life at the moment. Sharing other people's lives helps me keep perspective. Also, a good deal of the time, it's just damn interesting.

On the other hand after a certain amount of time, I also need some alone-time to unwind. And when I've had my share of social interaction, I am happy to spend more time on my own than many people I meet at work.

[ngoel36]

That means you might naturally be an extrovert. Extroversion, by definition, means you gain energy from other people. I'm a Myers-Briggs "E", and this can be the equivalent of a powerful drug. I can forget to eat, even defer sleep if I'm around people who are interesting enough. Sometimes, though, this does stop me from getting any work done...

[puranjay]

Get out while you still can.

Seriously.

I worked from home for 2.5 years and it has had a profoundly negative impact on my social life and even my personality. I'm good with people, but sitting alone all day for such a long-time has turned me into the kind of person who thinks of calling an old friend, then thinks 'eh, why bother. Let's see what's new on Reddit instead'.

Then there's the problem with setting a routine. I can wake up whenever I want to, sleep whenever I want to. And that's what I usually end up doing. Sure, it's fun for the first few weeks, but soon you realize why human beings need structure and organization.

It's corrosive. I moved to a co-working space and I've never been happier.

Working from home is seriously overrated.

[BSousa]

This will really depend on you and your home life to be honest.

I've been working from home for more than a year (with some half year stints before) and I can't imagine going back to an office. I have my kid to play with and my wife to talk with if I need to. I also chat with co-workers online but if I really want to talk to people, I can always pick my laptop and go to a cafe, gym, mall even. I wake up at around the same time everyday (well, kid is my alarm clock), do the normal morning chores with the family, then start working. I can (and do) stop every so often and do some exercise or sometimes just stop and read a bit of a book if the weather is nice outside. I'm always on time for dinner since I'm the one that cooks it, and I put my kid to bed everyday. The fact I work from home could have been an excuse to not care about schedules, slack of on the personal hygiene/appearance, but I didn't and as I said, I would probably take a large payout over going to an office again.

I think, and to be fully honest, whenever I worked in an office, I would say I actually enjoyed the company of 2-3 people and the rest were a bother (to me) and I couldn't really go: "John, no you can't come for coffee because people don't like talking to you" so having my family, some friends (have a few that also work from home living nearby) and ability to talk to random strangers gives me all the socialising I need.

[KFW504]

What's the turnover rate at your co-working space? If people aren't working there for any significant period of time, you might not be able to develop the same type of meaningful interactions you'd hope for in an office.

[gclaramunt]

is a trade-off, I worked from home for a year, and although I missed the casual interactions you get in the office, I was able at any moment to take a 5 minute break to play with my kids, go pick them up from school, help them with homework, and that's priceless

[paulornothing]

It's definitely not for everyone. In my work 90% of the people I interact with are working remotely, so working from home half of the week doesn't really affect me. Not having to commute in the morning has a profound effect on my mood. I've also learned that rolling out of bed and just plunking down to work makes me less productive than getting up and showering and putting on at least some casual clothes. However I also have a wife and kids that come home after I'm done with work, so I'm not fully isolated all day.

[tribaal]

Well, the good thing is that "wokring from home" lets you choose to go to a coworking space or not... while people who actually enjoy working from home (like me for example) don't get to choose if the job is "office-only".

[JDiculous]

It wouldn't have been a problem if you had a social life outside work