Back in the days of uni it was the beginning of my otaku life and I was pretty indulged into it. Having worked as a long life nightfiller I usually got home at 12:30 a.m or even till 2 a.m but I always made time to watch anime. But nowadays I’ve slowed down due to having work full time and having to goto sleep before midnight making it a little harder to watch everything under the sun. However over the past few months I have managed to keep a good balance between working, watching anime but as well as maintaining a normal social life with friends.
Though when I started my job I made sure that I didn’t have my otakuism influence me too greatly at work and I try not to even have anything anime related on my desk. It’s not that I’m ashamed of it, it’s just that I wouldn’t get any work done. However my boss has decided to do a rather unexpected business move, and that is move the business to his house. The office space we had was 80 square metres and that was grossly too large for 4 people so by moving the business home, he saves a fair amount of money. But since the office was moving to his house it requires me to travel a little further which is roughly an extra 10-15 minutes. So as compromise, my boss asked if I wanted to work from home instead.
So being 23 years old, being a web developer, and having the chance to work from home sounds so damn good. But I decided to decline that offer. It comes back to my otakuism and the fact that my room is like my central hub of my passion for the moé that I know for a fact that I would never get work done. in my own mind, I see that I don’t have the self discipline (much like the spending discipline), or probably the self motivation to be able to work from the comfort of my own room. Although this would only be half the reason. I’m still a junior when it comes to web development that there is still many things for me to learn and by being in an actual work environment would let me focus on developing my skills further. With my co-workers I tend to bounce ideas and questions if I can’t seem to find the answer on Google, and that also helps greatly. If I was to work from home, I could not do such a thing and talking over MSN can make things difficult.
Though I bet some people think that I should’ve opted to work from home, but being only 23 I believe it’s too early for me to do such a thing. I want to be able to head to work and interact with my co-workers. I want to go through the daily grind until the point I get sick of it and then want to work from home. I also think that working from home would probably deteriorate my social life as well as my home life. Can you imagine waking up everyday knowing you have work sitting right next to you? Weekends would probably be just as bad as you would have that lingering thought in your head knowing work is sitting there waiting to be done. But I do see the benefit of working from home as I would save a hell a lot of money on fuel, given the rising prices in fuel, and the amount of money I would save from buying lunch everyday. These are only little things compared to the experience I would from working in an office environment. Plus I like driving, and the drive up to the boss’s house is awesomely fun as it’s mountain driving.
Many people have posted pictures of there rooms lately as seen on Danny Choo. Some people sure are into the anime, possibly even greater than me. But it makes me wonder, if given the chance to work from home, would you take it knowing you’re surrounded by all your otaku goodies? How many actually work from home and how does it work out for you?
Poll removed due to it being broken for some reason.
Also a bit behind watching the recent season stuff that I’m blogging as well as any merchandise posts is because I’ve been watching Powerpuff Girls Z thanks to my dear friend Roobar. All I can say is that Blossom is so damn cute.
Working from home once sounded like a dream come true, but I’ve tried it and realized that I’m the kind of guy who needs to keep his work life totally separate from the rest of his life. Discipline has a lot to do with it, but the bigger issue for me is peace of mind. When I’m at home, I don’t want to think about work.
Baka-Raptor’s last blog post..Whose Room? Baka-Raptor’s Room.
I suppose it depends on the individual but I believe you made a wise choice if you know that home would be too distracting. I know for a fact that my productivity at home is only 20% of what I get at my workplace. My home just has too many good things pulling me away from work. I put in a solid 10 hours of work at the office daily, already discounting my short lunch, toilet breaks and those frequent coffee perks to keep going. But at home…. those breaks would streeeetch and the temptation to surf/blog/watch anime would usually overrides any lame shred of discipline I have.
I applaud your decision.
I would have to say I agree with you - I’m still a student, but I’ve found that I cannot get anything accomplished in my dorm room. However, its not just the DVD’s and manga I have lying around that distract me, its the massive amount of fansubs out there in the intertubes. I usually go hang out in the campus chapel because its the only place where the wi-fi doesn’t reach, so I can actually get stuff done.
A Day Without Me’s last blog post..Nabari no Ou Ep. 9
I think work from home is one of those things that really does depend on the individual–if you know you can’t get work done at home, it sounds like you make the right choice. Personally, I’ve worked from home for the last couple years, and for me has a lot of advantages–when things are slow, I can read anime blogs, for just one example, or kick back and watch DC II SS over my lunch break, which isn’t something I’d dare to try in a “real” office. When things are busy, I don’t have a problem with distractions because I know I have to get my work done, and I want to have work for the day done with by the time my wife gets home.
But my situation is a little unique, since I had worked in a regular office for years and only went to full-time work from home when we moved to another city. I also spend half my day on the phone and occasionally go on business trips so it’s not like I have zero interaction with the people I work with either. Drawing the work/life line is definitely harder when you work from home because as you say, it’s always there–but for me, I found just setting a rule like getting off the VPN at 5 sharp unless there’s some kind of emergency in progress works very well.
My wife, on the other hand, worked from home for a week (at her mom’s house, where she was taking care of her after she had knee surgery) and she HATED it, so I really think it’s one of those things you either like or you don’t. If your other co-workers are all in an office and you’re not, I think it’d be hard not to feel left out, while in my case everyone I work with is working from home so it’s a little different.
Did a part-time job at an office once. I can safely say that, if I were to work, I may first take the opportunity to work at an office, but I would rather prefer working from home since, discipline aside, if it is something I really want to work as (otherwise, why take the job in the first place) I would get the job done. Time management is all about self-discipline and making the effort. So long as one makes a conscious effort, it can be done. That, at least, is my belief.
I also seem to be the first to vote.
I do more work at home than I do at work.
As far as the learning from other people thing goes, that’s tough to do at home. Sure you can call, but it’s way different than turning around and say, hey you got a second? You’re still a little green when it comes to work, so it’s probably better that you stay at the office.
I work from home one day a week. It’s not set, but usually when I know I need to seriously do some work without distractions from other people asking questions, having to show my boss how to do something stupid like attach a file to an e-mail, etc., I work from home…or from a cafe that has free wifi so I can keep connected to my work PC if needed.
super rats’s last blog post..Aika R-16
Wow, that’s some nice boss! The idea of working home truly is intriguing, and I really think that going to work was the right decision. You are pretty young indeed (well, who am I to say that) and I think you can only benefit from spending time chatting with your co-workers and eventually your boss, especially since that really can be fun.
As for myself, I am totally a home-worker as well - in theory. I have always studied at home and I get most of the things I need done at home. This has somewhat changed now, after a whole day at work, I typically don’t want to think about work at all anymore and spend all my time indulging in anime, manga and other things I like.
Sasa’s last blog post..People’s choice ABA match = ZERO
I suppose it would depend on the office environment being presented. If it was all suits and ties and ironed collars, I’d rather work at home. If it was relaxed and casual, I wouldn’t mind it. If I ever have kids, I would like to work at home, at least until I can shuffle them off into the school system. I don’t agree with the US policy on maternity leave - too short.
Caitlin’s last blog post..Chi’s Sweet Home Episodes 21-24
Worked from home for like 3 months but let me tell you, initially it was pretty sweet but after a month it became hell. Pretty much everything you pointed out in your post, I ended up getting *real* lazy and barely got anything productive done. Plus it was turning into a dead-end job with nothing more to hope for, just grinding out the hours for horrible pay =/
Yah, I will also decline if my boss give me the chance to work from home, I won’t have anything finished if I do my work from home.. way too many distraction @_@.. as for my workp place, I put several trading figurines in my desk (saber and petite nendos), some of my colleagues like it, but some laugh at me saying those things are child toys haha (who cares :p)
I definitely going to watch that powerpuff z animes, I used to love the original powerpuff 8 years ago ^^
ron~’s last blog post..Reinforce Zwei ~ Alter
Good choice Adun, like many before and you yourself have mentioned, there is simply way too much distractions. Take some time and work in an office setting for a couple years and get that habit of getting work done before attempting to work from home. I personally find that working from the office where I can physically interact with other members of my project team can really put some progress in our work. Not to mention it’s a lot easier to find someone to chat to when you’re bored (and play the occasional prank =)). But that’s not to say you shouldn’t try it and see if it works for you, try working from home once every month or so when the time is convenient (and hopefully if you’re using VPN it’s not sluggishly slow like mine).
I think working at home works best for married people who have children, those who want to spend time with their kids and all. But when you’re still young and single, I think going to the office to work is the way to go. Working at home is too leisurely distracting, and it’ll just make life more lonely =/
Working in the office has improved my social skills greatly, allowing me to gain more than just technical knowledge, and I love my [office] work for that
usagijen’s last blog post..Here is Greenwood: Love Truly is Better the Second Time Around
Good move Adun, I myself am unable to work if I add a few figures around my workspace. And since you’re still young like most of us, it’s good to move around and about for a change of pace so your life doesn’t feel like a grinding session on some MMO game.
Oh I’ve recently made the biggest purchase ever on a single figure… I decided on getting Meifeng from Shuraki. OMG, that pre-order burnt a hole in my wallet, but I will be extremely pleased… it was that or Max Factory’s Feena in a bikini. I already have the Altei Sei 1/6 Feena and the Shuraki figure had more value in terms of detail and posing, plus I get more overall moe satisfaction ^___^
Strangely enough, that link you posted regarding curbing otaku expenditures developed naturally in my mind @_@. I guess it comes from being a college student lol.
Practically, working at home would work for me. My systems are faster than the crappy dell workstations they have here at work, and I wouldn’t have to deal with stupid administration restrictions on the OS. I have had experience slogging through multiple essays at home, so it’s not like I couldn’t get down and into it. That said, I really like to keep the parts of my life strictly separate. The whole long train journey thing in the morning and in the evenings are a drag, but they are journeys in more ways than the physical one — it’s a psychological threshold you step through.
I guess you are right though, working from somewhere other than home might impact on my efficiency, because of the whole forcing yourself to focus.
The only otaku thing I have on my work desk is a copy of “Sora no Kioku” by Makoto Shinkai. I have three xkcd strip printouts pinned to the partitioning wall as well.
Well I’ve been working from home the past 2 years with good success. It’s have it’s bad side effect. but for a University student without fixed uni attendance hours it’s perfect. I mean if was to work in the office I have to skip whole days because I have to be in uni. but when working at home you can go home in 18:00 from 19:00 till 23:00 to work about 4 hours. and then watch some anime and go to sleep :D. Maybe the main reason my productivity hadn’t dropped is because I’m working as web developer. and I’ve been practicing it one year before I started doing it just for fun, actually I wasn’t planning start working it. but its just happened :). well it’s true that Otakuism have his effect in my work. My last project was a small Community site and while in Alpha version it’s has to have some fake users, for show. and guess. I’ve add all Kanon Heroins and Clannad Heroins and all but Kei from Ef :D. and then you have demonstration system with anime about 20 anime heroins :D.it’s true that around my desk there isn’t a lot of merchandises except for lots of manga books. but it’s not effecting much. The only problem that appear, is that when I’m about to end a project I’m getting lazy because nothing interesting is left to do on it. just layout fixing and adding some boring feature. but it has nothing to do with anime actually.
I think you made the right choice. Myself, I’m always at work but I keep the anime distractions to my offtime. Though, everyone still knows I’m into that. Its good to work away from your home when you are young. When I get out of the Navy, I plan on getting an office job. But, at that point, if given the option, I would work from home. Mostly, its the gas issue because I live about an hour and a half from any major city.
Right now, my mom is working from home. Distance and gas really are the deciding factors for us country folk lol.
Adun it’s good for u ur boss offer u such opportunity.I think it may be too early for u to work at home and work alone.I may never have the luxury to own my own clinic.I spend 3hours on traffic everyday.For a junior I prefer to work with my co-workers so I can acquire a lot of first hand experience and have a better social life.
This kind of oportunity could become a true trap for me, since like you I would be too distracted by all the otaku stuff lying arround my home ^^
I deeply understand your feeling.
Even if sometimes I am tired of all the people arround at office (we are 13 in the same “open space”) and I am the more efficient when most of them are gone, that doesn’t mean I could be better at home.
And as you said, social life would be terribly affected ^^;
And for now I have the chance to be able to ride to office by bicycle, takes me only 5-10 min, so, this is perfect.
So, work at home, not yet for me either
lu-k’s last blog post..mukyaa~!! Featured in Mondo
Well, if I work at home, just like you, never get any work done. For people who had seen my room, which is my source of my otakuism, I would never be able to focus on my work. Besides, I seperate my otakuism from my work….. Don’t want people to think I’m a crazy anime fan or something…
Still, it would be great to work at home. I would too save money on gas and use that money on more otaku goods. Sadly my social life would suffer a hell lot due to this.
I understand how you feel Adun. At where I work, there are like 9 people all talking and working. I have to interact with them about what they are suppose to do and sometimes I get tired of it. Well, I do have remember it’s a way to make money and that will help to my trip to Japan.
Maybe in the future I will work at home but for now, not yet…
Rin’s last blog post..Mall Trip!!!
Definitely some interesting comments and that working at home does work well for certain people. I guess later in life it would probably help if I worked from home especially when I have kids so I don’t have to do the whole mad rush to get to school and work in the morning. Though icie has probably pointed it out really well that it’s not just the physical aspect, but also the psychological factor as I’m sure I’d probably get more frustrated at home than I would at work.
I’m working on a comic so, right now I’m working from home/my room. It really is easy to get distracted… I kind of wish we had some sort of studio or something. It would make meeting up with my boss so much easier and I could probably finally meet my co-workers! >_< But working from my room also allows for less driving (well, for my parents ^_^’) and I have all my art and reference books here too. So, it has both it’s good and bad points for me. This job hasn’t started paying yet though so, I might have to start looking into getting a “real” job and learning how to drive…
Larein’s last blog post..Back from Sac-Con!