Working from home

[Allen]

I know this is unlikely to be the best place to make a post like this, but I also know quite a few people from Hexus who work in IT so might have some insight into my query.

I recently quit working as a SysAdmin after about 8 years in the industry. I was, in all honesty, just fed up with being a jack of all, master of none. I felt I had a better chance at keeping myself interested in my job if I liked what I was doing, which would lead to a happier and healthier life (stress, depression and anxiety was getting the best of me). I had some experience as a Network Engineer so thought about pursuing Cisco qualifications, I also had some interest in programming, so have a few options there as well. I decided I would quit working in IT for a while, get a more relaxing job (where I could finish at the end of my shift and not have anything to worry about for the entire evening/weekend - something I'm sure other SysAdmins here might understand) and take some time to decide what to pursue and study.

Sadly, shortly after leaving my job I became unwell. Being unwell led to being very unwell, and now after dozens of doctors appointments, hospitals visits, scans, tests and other such fun things, I am awaiting results which could lead to an undesirable outcome of being physically disabled (this is the worst outcome, but I just don't know right now). I am therefore forced to think about the possibilities of a future where I am very limited in movement, and one idea that was brought to my attention was working from home.

Unfortunately, if you try and search for jobs in the IT field where you can work from home, the search results are littered with what I suspect are spammers and other such unscrupulous adverts. I'm quite surprised that job listing sites do not monitor this better.

As my last company was a software development company I made many friends there who are programmers, who have taught me a great deal and advised me on what I can do to become a programmer myself. They also mostly agree that programmers are easily able to work from home for the majority of their time as their work is easily monitored and projects can be worked on at any hour of the day, rather than between the usual 9-5, as long as the final deadline is met. However, due to currently being on 5 pretty strong pain killers (no opioids yet) and several other medications, my concentration levels are shot to pieces and my ability to stay awake is severely diminished (I often do not sleep at night, or have several naps during the day). I am therefore struggling to follow their plans and learn at a decent enough rate to be considered a programmer any time in the near future (near in this case being 1-2 years). I have failed to so far find any job as a SysAdmin where working from home for the majority of the time, and working anything other shift work is a possibility.

So does anyone here, for whatever reason, work from home on a permanent, or almost permanent, basis? Or do you know someone who does? In IT or not, I also have experience in Customer Services and Finance, so any of these fields would be easy for me to get into. I had thought I could contact game developers about customer services roles, perhaps community managers who deal with social networking at any time of the day, but after looking at several UK based companies, none of them seem to want anything other than office based 9-5 (or shift pattern) workers, despite living in a 24-hour world.

Ideally I would like a job within the roles I have mentioned above, or one that requires very little on-site training, and one that would give me the ability to manage my own hours, rather than being forced to work set hours. I understand that there won't be many jobs out there like this, so I am also wondering if anyone out there in a position to hire would consider offering a job to someone who was classed as disabled with these conditions, if they were the right candidate (I am in now way trying to solicit a job through Hexus, I am merely asking what someone who is in a hiring position would do if they received an application like mine)?

I know all of this is very speculative right now, but I'm just thinking of the worst case scenario so I can plan and prepare for it. Hopefully it will not come to this though, and I can soon carry on life as normal. I also seriously realise how folly it was of me to leave me last job before having preparations already set up for another job, so please don't remind me how much of an idiot I was.

Thanks for reading this, I hope it wasn't too long, and I appreciate any answers some of you may be able to give.

[Dareos]

I know a lot of call centres can use home based staff, but frankly that seems a waste of your talents, but it may pay bills if it gets to that stage.

I know a friend of mine worked for a university, and when his wife took a job in the Western Isles he advised his boss that he'd be moving too, and working from home. His boss laughed at him and said you cant do that, its not possible, and my mate pointed out that he hadn't been on site in 3 months and his boss hadn't noticed...

he works from home

Granted he was already in a position and that makes things a great deal easier, but it most definitely is possible.

I'm thinking there must be some organisation that arranges work for homebound people, but I have no idea who, perhaps someone with medical or rehabilitation experience could help

[Allen]

Thanks for the reply Dareos. Yes, if I hadn't have left my previous job, working from home might have been an option, however due to my position the hours would not have been flexible. I guess I should keep on looking and hope that someone here may be able to provide some pointers.

With regards to a job being a "waste of my talents", that for me is not an issue right now, I would rather be earning than get to a point where I need to live with the state's assistance, no matter what my situation.

[sammyc]

With regards to a job being a "waste of my talents", that for me is not an issue right now, I would rather be earning than get to a point where I need to live with the state's assistance, no matter what my situation.

I understand.. but there are things to be said for the long game, and a break / recuperation and then being able to return to work is still something worth seriously considering, rather than pushing yourself and possibly being in a position where state assistance is more or less necessary anyway. I have worked from home though not in your field so I can't offer anything pertinent but best wishes with everything & hope the results you're waiting for will be the better of the possibles

[Saracen999]

Having been down a somewhat parallel road, albeit 30+ years ago, my first comment was that if it could be done (working from home, I mean) 30-odd years ago, when that was far less .... normal .... than it is now, then it sure as hell can be done now.

That's the good bit.

Less good is that it's a mixed bag - many benefits, but many challenges too. That, however, is a different discussion.

As for hiring decisions, as long as physical presence wasn't necessary for the job, I've always prioritised the person I felt was best suited, and qualified, for the work. Disability wouldn't bother me much.

In fact, it can be an advantage. To this day, I'm not sure why but I've found sometimes disabled people to be more .... focussed. I don't know, maybe it's because opportunities are harder to come by so they value them more. Or maybe, it's just the mental strength that they've had to have the resilience, physically and mentally, to overcome whatever the disability is and concentrate on doing the best with what you can do, not worrying about what you can't. The paralympics amply demonstrate that mindset.

Anyway, I don't see disability as a hindrance providing you can do whatever it is the work requires.

One more thing, from my experience. Yes, you can work from home. I did, for those 30 years. Some of it literally entirely from home, some of it in later years having got past some problems just based from home, but contract work. The biggest single tip from my experience was that sometimes, you need to not limit yourself by what you've done, and think laterally in what you can .... and want to .... do. If your diagnosis come back as worst-case scenario it may close some doors, but be alert to it also opening some, and some of those may be doors you previously hadn't, and still haven't, even thought about.

[Smudger]

My company hires a lot of people on wfh/field-based roles, drop me a PM and I'll link you up to our careers site...