Good morning everyone! I’m picking a fun writing prompt for the weekend!
As a preface, I will say that I have now worked more remotely than I have in the office. From my graduation in May of 2017 to January 2019, I worked in the office life.
Since January 2019, I have worked from home in the same field.
I did enjoy working at the office during the time I did. It was great to be with people from all sorts of lifestyles with varying ages. You got to see a little bit of everything and it really helped me open up. During college, I was mostly isolated since I just commuted there and back home. I made some great friends and I have a treasure trove of stories from our times in the office.
My first employer was a start up contractor for the telecom industry. We were growing fast and moving quick. It was a fun time. After that company lost their contract, I got laid off and took a job at a more established telecom contractor in town. It was more of the traditional office culture with the cubicles and things like that. Slower paced too, I will add.
I liked both for different reasons. Some of the downsides to working in office do come to mind though. First, our office was right beside a gas station. I gained quite a bit of unnecessary weight and spend an unnecessary amount of money. Some other factors include the commute and then you also have the factor of not being as productive as you could be, since people tend to take breaks and converse with co-workers and lock themselves up in meetings. Another detracting factor involves the days when things weren’t so good. You were sucked into the negativity and couldn’t fully isolate yourself and get down to business.
With my current employer, they are based in a completely different state so I work remotely 100% of the time. I think some people thrive more in this setting than others. Personally, I thrive more working from home. Also, I suppose this answers the writing prompt in the fact that I have enjoyed working remotely more. In fact, I’ve even received higher paying offers, albeit slightly higher, for me to return to working at an office for a different company. I feel like I cannot take that opportunity because the non-monetary things I enjoy will be lost by going back to the office.
Don’t get me wrong though, if push came to shove, I would go back.
Let me end this writing prompt by telling you about working from home.
If you, reader, are considering this option in your own life, let me tell you that it requires an extra layer of discipline. You need to be acutely aware of when projects are to be due and time yourself accordingly. Also, you might have to have your work tied to your phone more than anticipated. As for me, I prefer to work harder the first of the day and get as much done as possible, so the rest of the day is a gradual downhill roll. Take care of the small issues, plan for the next day, things like that.
It is nice being able to sleep a bit longer and have a quick breakfast at my desk while I am opening everything on the computer and logging onto the systems I use daily.
Then, it is nice having the luxury to step away here and there and take a quick breather. Another great aspect is that I like to have some kind of podcast, music, YouTube video, or livestream playing on my tablet while I work. For some odd reason, it keeps me focused. One bad thing about office life is that people doing that kind of thing are seen as slackers. Another good thing is that I am quite a bit more productive and focused than I would be in an office. I have no other co-workers talking to me, nor do I have a distracting environment. If something is annoying me, I can just correct it real quick and get back to work.
I think with the current pandemic in mind, we will see more of the work from home movement. For now, I think companies as a whole still have some trust issues and are summoning people back to the office. Eventually, they will realize that remote work is better for people as well as their budgets in some instances.
So, yes, I do prefer working from home versus working in the office.
Library of Shane 
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