The new poll (in the sidebar) asks:
In what environment do you primarily work?
I’ve worked from home for a lot of years but that will soon be changing. I’m interested to know the environment readers of this site work in.
If you don’t work at the moment, there is an option for that. If you are a student, there are options for that. If you are a student that works, vote based on the working part.
Voted. I currently am working at home, but during these times when the sun is at its hottest, I seriously like to reconsider an airconditioned cubicle.
at present I work in the office with a door,
Voted done…
typo on “Enviornment”
I’m a pre-college student, but when I do work on freelance projects, it’s at home.
I’m actually surprised that there’s a fairly substantial pre-college audience.. good to know I’m not alone!
I am a pre-college student as well, and I had the same reaction. At my high school school of 4000+ kids I know less then a half a dozen kids who know anything about web design.
You’re the most interesting guy I know
I’m working on-site. I’m blessed to have steady/full-time work but I would rather work from home because I can get more done with less distractions around. Not to mention my total commute time in one day is 60 mins. — that totals up to 6 weeks of commute time in 12 months.
Actually, it’s a little more than 1.5 weeks if you work a 5 day work week every week and don’t take any holidays. But, that’s just my math: 1 hr/day * 5 day/wk * 52 wk/yr = 260 hr/yr / 24 hr/day / 7 day/wk = 1.5 wk/yr
But yeah, an hour of commute time a day still sucks.
Try 15 hours of commuting in a 5 day week, not nice!
I have a room at home which is my office.
indeed… so many options for people in offices, but only one for people at home!
“At home in an office with open door (sometimes with laptop in living room) three cats and chihuahua”
Having once commuted 2.5-3 hours a day (in good weather) for sixteen years straight, I’m now blessed with a 30 second commute to my office downstairs.
Upside: Dress code is VERY relaxed. My boss is not a jerk. I don’t feel like I work with Dilbert.
Downside: It’s way too easy to work fifteen hours a day when the office is a 10 second walk from the living room.
I agree. That was my life for 5 years before going corporate. I found myself working well past midnight convincing myself that I would only work for another 15mins.
It’s like we switched rolls, I now commute 2.5-3hrs a day (BART), but I just realize it is nice to have a change in the once known routine and to have some others to socialize with.
Both….
Work during the day at the full time gig in a pretty rad open office, while nights in my home on freelance whenever I can.
Bill, it’s even easier to work that fifteen hours when your home office doubles as your bedroom…lol.
Yup this is me. Work from 9 to 5, get home and freelance :)
Can we have an extra option for this? This is me too – but at the end of the year I’m quitting and taking the freelance fulltime.
Voted as well; Currently working from home. I just started very recently and I agree with the sentiment of spending 15+ hours a day working. It’s great for some things (money) but I do sometimes miss leaving at 5pm and not having to think about work until the next day.
Voted.
At home.
I work at office in the daytime and work at home in the night as a freelancer!!
So I think my options not included here!! :D
Voted “open office” because I spend more hours working in one, but, in theory, I run my company from home (and used to work exclusively at home).
Open office – think it’s cool cause you’re able to create a nicer ‘room-design’ than in a small single room.
At home, but it’s important to have a spare room for your work. It helps to separate your work from personal life.
i work from home,
but what home? i came from the middle italy but i decided to move in amsterdam for some months…
sometimes, when i wanna know somebody and watch a moving world i go to the big biblioteque, it’s a nice place for work
generally god bless freelancing :)
next move? maybe sanfrancisco?
Hey Chris, moving again? Good luck with all that. You must be looking forward to living in California?
All the best
Have worked from home for the last 3 1/2 years. Yes some 15 hour days, but for the most part I walk out of the home office in the early afternoon.
My biggest problem? Still have not gotten over working in a factory and getting up at 4am.
The biggest plus – going for a walk out in the fresh air when the weather is nice whenever I feel like it
I commandeered my conservatory. It is the brightest room in the house and I need to be flooded with natural light to stay motivated.
voted.
in an open office.
Really lot a people work like me in a home office, is good.
Work in an office when im contracting and I work at home doing personal projects. Im more motivated in an office though.
just voted for home!…
Kind of both… My wife and I built a studio/office on our land, so it’s at home, but at the same time we’re not in the house. After working out of our dining room for 2 years I appreciate it every day :)
Currently in a cubicle. But I think will be cool to work anywehere you want.
We run our business out of the top floor of the house that we all live in, so I’m an open-office/at-home hybrid. We all usually work in the open-office area together but their are two closed-door offices if you need the separation or have a client in.
On a semi-unrelated note there is a full bar in the basement. It rocks.
I used to to work from home, but for the past 2 years I’ve been working in a happy little cubicle. :-/
Voted. Work from home. Sometimes, it’s hard to remain concentrated because of all the distraction.
At home.
You’re missing one big option: both. I split my work almost evenly at a remote office and the other time at my home office.
Can’t really vote coz I work at home 3 times a week and 2 times a week in our office. It’s not really co-working either because that’s really our office and most of our officemates go there everyday
In an outbuilding conversion on my estate: Soundproofed; Glass walled at front; Glass exit at rear to deck; Vaulted ceiling ;Electric Velux windows, 4m desk; Charles Eames chairs. Q: Am I showing off or just proud of my work? A: I’m proud of my office. It has provided the most wonderful inspiration as a working environment.
I work in an open office area as webmaster at a small college and seminary in Saskatchewan. I like being able to bounce ideas off my co-workers. (There are four of us in the space and the boss, a bit like the Ninja Turtles. Each has a special skill, all working for a wise, old [yet lovable] rat.)
Voted.
BTW – misspelling in this page’s url: new-poll-working-‘enviornment’ (guessing it should be ‘environment’ :).
Glad it’s not just me who does that sort of thing !!
Cheers
I
Most of my ‘work’ work is done from a small home office with occasional outings to visit clients in order to put in some face-time.
Really though, for what I do which is probably similar to many of you, I don’t NEED to venture out of my cave at all – all hail the intraweb!
I’m retired from formal work, so anything I do is from home. When I did work, I was only 15 mins from work at any time so that really worked out well. My company did try having people work at home but pulled all those involved back into the office after a length of time.
I am also old enough to have lived through the period when there were no screens/pcs on the desk. When they were first introduced, then a few screens were put in a room and you had to go there to use them and then pass it on to someone else. Later we all got PCs on our desk connected to the large mainframe computer. Heck, I am old enough to have lived when your input to a computer was on punched cards, and it was not adviseable to drop them. The first computer I ever worked on was the IBM model 30 with 32K of memory, yes, that is 32,000 bytes of memory. The pcs we use today are something we never imagined, I am sure that what will be in use 30-40 years from now will not resemble what we are using today in any way. That is what is so marvelous about this industry.
Al
p.s. I went through an ownership change late in my career and regardless of what the acquiring company says, the 2 companies are not the same and do not do things the same way. congrats Chris on the move to CA, hope everything works out with the new company. All the best!
Aaak! I love your polls but alas, still no access from iPhone :(
Voted, home office. Work less, make more.
I’m lucky enough to have my own office. I’ve worked for many years from home but distractions were my big problem.
I voted in a co-working space – it is an open office really but have my co-workers around me collaborating together. I also work from home too freelance, but not doing it as much recently, been busy at work as it is!
There is a lot of environments where i am used to work. I work at home, I work at office or on the road (i always get great ideas when i am travelling with bus or tram … it’s funny but i have always my notepad prepared).
Voted: In an open office
Been sitting in different environments over the years but I like this way the best.
In my home office, but occasionally my wife works at home too, so I usually work at a local coffee shop or panera at that time. I’m not in the same room as her, but it’s distracting none the less.
I work from my home office and have for the past several years.
Did the office, boardroom, front receptionist thing back in the late ’90s early ’00s when freelancing from home was just a pipe dream…. it’s much better now… much better!
Want to get rid of the distractions when you’re at home? Make sure you have a room to setup your space, close the door, mute the phones, don’t Facebook, don’t Twitter and get it done! No work no money no funny.
Then take any day(s) you want off and have some fun!
Luv this site Chris… you ROCK!
very nice!
I can WFH sometimes but I usually go into the office which is ONLY a 20 min ride (which includes no highways). I get more work done at the office… no Labrador dog insisting on pets, play and walks. No husband asking for “one more favor”. Good thing that I can wear whatever I like at work.
Safe travels to Cali Chris! :)
At home in the country, not too far from Madrid.
Greettings from Spain.
At Home currently , renting an office to expand my business stuff.
I’m Computer Science graduate but currently approaching for my masters, so basically a student, but would to love to work at home, and I guess that’s the beauty of our profession (web or app development).
A lot of the comments on this post are “work full-time, then freelance at night.” Is this legal? Do the people you work with and/or your boss know you are freelancing on the side? I’m curious because I’m doing the same thing, but I don’t tell anyone I work with because I don’t know if it’s illegal or looked down upon.
I work in an office with a door. It’s just five of us right now and I’m the only interactive employee. The commute to my office is 12-15 minutes. I live in Indianapolis and the traffic isn’t bad. I like partitioning my life/work areas, but the office is close enough that it’s convenient.
Voted! Like so many others, I work at home, in an office on the top floor of the house. If I could have voted for a combo of “at home” and “office with a door”, I would have! :) Hope you have a nice smooth move!
in the office and i hate all the distractions!
Hey! There is no sidebar on the iPad layout! Discrimination!
Anyone else feel like checkboxes would be more appropriate? :P I’m a full time college student taking 4 degrees and work freelance from home as well as fixing to take on a part-time in-house web development position at an agency while playing in 3 bands. But that’s just me.
I work at home in a backroom I now call my “office”. A few servers and a powerful computer are what I use whilst developing websites.
The room is cool in the winter and requires a radiator however, in the summer it’s very hot.
I work from home 3 days a week and I am in the off ice on the other tow days. Hands down I prefer working from home. I always get twice the work done in half the time when I am home.
I am in the living room… love being around my wife and kids.
I got the best of the two worlds. I basically work from the office, but I have the freedom to work from home as well. It is usually twice a week. I really boosts my productivity.