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It only takes a minute to sign up. Sign up to join this community [ano] Anybody can ask a question [ano] Anybody can answer [an] The best answers are voted up and rise to the top The Workplace 1. Home 2. 1. Public 2. Questions 3. Tags 4. Users 5. Unanswered 3. Teams Stack Overflow for Teams - Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. [teams-illo-free-si] Create a free Team What is Teams? 1. Teams 2. Create free Team Teams Q&A for work Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Learn more Why can't software engineers work from home most of the time? [closed] Ask Question Asked 4 years, 7 months ago Active 4 years, 7 months ago Viewed 9k times 6 1 Want to improve this post? Provide detailed answers to this question, including citations and an explanation of why your answer is correct. Answers without enough detail may be edited or deleted. Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Want to improve this question? Update the question so it can be answered with facts and citations by editing this post. Closed 4 years ago. Improve this question I've recently quit a job that required a 2 hour+ commute (4-5 hour total). This commute was costing me a sizable portion of my monthly income. Luckily, the firm was very casual when it came to getting in late, their culture could be described as "so long as the work is done". During a typical working day, most interaction with colleagues took the form of instant messaging, ticketing, or e-mail. Of course, I did converse face-to-face with my team frequently. The vast majority of the day was spent on solitary development. In fact, the only interaction I had with my manager was during a weekly catch-up meeting, or if something required cooperative development, or if an urgent fix was needed. If someone could not physically attend a meeting, they would usually attend via audio/video conference. Luckily for me, the company/my manager didn't mind if I occasionally worked from home. I only worked from home if I had an urgent reason to do so (doctors appointment, etc...). I was hugely more productive at home, I maintained the communication in the same way as if I was in the office. In fact, if I had been allowed to work from home 3-4 days a week, my productivity would have, at the very least, tripled. I understand that there's obviously some trust issues associated with working from home. The extent of which will vary from each company/ manager. I can also understand why one would be required to "prove their worth" before being granted the privilege. Is the requirement to be physically at the office just tradition, or something more? software-industry work-time telecommute software-development commute Share Improve this question Follow asked Nov 30 '16 at 19:06 [62f] Card StriderCard Strider 7711 silver badge22 bronze badges 8 * 2 Why do you think you are so much less productive in the office? I find it hard to believe that you can triple your productivity by working from home. - John Feltz Nov 30 '16 at 19:39 * " Is the requirement to be physically at the office just tradition, or something more?" You are asking a question that's irrelevant to your situation. The question you should probably be asking is "how do I make a convincing argument to my boss that they should let me try working remotely?" Who, except for you, cares if the requirement to show up at the office is traditional or not? - Vietnhi Phuvan Nov 30 '16 at 19:58 * 1 There is also "face time". If you are never in the office, your colleagues may think you don't do anything. - Brandin Nov 30 '16 at 20:25 * 1 @Brandin - One more time: I am NEVER in the office. Neither are my colleagues from across the country and overseas. You've got any more objections? Would you like to second guess the validity of our international IT consulting company's business model? - Vietnhi Phuvan Nov 30 '16 at 21:04 * 1 Asking for opinion is poor wording as that is out of scope. - paparazzo Nov 30 '16 at 22:40 | Show 3 more comments 2 Answers 2 Active Oldest Votes 8 Two thoughts. Not everyone works well from home. Some people work better with a change in scenery - the different environment in the office is a psychological cue that gets them into work mode. Emergency response. In the event that something goes really haywire, having the developers together in one place may significantly improve the response time. Share Improve this answer Follow answered Nov 30 '16 at 19:38 [b3b] John FeltzJohn Feltz 2,84777 silver badges2020 bronze badges 2 * 1 And not every s/w engineer works in the way described, eg pair programming is hard if one of you is at home. - matt helliwell Nov 30 '16 at 21:02 * 1 Pair programming is quite doable remotely. Just requires good tools. - Erik Nov 30 '16 at 22:48 Add a comment | 7 Tradition. Some managers like to see the people who work for them doing 'work'. Obviously there are some jobs where your location is important, but for software engineers, as long as the work is done, that should be all that counts. More companies are moving to flexible arrangements, so a decent software engineer should be able to get work. Share Improve this answer Follow answered Nov 30 '16 at 19:21 [xMq] PeteConPeteCon 26k1010 gold badges7070 silver badges9898 bronze badges Add a comment | Highly active question. Earn 10 reputation (not counting the association bonus) in order to answer this question. The reputation requirement helps protect this question from spam and non-answer activity. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged software-industry work-time telecommute software-development commute . Featured on Meta * Planned maintenance scheduled for Wednesday, July 28 at 12:00am UTC (Tuesday... * Deprecating our mobile views * New VP of Community, plus two more community managers Related 14 Is it tactful to get in touch with a previous developer? 4 How to convert to a work-from-home position 245 Required to work unpaid overtime to "make up" for a shorter commute after moving closer to the office 2 Best approach to request to permanently work from home 156 Top developer doing more home office than allowed 185 Fired for third time from a software development job. 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