filePro programmers

[Fairlight]

>From inside the gravity well of a singularity, Bill Vermillion shouted:
[Ken said]
> > Businesses often feel better if the person is able to be
> > on-site at least some of the time.

I find that a pretty weak rationale.  Unless you're doing something that
involves needing physical access to switch media constantly or cycle power,
etc., it's irrelevant, and it's an indication that someone really doesn't
have much of a clue about telecommuting.

I worked for one company as a contractor, and they had their systems
colocated at a secure semi-government facility.  The systems would go down,
and they'd have to drive 2.5hrs across state to get to the machines, go
through the facility and sit under armed guard the entire time.  Their part
of the job?  They'd call me when they got there, I'd have them stick in a
floppy, and tell them when to remove it.  A trained chimp could have done
their part.  I did the rest of the rescues from the comfort of my home,
with no gun-toting guards, and in relative comfort.

The point is, the person that -could- physically be there was useless for
fixing the problem.  The person that could actually fix it needed someone
to be on the phone for 2 minutes total to insert and then remove a floppy.
Hell, if the disk is labelled, they don't even have to be computer
literate to give the on-site minimal on-site assist.

There are times when i wished a few people had networked power strips, but
other than that, I've had no real problems in nine years solo--domestic or
abroad.

So I just don't buy that rationale unless someone is doing heavy
administration of the physical hardware and network.  But for -coding-?  No
way in hell do I buy that argument.  I chalk it up to either ignorance,
entrenched behaviour, or the tendency to be a control freak.

> Then there is the other side about have a cross-the-pond
> programmer.  They are up and fresh when the local staff has gone to
> be and what they do won't interupt any operations.

Doesn't even need to be across the pond.  I keep weird enough hours that I
often end up being able to do that for people domestically.  Of course the
trade-off is that I can't be on everyone's time zone at once, so I'm not
always 100% accessible during "banker's hours".  But overall, I've run into
relatively few problems, and no deal-breakers.

mark->
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