Open Thread: What’s Wrong with Web Work?
June 22nd, 2007 (10:42am) Mike Gunderloy 24 Comments
I was at a party with a bunch of other parents this week, and we realized that we routinely lie by omission to our childless friends. There seems to be a conspiracy of parents everywhere to only talk about the pleasures of raising kids. While I don’t intend to regale you here with the dark side of parenting (besides, it’s usually just a laundry issue), it occurred to me that we web workers do the same thing. We spend so much time talking about the benefits of our way of work that we tend to gloss over some of the drawbacks.
But it’s Friday and the commuters are heading home for the weekend, so let’s take a few minutes to blow off some steam. I’ll start with some of the obvious drawbacks of web work that we don’t always mention:
You can’t escape the short commute. When your workplace is only feet away from your bedroom, it takes real discipline to take a weekend off, or even an evening. Too many of us are lashed to the computer 24 hours a day, like some digital Captain Ahab.
Financial management can be a bear. Between trying to find health insurance, arguing about who pays for equipment, setting up your own business, and learning that perfectly reasonable expenses aren’t actually deductible, web worker life can turn into one long boring accounting class at times. Sometimes it seems like society is set up to actively discourage us from working this way, doesn’t it?
Who’s in charge, you or the web? Get involved with enough social software and ways to communicate, and you’ll find an increasing amount of your day is spent just keeping up: posting updates, organizing bookmarks, responding to invitations, answering e-mail, jumping on the latest hot new site. Sometimes it seems that there’s no time left in there to actually get any work done, or to remember why we wanted to be on the web in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong - I still love web work, and I’m not pining to go back into an office or struggle with a daily two-hour commute as I did in Los Angeles once upon a time. I just think it’s worth remembering that this new world of digital bedouinship isn’t all smiley faces and large paychecks all the time.
What are your chief complaints about web work? What do you wish you’d known before you’d taken the plunge?
24 Comments Post your own comment
David Storrs says: June 22nd, 2007 11:32am
The lack of human contact.
It happens with terrifying frequency that I don’t go outside all day…sometimes multiple days in a row. So I don’t actually see and interact with people in person, it’s all phone and email and IRC. That’s nice, but it’s not the same.
As a result, I’ve made it a company policy that the six of us gather in Ohio (which is where two of us live and is central to all of us) once a month for an all-hands meeting…or almost all-hands anyway–sometimes one or two of us miss the trip.
StellaCommute says: June 22nd, 2007 11:43am
A digital Captain Ahab indeed — too funny! I find the biggest problem is being the only webworker in a largely “present and accounted for” business. I’m not really viewed as being a mover and shaker since I went virtual, and changing that attitude seems nearly impossible. I don’t know if marginalization is inevitable, but it’s hard to fight.
ianmack says: June 22nd, 2007 11:44am
human contact is a big one. but also the encroachment of “cabin fever” can be seriously debilitating - unless efforts are made to actually get outside. joining a few clubs/sports/volunteering can be the perfect excuses to make outside appointments.
Barbara Saunders says: June 22nd, 2007 12:13pm
For me, lack of human contact is a plus. I have low social drive, so I get plenty from the cafe, roommates, etc. The minus is spending so much time on a computer. My eyes, wrists, and back much preferred less computer-heavy work.
Rob says: June 22nd, 2007 1:00pm
Finances. There isn’t the security of a regular paycheck, nor are there benefits (ie medical dental etc). Plus if I need something like a new keyboard or mouse, or memory etc. I have to pay for it.
Clients. Sometimes it’s hard to just ignore those client emails. At least working from an office, email doesn’t always follow you :)
Hours. I find I put more time into my job now instead of the less I envisioned.
Sales. Instead of just working, sales becomes more important to you to either grow your business with new clients and/or replace clients who have left.
Family Life. I work from home so there are always family distractions, whether its kids coming and going, or my wife asking me questions. Plus, now that I’m home my family thinks i have nothing better to do then fix their computers.
Lack of human contact. I realize it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone but it feels like yesterday because I may have just emailed or IM’ed him when in fact its been months since I’ve actually seen many of my friends.
Randy Stewart says: June 22nd, 2007 1:13pm
Let me be the next to say lack of human contact. I miss the kinds of things that a phone call or IM can’t really replace… immediacy.
Half of the cockamamie ideas that turned out to be good ones I’ve ever come up with have been as a result of a hallway conversation, over the cube wall conversation, etc.
An interruption in person may be as disruptive as an phone call interruption but it works at such higher bandwidth.
Randy
Mary says: June 22nd, 2007 1:50pm
I LOVE working like this - LOVE it! Yes - the social isolation needs checking and my butt is numb from sitting all day, and I’m not always certain when exactly I will be paid, … but you can’t beat the freedom of no commutes, no wardrobe worries - and doing things my own way without a bureaucracy. Very little down-side in my view! :-)
Judi Sohn says: June 22nd, 2007 1:55pm
Remember, being a web worker doesn’t automatically mean that you work freelance. Some of us are fortunate to do it and draw a salary.
For me, a big drawback is that I’m only judged by what I produce. My co-workers can’t see the time I spend researching a topic or thinking through a problem, as they would if I were in the next cubicle. I also deal with the issue of folks who think I have lots of free time because “I work from home.” Actually, the opposite is true.
I miss having a commute. It’s a chance to let the day wash away, or think about what’s coming up and focus. When it takes me 30 seconds to get from the office to the kitchen, I’m often still composing that email or analyzing an issue when I should be thinking more about the dinner menu.
Ahmed Shreef says: June 22nd, 2007 3:55pm
I’m 19 now and I started my web worker career 2.5 years ago. I always loved the idea of working from home but after some months I felt the things that you mentioned in this post.
- all my friends are from other countries and cities and the only way I communicate with them is through IM and emails etc.
- I don’t have reasons to go out .
- got bored.
- started to spend my day reading news or watching videos on youtube ..
this lead me to search for a job in a company where I can go to every morning and meet other people everyday. I got hired by a good web development company in my city, but for my amazement. they started doing some maintenance in the company to make the offices bigger and decorating the offices to make the employees more happy. this forced the department I’m working in, to work from home till the new offices get ready.
I couldn’t leave the web worker life till now, but let’s hope that they will get the offices ready soon .
but to say the truth, I still love my web worker life :)
Brad Linder says: June 22nd, 2007 4:15pm
The lack of human contact can be a mixed blessing. I find I’m a lot more productive with fewer people around. I’m amazed how much of my day used to be taken up at the office by communicating with others, either in organized meetings or informal chit chat.
Now most of my email, chat, and other communications during the day tend to be work-related and brief. Since I’m a freelance journalist as well as blogger, part of my job is talking to people (if you consider interviewing to be talking), so not only do I never feel too isolated, but I get to talk to new and interesting people all the time.
That said, it’s hard to make new friends this way. If I weren’t married and if we didn’t already have friends in town, I’d probably go crazy.
paramvir singh says: June 22nd, 2007 10:03pm
hello. i have worked as afull time employee AND a part-time/web worker:
the downfalls are (true in India):
1) inconsistent workflow
2) clients bargaining and haggling over every bill. my account management team handled this
3) managing finances and taxation. I realised so much goes away in taxation!
4) managing and keeping bills. I have become an avid bill collector. I also try and collect my friends’ ‘paid’ stamped bills, if they dont need it!
5) low chances of getting bank loans: very difficult to secure a housing or car loan, unless you are attached with a ‘large corporate’
6) lack of human interaction
7) everything is YOUR expense: as opposed to the free things we took for granted, like an office, office air conditioning, telephone bills, internet bills, office boys, printer cartridges, paper, commuting for work, you name it!
8) you end up working 24/7, unless you are VERY careful, and in that case its a regular 9-5, only the location is home, isnt it?
Jack Keller says: June 22nd, 2007 10:48pm
Human contact is a touchy subject, I am a social being and tend to like the water-cooler discussions a bit too much on occasion to be productive. I currently work in an office but this was after too many gripes about freelancing. Since this post is about that I’m going to gloss over the good points and hit the bad. I like most had a wide gamut of clients, ones that you know would always have a dozen revisions at the last minute, ones that don’t know what they need, but are sort of sure that isn’t it and then the reason I moved to an employed position … your a multi million dollar company, you can’t seem to afford that fifteen hundred dollar check for sixty to ninety days?!? And of course the occasional bounced check because you wanted to help a local business get their presence going.
But in the midst of working with many clients and a few deadbeats I still hold the philosophy “No company was ever hurt by having a website.”
tamebay says: June 23rd, 2007 3:41am
Germs. I don’t get immune to all the coughs and colds that normally get passed around the office, so as soon as I hit somewhere with a lot of people in it (airport, conference etc.) , I invariably pick up every bug going.
almostgotit says: June 23rd, 2007 8:15am
Time management. When is work time? When is family time? Who/what/ constitutes permissable interuptions? What structures must I put in place, *myself* to assure that I, a natural procrastinator, work steadily at things instead of wasting time and then cramming everything into 10+ hour, coffee-powered, DON’T BOTHER ME NOW OR ELSE bursts? Marvelously creative and productive bursts, sure, but hardly the way an adult ought to behave.
But that’s just me, and I’m still working out a fairly new set of arrangements, so check in again in a few months and I’ll tell you how to pull it all off *brilliantly* (ha)
–xx– Almostgotit
Trying it on for size: permanent 9-5 expat? « How to (almost) Get the Job says: June 23rd, 2007 12:05pm
[...] also brought me a very good column by Mike Gunderloy in yesterday’s Web Worker Daily called What’s wrong with web work? While it’s already very difficult for any working person with a family to find the right [...]
GigaOM What’s on GigaNET: Weekend Edition « says: June 24th, 2007 6:19am
[...] by Om Malik Sunday, June 24, 2007 at 6:19 AM PT | No comments What’s Wrong With Web Work: We spend so much time talking about the benefits of our way of work that we tend to gloss over [...]
GigaOM: What’s on GigaNET: Weekend Edition — recommend GigaOM « Identity Unknown says: June 24th, 2007 7:00am
[...] What’s Wrong With Web Work: We spend so much time talking about the benefits of our way of work that we tend to gloss over some of the drawbacks. I’ll start with some of the obvious drawbacks of web work that we don’t always mention. Continue reading. [...]
Dina says: June 24th, 2007 11:15am
Web work: the benefits are enormous. We are creating a new reality; we are creative; we are surrounded by smart, interesting, visionary people. A serious downside: close to 1,000 emails a day. The challenge is being proactive when you could spend your whole day being reactive.
Rex Dixon says: June 24th, 2007 12:00pm
The one thing that I notice now is that I do force myself away from the computer. I actually have “forced” myself to take walks and exercise.
Would I trade it for the corporate life? Nope, I just started the fulltime web worker gig, and I love it!
Rex
Jillian says: June 24th, 2007 3:20pm
Optometrist’s bills. They tell me to look away from my screen every 15 minutes to give my eyes a break, but there’s nothing to look at except the laundry rack. I’m sure just the activity of other people nearby must be better for your eyes.
almostgotit says: June 24th, 2007 9:50pm
@Jillian: LOL! How about moving to a big city highrise, working next to a window, and investing in a really great set of binoculars???
Gavin says: June 24th, 2007 10:55pm
Lack of sick leave. I’m feeling sick as a dog this morning but I’ve got deadlines.
(Yes I know I’m busy reading a blog instead of working)
johnk says: June 26th, 2007 1:05am
Human contact, facing undercutting from newbies who don’t understand about health and dental insurance costs, accounting, drumming up sales, and keeping good communications. Those were all hard issues. You have to really offload some of that work to others. We need some kind of standard pricing book, and guidelines, like the AIGA or IBEW provide.
michelle goodman says: March 4th, 2008 7:23pm
I’m probably the lone freak who doesn’t mind the lack of human contact during the day (I live alone too). I’m a freelance writer who works from home, and I need/enjoy the solitude to get my books/articles/client copy done.
Every couple years I’ll take a longer-term contract (3+ months) onsite at Microsoft to mix things up, stockpile money, etc. and I’ll still hide out in my office and try to avoid people as much as I can — and this is with working in a department where I have a number of friends; this summer I even worked in the same dept as my beau. If I have to be on someone’s corporate campus, I want to get in and out of there are quickly as possible, so I don’t want to dilly-dally at the water cooler if I can help it.
Challenges to working solo from home:
1. Staying disciplined, avoiding email/the web, sticking to the same start time each morning (though I’ve gotten pretty good at it over the years).
2. Seperation of work and home life, even with the office with shuttable door.
3. The guilt I feel every time my dog comes over to my desk to see if “I’m done working yet.”