Every morning I would lay there hoping something amazing would happen to save me from having to go through it all over again a short 24 hours later.

I never was a morning person. Mom said, as a baby, I used to sleep until noon.

Come to think of it, I never was a neon light person, or a pantyhose power suit person, or a cubicle person. And I certainly wasn’t a rush hour traffic person.

After my last dot.com layoff, I took a one month sabbatical to cleanse my mind, spirit and body... I would lay around in my backyard soaking up the natural sunlight my skin had been deprived of all summer - while working indoors only one block from the beach.

Then I came across an ad on a job search site:

Work from home - All work is performed in a 100% telecommuting WAN environment allowing you to live anywhere in either the U.S. or Canada.

Really? Could such a job exist?

I sent my resume (several times actually, along with emails consisting of my ramblings about the parallels between music and programming.) For some reason, I wasn’t taking the standard approach I always had when it came to pursuing a job. It’s almost as if something in me had snapped and I realized life is too short to go around playing corporate games. I was in search of a work environment that would allow me to be myself.

The interview went great and I started 2 weeks later.

When I first logged into my office (a collaboration server) I was greeted by welcome emails from the 50 employees already enjoying this telecommuting lifestyle. I poked around the application and found my mailbox, project folders, discussion groups, and conference folders with tips and code snippets. I felt as if I was wandering the school halls during class, quietly peeking into each of the windows as I passed by each room.

There are literally hundreds of folders with messages buzzing around. Some messages are lengthy, filled with technical specs and details, while others are one-line responses or links to related articles and tutorials. There are discussions of family, music, art, movies and technology; just as you would have in a standard office environment. And when somebody in the company has a baby, all of the employees post messages of congratulations and cheer.

One of the beauties of working solely on a collaboration server: everything is documented. Every little comment, every little note, no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time, is documented. Which means nothing is missed or lost or overlooked. Quite honestly, I’ve never felt so organized... and with such little effort. Imagine being able to do a search on something somebody said 3 months ago.

Another huge benefit is having access to other projects and how they were handled. There’s no better way to solve a problem than to see how others have successfully dealt with it in the past. And since there are 50 developers and designers, someone is bound to have the answer.

I recently checked out the website for a well-known product that I happen to really like. After filling my little shopping cart with enough natural health and beauty supplies to last a year, I decided to follow the employment link. After reading about the web developer position and falling in love with the idea of working for such a cool company, I sent my resume and yet another one of my eccentric emails.

After the first phone call, it was decided I was perfect for the job.

"Great! When can you move to North Carolina?"

Umm...

I explained the two reasons why that’s not an option.

1. My home and family are here.
2. I would never relocate for a position in the IT industry.

I’ve been laid off twice already.
Go ahead, call me bitter.

Today -- a company can afford to relocate a full-time web developer
Tomorrow -- the needs of the business or the economy changes, and then what?

No thanks.

So, I offered to work remotely. After all, it’s a perfectly feasible solution to a perfectly solvable situation. Even though they were looking for an in-house person to fill the job, they were curious about how it would work. I was asked to put together a detailed email about how it could work... if they were willing to try it.

It came down to the president of the company and the idea was shot down.

There’s something about having that warm body physically there in the office that companies just don’t want to let go of. Perhaps it’s because they want to see you working? Or maybe it’s so they can look over your shoulder and make sure it’s being done as they had asked? Or maybe the idea of telecommuting is impossible for some companies to accept because it’s just not the way business has been done in the past. Old school.

I think business models and organization charts need to progress right along with technology. The planet is a lot more connected now than it’s ever been, so why not take advantage of that? Save the overhead costs of having a brick and mortar office. Give the employees the freedom to work however and whenever it is that allows them to be most productive.

It’s been a year now since I unplugged my alarm clock and stuck it in a box in the closet. A year has gone by where I work when I feel like working, sleep when I feel like sleeping, eat when I’m hungry. In this past year, I’ve learned that I’m much more productive without the distraction of fax machines, fire drills and idle chit chat.

It’s been a year, and I still haven’t met a single one of my co-workers.

No neon lights, no pantyhose, no cubicles.

And the only rush hour traffic I deal with is when my dog is laying in the path of my 12-step commute.

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