Working from Home
Hey everyone,
Just landed a job in 3D Environment Art for Games. This happens to be my first
salaried role in the Industry, so I'm quite excited at the prospect of working
alongside others in a permanent capacity. At the moment, I'll be working
remotely from home which is something I've never done before.
I start in November after I've worked my notice period at my current place of
work, and I'd just like to ask a couple of questions to anyone that's been in a
similar position either now or in the past:
1.) What kind of strategies
did you put in place for working from home? - Usually home has been my little
sanctum from work, so I'm imagining this will take some getting used to.
2.) How did you make the
transition between being socially active around colleagues all day every day to
being a little more isolated effectively working within a single room? - I don't have kids so I've not got
that to deal with.
I've taken on plenty of short-term freelance projects at home in the past, but
never anything longer than a couple of weeks.
Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated!
Replies
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance
Ive been working from home for almost 3 years now.
secondly I would say make sure you have a proper schedule. I break my day up like this, and I try my best not to move these around so much time wise.
breakfast, start working, lunch, stop working, "go home/dinner/free time". try to have these at set times, and dont change it from day to day.
Ive also heard of people who put on work clothes even at home, for example; eat breakfast, change to suit and go to work desk. just do make sure you have a proper separation between work and home.
hope that helps!
Thanks for the advice!
Eric, that's interesting...I wonder if that's still applicable in the UK whilst technically fully contracted by a studio?...something I need to investigate further.
I do have a separate area in which I can work which is great, and the studio are supplying the hardware so I don't have to worry about using my PC which is nice.
There are a huge amount of positives to come from the change though, being active on here being one of them. At my current job I'm not able to sit for most of the day, and when I do I'm usually planning for the afternoon/next day or completely burned out from the day.
Again, thanks for all the help everyone. I'll start to become a lot more active on here from November, so look forward to being a little more integrated into the forum.
All the best!
Also, congratulations.
Cheers! I'm pretty excited to start, just another month and a half to go!
I've done freelance from home in the past, honestly I don't mind it if I'm able to make a point of going outdoors everyday (just to escape the same 4 walls), have people around / friends I can meet up with outside of working hours. I seriously can't underemphasize just how important all those things are - especially the social thing, you really feel a need for that when you're home alone.
I've done freelance from home in the past, honestly I don't mind it if I'm able to make a point of going outdoors everyday (just to escape the same 4 walls), have people around / friends I can meet up with outside of working hours. I seriously can't underemphasize just how important all those things are - especially the social thing, you really feel a need for that when you're home alone.
Yeah, I think having time for friends is going to be pretty essential for me. Something I've neglected for the past couple of years in my current role.
The second part is something I still struggle with. A few months back I've taken on so much work I would hardly go out anywhere. When you sit at home all day, it's surprisingly easy to get yourself in a mode where you do nothing but work. Now that my schedule calmed down a bit, I've signed myself up for language classes and got a gym membership.
+1 to the idea of getting a laptop. As soon as some nice lightweight Pascal laptops drop I will be picking one up myself.
I know what you mean about taking too much on though, always seems reasonable when you think about the amount of time you theoretically have...until things start to take a while longer than expected!
Luckily the studio are supplying the hardware, which is laptop based, so I'll be able to get out much more freely. I'm assuming there will be a fair amount of reference gathering involved in the inttial stages too, so that could be a good opportunity to get out and about!
Linky here
Going back to your previous post, I think taking your work on the go is a really great idea. Personally I've been considering going even further and taking my work to another country for a few weeks.
- some kind of physical activity minimum 3 times a week, preferably away from home.
-turn off the internet. use your phone or another device to listen to music but don't keep it on your desk. if you need to check emails or look for reference don't do it often, only 2-3 hours.
If you're not a disciplined artist and know yourself to be someone who is distracted easily or needs to take breaks often, I feel you'll have a difficult time adjusting to being your own boss. If you are disciplined and can time yourself well, you'll do fine.
Having extra monitors to watch shows on while working does a lot to help keep me sane, too XD
If I really need to focus, I'll just listen to music instead.
I think others said it already, but setting a schedule for yourself is pretty important. You need to be strict with your time, because it's way too easy to slip and start slacking off.
I have a phone app that times me, both so that I know how long to keep working, and when I should take a break to stretch and move around.
Don't just say that you'll work X amount of time each day. Say that you'll work starting from Y and ending at Z, and stick to it every day. If you want to work past that it's fine, but do what you've set as the minimum each day.
Defining a particular project goal for the day is good as well, to ensure you make good pace while working.