# Working from home... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 16, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518 "2005-10-16T23:09:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/1 "2005-10-16T23:09:40Z")
What kinds of jobs can be done without leaving home? Existing businesses would probably be better to join with than to have to spend money creating my own home business. I always see the work at home stuff promoted in newspapers, but it’s always envelope stuffing and I’ve heard horror stories about that. Does anyone here work from home? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/2 "2005-10-17T05:17:50Z")
I don’t, but there are people who sell Tupperware and the like out of their homes. Software development can be done remotely if carefully planned. Sometimes – not very often – writers and artists manage to survive on their creations. I know people who run child care services out of their homes. I suppose tutoring could be done as well, although I think most tutors go to their clients’ homes or schools. There do exist people – day traders – who make their living investing. That’s obviously risky, though, and you do need both a startup stake, knowledge of the markets and some luck. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/3 "2005-10-17T05:37:16Z")
Freelance translating and proofreading can be done from home. Markets may vary but around here there’s enough demand for Japanese/English translation that you could live comfortably working from home. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/4 "2005-10-17T06:09:21Z")
My wife is a medical transcriptionist, and works from home. Her desk is LOTS bigger than mine! ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/5 "2005-10-17T11:55:06Z")
> [@remisser](#): > > Does anyone here work from home? I’m the content editor for an academic website. I work from home two or three days a week because most of my work is online, and my colleagues are mostly overseas, so a specific physical location isn’t so important. The job wasn’t advertised as a work from home one, but it was an arrangement I worked out with my employers. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/6 "2005-10-17T17:59:07Z")
I tutor. High school kids come to my home. In the past, I also was a subcontractor for a consulting firm. I did environmental site assessments in my local area on an hourly rate (plus mileage). Most of it was at-home writing. But I had a good relationship with the company – you couldn’t just walk in off the street for that. ---
**Author:** ![Catfood\_Purrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Catfood\_Purrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catfood_Purrito)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/7 "2005-10-17T19:24:17Z")
I’m a medical transcriptionist, and I work from home. You need training for it, though, and it’s hard to get an at-home job that pays well with no experience, and for good reason. Pay is usually by production, so to make decent money, you really have to work in-house at an hourly wage first to get your skills and speed up to where they need to be. I’ve known brand new transcriptionists who have had to work more than 12 hours a day to get their minimum production for the day in. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home/326518/8 "2005-10-17T21:11:06Z")
[IBM](http://careers.peopleclick.com/Client40_GLDTR/bu1/External_Pages/Careers.htm) has quite a few work from jobs. My partner works for them. He works at home most of the time, but does have to go into the office every now and then. Some of their posistions are 100% remote.