Working from home advice

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robfosters

robfosters

Caporegime
Joined
1 Dec 2010
Posts
53,726
Location
Welling, London
As some of you may know, I'm disabled and unable to go out to work, but I'm getting pretty damn bored sitting home everyday relying on state handouts, it's not the type of person I am.

I would love to work from home for around 5-6 hours a day, but I'm not interested in survey filling or stuffing envelopes as that is slave labour rates.

I have no further education but have work experience in the diplomatic service, both in political, consular and some minor accountancy matters. Without meaning to be immodest, I am quite intelligent.

What options could be available to me for working from home? If need be, I am more than willing to do home courses, but not open university as that's too long.

Is there anything I could do, or is the home working market too hard for the likes of me to break into?
 
OhEsEcks said:
Web design is a flooded market. Especially if you're doing it independently. My brother does a bit on the side when he's between jobs, but his main work (9-5) at the minute is helping maintain the front end of an Aussie bank.
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That's a shame. I did quite a lot of work with Dreamweaver and Flash a while back and thoroughly enjoyed it.
 
godinman said:
I'm sorry if this comes across badly, I don't mean it to, but if you are able to work from home for 5 to 6 hours what's to stop you applying for a part time office job? Or really any desk based career?
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Fair question. It is dangerous for me to go out alone as I suffer from blackouts, loss of balance and breathlessness when walking. Also, I can work for 6 hours, but every hour, I need to lie flat for 5 minutes or so to rest my back as I have a curved spine.
 
Cruiser said:
I think you'll need to get some qualifications, you could do open university quickly if you study a good bit
there will be no quick fixes, a company is going to look for some sort of education
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I know plenty of people who have studied with the OU. Most got nothing out of it. I'd rather do a course in an occupation like accountancy or web design.
 
Craig321 said:
Was going to suggest exactly this. Are you allowed to do an accountancy course, then start building a client base while you're still getting paid by the government? Don't know how that works with that stuff.

Accountants like this earn a fortune, if you can get a few clients.

Only problem I can see though, is often an accountant has to go on-site to work with the data, don't they? Again, not something I really know much about.

Worth looking into I think.

There's also typist work. There's tons of work out there to type up medical/legal tapes. My Mum earns good money an hour doing that.
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I looked at that but I can't type fast enough.
 
dowie said:
unless you're going to be self employed/freelance then you might have to be available for a normal working week of more like 8 hours rather than 6 and a lot of places tend to prefer it if people work for them first before allowing people to work from home - you might find that those sorts of role also require you to come into the office on occasions for meetings etc..

if you've got all that free time and you've not got any real skills/education then perhaps address that first - at the moment, unless there is some valuable skill set that you've missed in your first post, I don't see why anyone would be inclined to employ you to do anything other than menial work? Can you write code? Can you audit a company? Get some skills/education.
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Yes, I know your right. I have no real skills as such.

As you say, I really should start looking at learning a trade. Accountancy looks good to me. I know a few people who I would stand a good chance of working for. I will also,look at web design. I know it's a flooded market, but where there's a will, there's a way.
 
Thompson_NCL said:
I am doubtful that someone who is home bound could have much success in accountancy, because you'll need to attend meetings and so forth. Plus, there is a big time investment in getting qualified.

If you're considering going this route, maybe try become a qualified bookeeper? You could get up to speed on that in a month or two and try find a couple of clients. This will minimise your commitment (financially and time wise) and give you a chance to see if its the sort of thing you could do.

Did you go to Uni? If not, consider an OU degree in something you could make use of it. Coding or whatever.
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I wont be home bound forever though. I tried the OU. It takes far too long. I could only manage one module at a time and the degrees then take 6 years!
 
Perhaps I should forget about actual learning and work while I'm in my current situation and follow a passion.

Since I was a child, I've loved writing. Non-fiction, stories, scripts, I've got countless ideas that I've had over the years and never developed. Maybe I should take some more interest in that. I'd like to be like Edrof, writing scary ghost stories and the like and earning some supplemental income from them.

Any tips Edrof?
 
Chives said:
Rather off-topic, but I'd love to find out more about your time in the Diplomatic Service. I'm applying for the Diplomatic Service Fast Stream soon. :)
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It's been a while since I was there, but I'm sure not too much has changed. What do you want to know? Ask away.
 
Chives said:
A little bit about your background/career/degree (did you speak any languages pre-FCO?) before you joined would be great. What did you work on whilst there? (I appreciate you may not be able to say too much..) and what foreign postings did you have?

Thanks :)
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OK, my schooling was rubbish as I missed an entire year due to ill health. I had two GCSE grade C's in English and Media Studies. The job I applied for was the lowest level of Home civil service, known as grade A1. Fast streamers go in at C4.

The entry was tough, I had to undergo exams and interviews and there were 500 applicants for 10 jobs!. Luckily I made it.

I spoke no other languages, still don't, and started out in the Near east and North Africa section as an admin assistant. Within a year I was promoted to A2 level and worked for a year in the office of Douglas Alexander, minister for Europe. I then took up a job as an assistant desk officer for Spain in the Consular division. It was there when I had my Spain jolly. 3 weeks travelling around Alicante, Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Barcelona reviewing the performance and facilities of the consular departments. After nearly 2 years there, I passed the B3 exam and took up a job looking after certain budgets in the resource management unit of consular. Halfway through my job there, I had the opportunity to work in the consular section of BE Paris for 6 weeks to cover a paternity leave. That was when I was transferred to the diplomatic side. On my return, I took up another B3 job in the press office. After 2 years, I applied for a C4 job on temporary promotion. It was a crap job in the Export licensing department, dealing with export licenses for weapons and technology from the likes of BAE and Westland. No other C4 wanted it. After a while there, my line manager recommended me for permanent promotion and it was accepted making me an official C4. That is the grade that fast streamers start at. My next posting would have been abroad, but sadly, my health issues hit me hard during that period and I was forced to leave on ill health grounds. I was utterly devastated.

As you can see, I never had a permanent posting abroad, but I visited a lot of places for short trips. In 2003, they was trying to get to do an admin stint in Iraq, but I told them in no uncertain terms to **** off.

Highlights were being sent a letter from Colonel Gaddafi, meeting Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair, and bizarrely, having a good old chinwag with Arsene Wenger.
 
Diddums said:
This isn't cool to hear, I'm starting a degree in computers and IT in October :(
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Dont let me put you off. It's an amazing feather in your cap, it's just the graduate market is so saturated, that it didn't appear to do them any favours in landing a job. An old school friend got an OU degree in social sciences and he works in JD Sports!

The degree is only part of it as well. It's up to you how well you sell yourself.
 
Chives said:
That was an interesting read, thanks for taking the time. Do you think you'd have stayed in the FCO long term had you not had your health issues?

Sorry to hear about your situation, I really hope you get something suitable sorted :)
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Without a shadow of a doubt. I would have probably been at least a D6 by now. I probably would have ended up as an ambassador. Most can do if they put in the years. The benefits are fantastic. 30 days holiday after 10 years service.
 
godinman said:
Fair enough!

I say if you've got an interest in web design then try your best to go down that route, it's so much easier to stay motivated within a career if after a project you can say to yourself, 'that's ****ing awesome'. Best of luck.
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Yep. It would be fun and enjoyable (hopefully). Plus it would be easy for me to build up a portfolio as I know quite a few people who would jump at the chance of having a pro website done for free or a small fee for their business.
 
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