Working from home

[icesyckel]

Stands to reason that work-at-home positions would inherently involve skilled labor. I don't see the corporate world at least hiring people for unsupervised positions without any prerequisite considerations.

In fact, I suspect most sites offering work at-home positions not requiring skilled labor are scams.

 

[Judge]

In fact, I suspect most sites offering work at-home positions not requiring skilled labor are scams.

That's been my impression as well. That they're either outright scams designed to rob people of initial capital investment or positions that yield ridiculously low wages.

I'd think the most viable work-at-home jobs at the outset are those where you are self-employed answering to no one but yourself.

 

[icesyckel]

That's been my impression as well. That they're either outright scams designed to rob people of initial capital investment or positions that yield ridiculously low wages.

I'd think the most viable work-at-home jobs at the outset are those where you are self-employed answering to no one but yourself.

Except that working for oneself is rarely profitable unless you have a particular or unique skill/service/product to offer, which again precludes unskilled labor. If that last sentence reads like I am disagreeing with you, I am actually in full agreement with what you have written on this.

 

[Judge]

Except that working for oneself is rarely profitable unless you have a particular or unique skill/service/product to offer, which again precludes unskilled labor. If that last sentence reads like I am disagreeing with you, I am actually in full agreement with what you have written on this.

Nope...I'd have to agree with that too. Largely why I don't go around recommending everyone should stay at home and buy and sell equities.

New ventures in general whatever they may be traditionally have relatively high failure rates. You have to be willing to risk a lot, let alone contemplate profitability later rather than earlier. Capitalization has to be one's first consideration...not their last.

 

[icesyckel]

Nope...I'd have to agree with that too. Largely why I don't go around recommending everyone should stay at home and buy and sell equities.

New ventures in general whatever they may be traditionally have relatively high failure rates. You have to be willing to risk a lot, let alone contemplate profitability later rather than earlier. Capitalization has to be one's first consideration...not their last.

You and I are going to get along very well, I suspect. It's not often I read a succession of posts with which I agree so completely.

 

[King_Oni]

Stands to reason that work-at-home positions would inherently involve skilled labor. I don't see the corporate world at least hiring people for unsupervised positions without any prerequisite considerations.

Well.. I once had a job I could do from home and it involved no skills at all. Granted, the pay was terrible... and probably close to 3rd world countries, lol.

I guess along the notion of needing skills but still wanting to work at home with little to no human interaction, and this being an autism forum it obviously brings to mind the fact that plenty of us who are not good with people might not be that successful academically either... since that usually involves people and leaving the house.

In fact; I am kinda convinced that if you can manage through university and any possible internships and get a degree, the entire workplace thing and social interaction is the least of your roadblocks in life.

 

[icesyckel]

Well.. I once had a job I could do from home and it involved no skills at all. Granted, the pay was terrible... and probably close to 3rd world countries, lol.

I guess along the notion of needing skills but still wanting to work at home with little to no human interaction, and this being an autism forum it obviously brings to mind the fact that plenty of us who are not good with people might not be that successful academically either... since that usually involves people and leaving the house.

In fact; I am kinda convinced that if you can manage through university and any possible internships and get a degree, the entire workplace thing and social interaction is the least of your roadblocks in life.

Yes and no. I agree that if you can make it through college, then you are probably functioning well enough to handle some work environments, but you'd be surprised how little social contact you really need to get through college or even grad school if you're smart enough or good at learning from textbooks. I had many classes where I never once spoke to the professor or any of my classmates. You can't get away with that in most work environments.

 

[King_Oni]

Yes and no. I agree that if you can make it through college, then you are probably functioning well enough to handle some work environments, but you'd be surprised how little social contact you really need to get through college or even grad school if you're smart enough or good at learning from textbooks. I had many classes where I never once spoke to the professor or any of my classmates. You can't get away with that in most work environments.

Considering I've been to college and university (and dropped out a few times) as well as been in the working environment I'm talking first hand experience (no good ones though).

About 5 years ago, in my last attempt to obtain some kind of paper that states I have qualifications by attending a university, I settled for IT, since that in general seems to be one of those fields where people work on their own. And by stereotype, a lot of people on the spectrum tend to be active in that field. Unfortunately, my entire program was comprised out of group assignments and not a single assignment I should do alone. Asking other students past the first year; it was no different for them.

Considering I am terrible with groups, even if they are 5 people, on top of the fact that I had little to no affinity with IT in general (I kid you not; I was the only student in my class that went out partying in weekends, the other 20 all spend their weekends on computers).

And there's also the fact that in the dutch education system, even at college and universities, there's a requirement for you to actually show up at lectures... you can't really do it "on your own"... but that's my experience.

But yes, I agree, you can't get away with behavior rarely showing up and doing things on your terms in a working environment. And clearly not in all schools either. Here's an interesting tidbit (which I spoke about a few times in different topics, but it touches upon this "you can't do this in working environments"); I actually got my high school diploma by going something akin "adult college", that actually had full classes from monday till friday. I just showed up for exams... say, a good 2 to 4 hours a month. That's how I seemingly function best... and it clearly was a terrible transition going to university after that. I couldn't even adjust to waking up at 6 in the morning... (and I still can't)

 

[icesyckel]

Yeah, in the US, most schools will allow you to get away with just showing up for exams if you can pass. That was my method. Also, you can "test out" of a lot of courses. Grad school was tougher because where I went they used the Socratic method. They didn't take roll, so you could cut so long as you don't get called on. In a class of about 25 people, the odds aren't too bad, but it was still a risk. I actually went to those classes. I don't have an issue speaking in front of groups, though. Answering questions and delivering presentations is not the same as having to converse/socialize. In those settings, structure and formality actually help you succeed.

 

[King_Oni]

Yeah, in the US, most schools will allow you to get away with just showing up for exams if you can pass. That was my method. Also, you can "test out" of a lot of courses. Grad school was tougher because where I went they used the Socratic method. They didn't take roll, so you could cut so long as you don't get called on. In a class of about 25 people, the odds aren't too bad, but it was still a risk. I actually went to those classes. I don't have an issue speaking in front of groups, though. Answering questions and delivering presentations is not the same as having to converse/socialize. In those settings, structure and formality actually help you succeed.

Heh... back in the day, the regular high school I went to, teachers knew everyone by name. That might show you how "small" things are here. Even with multiple groups per year, they still knew when someone was not around.. and they did take roll to boot.. mostly followed up with a phonecall home within an hour if you were skipping.

I don't have an issue speaking in front of groups either... my speaking in general might be messy and all, but it's not that I get nervous over it. The few times I actually had to come in front of class I ended up making jokes at the expense of teachers, which eventually resulted in them avoiding me if they had to ask someone to the front of the class.

 

[icesyckel]

Heh... back in the day, the regular high school I went to, teachers knew everyone by name. That might show you how "small" things are here. Even with multiple groups per year, they still knew when someone was not around.. and they did take roll to boot.. mostly followed up with a phonecall home within an hour if you were skipping.

Yeah - I didn't get away with skipping HS, so I had to endure it. My Spanish teacher once caught me looking out a window instead of looking him in the eye. He had asked the class a question in Spanish and requested a volunteer to answer it ... in Spanish. When he saw me staring out the window, he called on me and insisted I hadn't been paying attention, so I repeated his question in Spanish and then answered it in Spanish (I forget the question/answer now). The whole classed laughed at him. He got red in the face, and I got detention and a trip to the office. Being smart doesn't get you around HS teachers as easily as college professors.

 

[bentHnau]

If you have writing, graphic design, programming, engineering, translation, or data entry skills, you can make money on oDesk or Elance.

 

[Judge]

Yeah, in the US, most schools will allow you to get away with just showing up for exams if you can pass. That was my method. Also, you can "test out" of a lot of courses. Grad school was tougher because where I went they used the Socratic method. They didn't take roll, so you could cut so long as you don't get called on. In a class of about 25 people, the odds aren't too bad, but it was still a risk. I actually went to those classes. I don't have an issue speaking in front of groups, though. Answering questions and delivering presentations is not the same as having to converse/socialize. In those settings, structure and formality actually help you succeed.

I always had a horror of the film "The Paper Chase". Luckily I never encountered a professor Kingsfield...or the Socratic method used overtly in class.

 

[icesyckel]

It may seem surprising, but the only part of the Socratic method that scared me was the increased likelihood of being called upon when I was skipping class. If I didn't have time to do the reading, then I just bought the legal equivalent of cliff's notes in the library and winged it, but then I have zero fear of public speaking and a very stunted sense of shame, so I am tough to embarrass.