Part-time Perl Developer Position based Reading, UK

[Peter Edwards]

I worked from home for 5 years when my kids were younger so I could be there
for them after school and so on and that turned out quite well. (Now they're
grown up I enjoy going in to an office again.)

BT did a study some years ago of teleworking and assessed it as an
appropriate option for highly skilled workers who can use technology to
enable their collaboration and whose work can be measured by deliverables
rather than on a "sitting at their desk" basis.

To get a gig like that you must have some worth to a business - industry
knowledge, domain knowledge, contacts - and some personal attributes -
organised, flexible attitude - to make it work. You need something to
differentiate yourself from some cheaper guy abroad.

What do I mean? Well I was designing and rolling out systems for recruitment
companies and the ideal time to do releases was 7 p.m. so a teleworker doing
it remotely was ideal, particularly when said customers are all over the UK.
Also I would go and help with technical sales. Having someone halfway up the
country who doesn't mind travelling to Manchester, Leicester, London,
wherever, on a regular basis is valuable. I'd also pop into the office once
a week even if there was no need in order to keep up contacts with the
staff.
The easiest way into it is to already work for the client and negotiate
flexible working when you've proved your worth.

BTW don't diss the "puerile coffee banter" too much. Many employers regard
Perl programmers as misanthropic weirdos with no social skills. That might
be okay if you're just gonna sit there typing code but if you have to talk
to customers to figure out their requirements and keep them happy then be
careful. I took one guy on-site and the customer told me never to bring him
back, saying "What kind of crazy guy is that? I never want to speak with him
again.". YMMV but you're trying to sell yourself and your skills and the
more options you close off the less potential work you can get.

Regards, Peter