I am writing a chapter and trying to do it in a shared office (with about 20 other PhD students). What with people millng around it is hard to concentrate and the office looks like a call centre- and I keep procrastinating. Perhaps it is better to work at home afterall?

How do you find working from home?

I found out that I much prefer working out of home - especially that this way I can have a clear divide between what is workspace and what is not (well, at least in theory;). The postgrad office is shared between ten students - but during the summer I had it pretty much to myself, and people only come in during termtime for an hour or two during the day - one of the informal rules we have is that calls on mobile phones are taken outside of the office to avoidthat call-centre feeling, and in general, people try to be considerate of each other.So maybe you could think of having some informal ground rules for your office - but then again,kind of hard with 20 people,in my office there's never more than 5 at a time.

I prefer working at home. Working in office would drive me crazy....

I used to work in university all the time, but since I left and my equipment was reallocated. I've worked from home alot, its difficult if your workspace and bed are in the same place. But I've just got myself a new house and have made and office of my own to work in.

Tiggs

I have a study at home but still prefer working at uni. I hardly get anything done at home.

chris, hope you're well! for me it's got more to do with my "mood" than with where i am. when i'm in a procrastination mood i will find things to do apart from my work even if i am at my own desk at university. or i will just stay at home procrastinating until half the day is over. the only thing that helps then is an approaching deadline or perhaps an intentional "work meeting" with a friend.
but when i'm feeling good, i can work from home or from uni. home has some conveniences such as the possibility of cooking lunch/dinner whenever you feel like it, making tea, doing the shopping during a needed break... you can sit around in your pajamas if you want, you save the travelling time to/from uni, you can take care of chores such as calling the bank or making an appointment with the doctor at any time... depending on how you are organized, you have all your material and books and stuff available at home... (i keep these things at uni)

this has worked particularly well for me when i lived with people i liked, and when i had a cat to keep me company. thus the loneliness of everyday work was broken by social companionship in the evenings without me having to organize anything. if you don't have that sort of living situation, working from home might increase your loneliness.
working at uni on the other hand has the advantage of people being around when i need a coffee break, of impromptu meetings and informal exchanges with colleagues and my supervisor, of having all my stuff around me, of having a clear distance between work and other life, of being able to nip down to the library on a haunch, of being able to print and photocopy stuff, to use campus software,...

on the other hand sometimes the PhD-student's loneliness is even more pronounced when immersed in people, if you know what i mean. if i have nothing to look forward to in going home, the danger of working at uni lies in working too late (forgetting the time it will take to get home).

overall, working from home has been fine for me at times. i think it is very important that you are well set up at home and have everything you need to work concentratedly. that can be a good desk, comfortable chair, good lighting, but also such things as a good internet connection, working printer, sociable environment, quiet during the day but distraction in the evenings... and you need to organize your days into clear slots, especially concerning when you have breaks/stop for the day. i often had "work until 30 minutes before evening news. then cook, eat dinner while watching the news, have the evening off" i find it most annoying when i'm working from home and suddenly realize that i need to go to uni to continue because i'm lacking some sort of equipment at home. that can disrupt my whole day.

Hi chris,

I prefer to work in the library, yet only when it is quiet. At home I am easily distracted. It also takes a bit of effort to go to the library and thus I will stay for a few hours and realy do some work.

I like the quiet at home and being with my pets, but can go a little crazy if I don't leave the house for a few days. At uni it can be quite structured but sometimes noisy or distracting, and it costs me £3+ a day just on transport and having lunch with people, not good if you have no money. You get out of touch with people if you work at home a lot, and you go in and everyone asks about your thesis (AGGHHH)!

being able to work at home has been one of the best things about doing a PhD. Most of my thesis got written sitting on a bean bag in the lounge with laptop on my knee and stuff spread all over the floor, mostly out of 'office hours'.

I found the worst was when (at the start of my PhD) I tried to do a couple of days in the office and the rest at home. Totally unproductive, cause I never had the stuff I needed where I actually was that day.

I would say working home is so much better! No commuting on the awful london underground, all sources and your own space at home (hopefully uninterrupted to work) and I can snack (scoff) anything I want to all the time.. ermm maybe that last one isnt so much a benefit .... all this praise about working at home though and I've done nothing so far today , so it has its pitfalls!! Xx

i work in the library all the time. At times I use the Phd researchers room at uni, usually quiet in there with few pips but since calculating my transport costs to and from, i have resigned to using another library having joined sconul, 30mins walk from my house. they have a quiet room there which is fab. i find myself taking somewhat lengthy breaks when working from home and somehow things dont get done.
tsipat

During PhD year 3 I worked entirely at home and usually through the night going to bed at 7am

Now I have a job and have to get up at 7am