Question for the IT folks

[lavagirl]

What would you guys recommend someone learn to eventually land a work from home job?  I appreciate your input! Thanks!

[MoonLiteNite]

You mean any IT related field that can work from home 99% of the time?

I guess that would be a private app/web dev. You basically work on your own time and buy contracts to complete certain tasks for your clients, could be small projects, change the layout of their site, or could be huge like build a full site. On  the app side, you may get asked to help with the design of an app (all online), or even build the app from scratch alone if it is small.
 

[GetItRight]

Software/dev is easier to do that route, often project or contract work rather than regular full time. Sysadmin or netadmin has this potential too, but it's more up to finding the right company that understands you can do 99% of your job from anywhere with an internet connection. I'm in IT and I hope to one day work primarily remotely, but a company that will allow it is the trick.

[Uturn]

First, I would suggest that you figure out what you like to do.  I have done some scripting, mostly bash and perl, but would hate a coding job.  I was a Windows sysadmin for a while, but it really didn't get my juices flowing.  Then I found networking, and my career just took off.  I found my place.  I also dual role as a security engineer, and did a 3 year stint as InfoSec Manager.  I work from home now and see more opportunities for remote work, but most of them are senior positions.  I have not been in the call center world, but I can see that being easy for work from home. 

Do you want to bang out code?
Do you want to chase packets through the network and constantly be blamed for poorly written apps?
Do you want to tell the same execs many times not to open all the attachments?
Do you want to build servers and move data around?

Also, don't rule out project management.  IT needs more >>>>GOOD<<<<<  PM's. 

[Heroes821]

A lot of database management or security jobs can be done remotely from home as well, but programmers definitely seem to win.  I've seen executives flat out tell a highly skilled programmer they don't care where they live in the country as long as they work for the company.  The downside to this is you probably need to establish yourself with a skill set and resume that will give an employer confidence in your abilities before they have you work from home.  As a fledgling security analyst I had to work from the office for about six months before they let me work from home on projects, but everyone that was training me in those first six months were at home the whole time anyway so I guess it depends on the job.  I know a guy that manages the main datacenter for a fortune 100 company and he hasn't gone into an office for over a decade. His resume just speak for itself and he tells companies he won't be going into an office and they say alright.