I have been fully home-based for more than 15 years now. Before that, hybrid. Before that, the full commute, the office parking politics, and the profound experience of sitting in traffic for forty minutes to attend a meeting that could have been an email.
In my line of work, working from home is not a lifestyle choice. It is just common sense. Nobody wants to sit alone in an empty office tower at midnight on a Zoom call with a US partner while the cleaning crew vacuums around your feet. I have done it. It is not glamorous. It is not even particularly professional.
My home office, for what it is worth, is a proper setup. Multiple screens, a terminal, enough gadgets to make a tech reviewer mildly jealous. The only thing missing compared to a corporate office is the commute, the bad coffee, and someone else’s leftover lunch in the shared fridge. I have made peace with all three absences.
In case you want to know, I still go to office when it makes sense like client meetings, presentations, anything that actually benefits from being in the same room. The office has its place. I just do not treat it as a personality trait.
Some people still believe that professionalism means being physically visible between 9 and 5 under fluorescent lights. That sitting at a desk, ideally where management can see you, is what separates the serious from the unserious. This view made sense when work was tied to a physical location by necessity. That necessity is largely gone. The view has not caught up.
Someone once suggested that working from home “does not inspire confidence.” I looked at him and smiled. Professionalism is discipline, responsiveness, and results. Come on, the markets do not know where you are sitting. They only know what you did.