It really depends on how you go about it. Software engineers are one of the few professionals that can do well for themselves working remotely from a home office. You won't make any political progress this way, but you can be a happy code monkey. It takes some effort to find good positions that accommodate this, but they do exist.

Source: over the last 8 years, I've spent a cumulative 1 year working in an office, and the remaining 7 from home.