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Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

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101–110 of 356 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#101
post #95

The schools in our area are in the final phases of remodeling, getting rid of the open floor plan layout that was in vogue when many of the schools were built, and was such a disaster. Nice to see taxpayer money hard at work. It's funny that a business as reactionary as the education system seems to have learned this lesson but tech companies haven't.

German universiteties in Munich, Dresden and probably elsewhere have separate rooms for the staff. Usually 2-4 persons per room. It’s really nice and productive. Later I found similar setting during interview at Viavi Solutions. All other bigger enterprises had open space offices. Some with cubicles, some with glas walls and some with tables only.

Sadly many universities in Europe are shockingly moving to open plan spaces.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#102
post #25
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noise cancelling headphones will cancel low frequency sounds like fans / AC, but not high frequency ones like talking and phones.

My Bose Quiet Comfort 20 in-ears are excellent for machine noises like air conditioners in server rooms or traffic drone but terrible for voices or radio.

Yes, and that makes things even worse.

A constant background noise is unpleasant but not so distracting - and it gets filtered out.

Sudden voices are way more distracting and they don't get filtered out. On the contrary, they stand out even more once machine noises are filtered out.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maybe 60sqft-ish? For those of us with non-ridiculous units, that's 5-6 m².

That's rather small, even for a single-person office.

That would be an incredible luxury to some people. I've worked from what most people would call a shelf before.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#105

why not just find remote work positions and set your own environment?

I mostly remote work and love it. But it's not for everybody. It involves: - being able to motivate yourself; - being disciplined; - being autonomous; - being capable to communicate efficiently asynchronously, with time and space constrains on limiting medium; - accepting less social time; - juggling private and pro time/space. Which includes your friends and family. My GF still hasn't get used to the fact that when…

If I worked remotely I would never work from home. I’d work remotely from a separate one-room office and hopefully have my employer pay for that office.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use noise cancelling headphones. They shut out the world with a bit of quiet music. I love my qc35. Doesn't fix the primary issue, but makes it more bearable.

> noise cancelling headphones They are very ineffective against voices! Passive insulating headphones are much better.

afaik qc35 does both

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#107

I work for Viasat; all of our new-build offices in the past few years have been designed around what we call the neighborhood concept. A neighborhood is a set of individual offices (maybe 60sqft-ish?) with three solid walls, and one glass/wood wall with a sliding door. All the offices open into a central room that can be outfitted in a bunch of different ways. There are neighborhoods of different sizes, and basically…

The new Skyscanner(my employer) London office also uses this setup and the times I've been in London and worked from that office I've really enjoyed it. I work in the main office in Edinburgh which is unfortunately an open floor plan, but hopefully we'll get the same layout as London. I feel it strikes a very good balance between the intentions of an open office plan and the need for a quite space to get work done.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#108
post #24

Never understood the rationale behind open floor offices. I currently work in a cubicle set up, and people set up war rooms anytime they want close collaboration. Open offices seem to take this exceptional case and make it the norm. At the same time open floor offices cause a lot of trouble to people in non-exception situations.

> Never understood the rationale behind open floor offices.

You can have an appealing environment to work in for 5-15 and within the same space scale that up all the way to an 80 person battery farm office without spending any more money.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#110
If avoiding open-plan is a priority, I recommend you focus on negotiating for a remote work arrangement, rather than excluding good companies. My last two long-term engagements have been at Fortune 100 companies and I've worked remotely for both.

In the first case, I was the only remote employee in my business unit. I was hired because I had a high level of competency with a technology they were investing heavily in. When I first interviewed, they told me that the were only considering on-site, and that my rate was too high. So, they first hired an on-site employee at a lower rate, but he failed to deliver a working installation and the project got perilously behind schedule. When I re-approached them about two months later they were no longer hung up on my rate or request to work remote. It's worth noting that I took a gamble here and put in about 6 or 8 hours interview and follow-up process, after being told that remote was not an option, and then being given the initial "no". During the project, I did stop by their Silicon Valley campus for a few hours of meetings every month or two, which was probably 1% or less of my total billable hours.

In my current engagement, my entire team is remote, so it was a non-issue. The gig was secured for me by a recruiter who had previously contacted me about an on-site position, and I told her I was only considering remote (and followed up periodically).

Both of these positions had multiple technical screens which were very rigorous. Both resulted from initial contacts where I was given at least one "no". You can have a private office at any company if you negotiate for remote and set yourself up with the office you like (e.g. home, co-working, etc.)

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