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Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

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Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#121

Post by nemomarx »

adamhp wrote: post #87
munchausen42 wrote: post #73

If you wonder why an argument might be controversial, it can helpful to imagine how it would sound like in mirror world: Assume for a moment that working remotly and a flexible workday would have been always the default. And now some companies decide: Hey let's contractually enforce a 9 hour continuous workday where all our workers will be locked in a big ugly building that we build just for that purpose (Btw. at lea…

Disclaimer: I support fully remote work and will likely never be returning to office in my lifetime if I can help it. Here I play devil's advocate. Even though it is a hypothetical world you've constructed, you still framed it from the perspective of this world. I can do the same thing you did with a different bias. Imagine a world where everyone is socially isolated, forced to work 8 hours a day from their living sp…

Do you get breaks to play pingpong and catered food at your offices? I've never worked anywhere that actually paid for food, honestly, and while a few places have had pingpong tables it's hard to justify leaving my desk to go use them when there's tasks I could be getting done.

A minor point, but I've always wondered if you're ever actually allowed to use the nice benefits like that, or if they're just something startups show off to investors to try and look more friendly to their workers.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#122

Post by omgomgomgomg »

I am all for wfh, but now as a part owner of a business which is growing fast enough so most customer facing staff cant keep up, I am considering a hybrid.

The knowledge just does not propagate and all the colab apps in the world will not help if you have 3 shifts. Virtual meetings with cams off or even on, you dont know if the people follow.

I dislike paying for an office but it seems unavoidable.

I dont think half the team is doing nothing , I know for sure, seen the dev commits etc. And if they do something, they do not do it right or efficiently, despite procedures written down to the t and many training.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#123

Post by rr808 »

I think it makes a difference where you live too. I live in a cramped apartment with noisy family and kids, the office gives me much more space and quiet. Other people have big suburban homes with a big dedicated office which is far superior to their work environment.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#124

Post by commandlinefan »

samuel_backend wrote: post #70
throwaway294566 wrote: post #56

> I always saw tech as the field where a disproportionally large amount of people truly love what they do. You do confuse "loving what they do" with "being at the office" and "socializing during slack time". I do love my job but I do hate socializing with people, which is definitely not my job. That is why I'm working in IT, I don't have to socialize beyond the bare minimum to be successful. I think IT attracts intro…

Honestly, I feel this is a bit of a black-and-white view that grossly oversimplifies things. And I am downright insulted by the last sentence to be frank. Blaming shitty management on extroverted techies. Are you sure about that?

> a black-and-white view that grossly oversimplifies things

Seems like a perfect response to your original post, then.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#125

Post by JTbane »

mudrockbestgirl wrote: post #107
thunky wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It all doesn't sound so bad when you frame it differently I disagree, it still sounds bad. It sounds like elementary school for adults.

> It sounds like elementary school for adults. I think that sounds pretty amazing.

Sign me up, so long as there's nap time and recess.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#127

Post by Tade0 »

> why should they page a German wage for someone who is a face on a screen, when they can pay a fraction for that same face broadcasted from a few hundred kilometers further east or south?

Friendly reminder that wages east of Berlin aren't really that bad anymore. Senior engineers in eastern Europe can count on ~€65k annually at current exchange rates.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#128

Post by selimthegrim »

foobarian wrote: post #113
wincy wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know when the Fortune 500 US company I worked for opened their European office they 1) chose Dublin 2) Flew over multiple well paid engineers and paid for them to live there to train the new Dublin team. So I think because of some of the tax strategies mentioned by others US companies choose Dublin which strongly influences the salaries paid there.

Taxes and access. I believe Dublin is one of the closest EU airports to the eastern seaboard. There is even an Irish airport (not Dublin, Sh... something) with a USA passport check on Irish soil, so once you step on the plane you're officially in the US and once you land it's like taking a Boston-NYC shuttle.

Shannon, in the west.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#129

Post by commandlinefan »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #40
kstenerud wrote: post #2

There's nothing controversial. You like working in an office. Cool. Go work in an office. I don't like working in an office. Cool. I work from home. The only thing that's changed is that we have more choice now. Like when I finally landed the first job where I didn't have to wear a tie anymore.

The problem for us office advocates is that you travel into an empty office and sit on Zoom calls anyway. Of course we shouldn't drag you into the office just to appease us, but the experience of working together is effectively not available right now.

> an empty office and sit on Zoom calls anyway

For at least 15 years leading up to covid I worked in satellite branches of large corporations and had to spend the day on zoom calls with coworkers in remote offices anyway.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't I see gold at the end of the remote working rainbow?

#130

Post by serpix »

shp0ngle wrote: post #106

This post and the “parenting” post should join together. Have a kid, then you’ll be happy you work remotely and won’t miss other people.

what? Hell no. I have kids and working remotely with kids around is impossible. Work / family needs to be separated for me, my mental health greatly depends on it.
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