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Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

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Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#21

Post by speeder »

I am currently looking for a work from home job making games or other complex systems...

Reason is that when I did that in a office little would get done, not just endless meeting but people interrupting, distractions, and weird office-only issues (like drama, office politics, HR nagging people because they left books on their desk, etc...)

At home even with family around, I can tell them it is my worktime, and then focus on work, and they will respect that.

Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#22

Post by intergalplan »

germs12 wrote: post #9

I've found a new level of self worth not being told when I have to be in a seat and when I'm allowed to leave it.

Fewer restrictions and less questioning of your use of time and your activities is typical the higher one observes the class ladder. WFH (absent remote monitoring tools, which take it back down below an in-person job without such tools) is like bumping up to the upper-middle, or professional, class, which most programmers are not in, ordinarily, socially speaking.

... and yes, a taste of class privilege is, frankly, wonderful.

Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#23

Post by 100-xyz »

I live in Fremont and had a job in Los Angeles. Had to fly in every week. It was exhausting. Then Covid came and got rid of the flight and commute. It was awesome.

But after a year of being cooped up with a wife and a 4 year old, I yearn to be back at the office about twice a week.

Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#24

Post by tarruda »

pcbro141 wrote: post #17

I don't want to go back, I can get my day job done in Do your tasks in as little time as it takes leaving more room for leisure, this is the first time I'm feeling the benefits of that 'increased productivity per hour'[1] economists talk about. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/labor-productivit...

I feel like I can do my daily work in 2-3 hours, but I end up spending all day procastinating between tasks.

Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#25

Post by als0 »

Really enjoying working remotely. Looking back in time, it seems silly that people at my company were disallowed to work a few days from home whenever they asked. When I think back to the time I was in the office, I believe I spent roughly 80% of my time focusing on what needed to be done, and the remaining 20% in face-to-face discussion, whether casual or not. That 20% is very valuable and I would not want to replace that. Based on that, and what my team needs, I believe it would be optimal to come into the office 1 or 2 days a week. It should be easy to defer the necessary conversations and face-to-face meetings to those days. But of course, everyone's needs are different and a balance must be struck.

Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#28

Post by paulcole »

pcbro141 wrote: post #17

I don't want to go back, I can get my day job done in Do your tasks in as little time as it takes leaving more room for leisure, this is the first time I'm feeling the benefits of that 'increased productivity per hour'[1] economists talk about. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/labor-productivit...

> I intend to start a couple of for profit side businesses

Not saying this applies to you, but a thing a lot of people are going to find out is how little they actually accomplish with the extra time. It's so much easier (and fun!) to dream about going to the gym, having a garden, and starting a business while stuck in traffic than to actually follow through and do those things.

Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#29

Post by aliljet »

I may be the malcontent, but I'm tired of being at home. I want to keep the option of being at home, but I miss the community I found at work, I miss the non-work adventures our team had, and frankly, I think the new folks joining our teams are not nearly as integrated into our family as those of that came before the pandemic. I've worked remote for a decade and the option to work remote for 2ish days a week makes life incredible, but beyond that, teams I've been a part of tend to be less cohesive.

Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?

#30

Post by jyrkesh »

Surprised to see so many people in this thread who don't want to go back to the office at all, but I do understand.

I've been given the flexibility to define my own schedule with regards to when I'm in the office and when I'm working from home. I can't WAIT to go back: it's great having a dedicated work space, I like hallway conversations and in-person meetings, and it'll be AWESOME to be able to snag a hot meal at our cafeteria without having to prep or think about it.

BUT, I'll probably never go in for a Friday ever again, and realistically I'll be working from home 2-3 days/week.

So yes, I feel very fortunate my employer is extending that flexibility post-COVID.

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