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

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

#311

Post by loco5niner »

gvurrdon wrote: post #117
skriticos2 wrote: post #84

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.

They're not bad, but are relatively poor against sounds similar to human speech, which includes coughing, sniffing, throat clearing etc. My colleagues who have a large extractor fan just outside their window have reported that noise-cancelling headphones offer an improvement, though.

Yep, active noise cancellation is great for repeating sounds, but horrible for voices.

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

#312

Post by loco5niner »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #92
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has gotten to the point where I'm seriously considering just working from home every day, even though that's strictly not allowed. Open-plan offices are absolutely maddening, I get pulled out of my thoughts constantly, and there's no effective way to shut it out. Earplugs aren't enough, and with headphones I would have to play music so loudly it would be annoying my colleagues, just in order to cut out the constan…

You might try earplugs and earmuffs at the same time. It's a pretty effective level of sound isolation.

Careful with this. I have tinnitus (arguably from 8 hours/day of headphone use), and when I doubled up as you described, my tinnitus became unbearable because it was the only thing I could hear and my brain "latched" on to it. I'm still trying to train my brain to stop listening...

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

#313

Post by loco5niner »

noway421 wrote: post #106
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

afaik qc35 does both

Tried those. Actually made the voices stand out more since everything else was more quiet :-(

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

#314

Post by loco5niner »

geekbird wrote: post #297
brian-armstrong wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might try earplugs and earmuffs at the same time. It's a pretty effective level of sound isolation.

Some people, like me, can only wear headphones or earplugs for a short period of time - like 2 hours - before they develop ear infections. Furthermore, administrative controls (headphones) for what is actually a safety and health problem (excess noise) are the solution of last resort from a health and safety perspective. A good health and safety person would advise structural mitigation, not forcing everyone to put o…

Well said, thank you.

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

#315

Post by loco5niner »

randcraw wrote: post #166
brian-armstrong wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might try earplugs and earmuffs at the same time. It's a pretty effective level of sound isolation.

The better 'earmuffs' out there should be enough w/o plugs. The passive model that I have (3M Peltor Optime 105, $21) cut sound by 30 dB. Nearly dead silence.

I wish. I have a whole collection of them (ok, maybe just 6 or 7 of them). They certainly help, but for me they are not near dead silence.

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

#316

Post by loco5niner »

alexfringes wrote: post #65
raducu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use industrial ear muffs over my in-ear headphones. Not very comfortable but they work great. Now I wish my work wouldn't suck so I could actually use all the focus I get this way :)

I’ve found that custom molded in-ear hearing protection combined with industrial ear muffs is the closest I can get to drowning out nearby conversations (including loud ones) without requiring a layer of music on top or bothering with headphones underneath the ear muffs.

Careful with this. I have tinnitus (arguably from 8 hours/day of headphone use), and when I doubled up as you described, my tinnitus became unbearable because it was the only thing I could hear and my brain "latched" on to it. I'm still trying to train my brain to stop listening...

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

#317

Post by arbie »

viach wrote: post #181
oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow — I'd like your work environment. Mine is approximately 6m² and it's shared by 8 people!

How is it even possible? 2-tier working tables?

> 2-tier working tables?

You know it was considered.

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

#318

Post by os72 »

gpvos wrote: post #153
os72 wrote: post #120

Virtually everyone has an individual office where I work. Our CEO has the motto "give them a door, a window and the fastest computer money can buy".

Which company is it? (If you didn't want to give away where you work, you could have named the company without saying you work there. That was the original question, after all.)

Apologies. Here is a link: https://www.cmgl.ca/

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

#319

Post by ghostcluster »

briandear wrote: post #193
ebbv wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that sounds like a waking nightmare. If I had to sit on bench seating all day I'd probably quit after a week.

Except that isn’t true. Ergo is a really big deal at Apple. You get a standard chair, but you can have an ergo evaluation and they’ll buy you whatever chair you need if your existing chair isn’t correct. Nobody is spending their work day on benches; that’s a fact.

> Ergo is a really big deal at Apple.

Apparentlhy not, if you've ever used their new keyboards and touch bars on the premium laptops, or their awful, awful magic mouse.

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

#320

Post by sanderjd »

Diederich wrote: post #277
detaro wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The specific comment isn't flagged (it would be marked as such otherwise), the user has been banned.

Apparently here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15725493 Certainly not a productive comment. A quick scan of that users's history seems to indicate fairly reasonable stuff: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=xiphias&next=1582220... (among others) Given a lot of other reasonable posts, (apparently) one low value comment seems to be able to get a user shadowbanned. That strikes me as a bit excessive.

I see this from time to time and it frustrates me. I would love it if people above a karma threshold could vouch for shadowbanned users with a recent history of more constructive comments.
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